TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD. Remember him?
Wednesday’s game against Chelsea was his 300th appearance for Liverpool, but few realised it until the man himself posted a ‘then vs now’ comparison on his socials.
Now > Then. 300 appearances for the reds. pic.twitter.com/YHo9V6EZhM
— Trent Alexander-Arnold (@TrentAA) February 1, 2024
Alexander-Arnold’s milestone went unacknowledged as it, like all else, had been swept away by the indomitable Conor Bradley. Having missed a couple of weeks’ action through injury, Alexander-Arnold is fit again. But can he break back into the team?
It seems a daft thing, this notion that the guy who has arguably been Liverpool’s best player this season is suddenly going to find himself on the bench. But how can Klopp drop Bradley, given the standard of his performances? Alexander-Arnold could, of course, just play in the middle and not have to worry about the complex choreography of inverting, but the MacAllister/Jones/Szoboslai trio have emerged as Liverpool’s best midfield.
The recent past against Arsenal suggests Klopp will find a way of getting Alexander-Arnold into the team, as he has been Liverpool’s game-breaker in each of their previous two games. It was his pass from which Mohamed Salah twisted Oleksandr Zinchenko and equalised in the league game at Anfield, and it was his free-kick from which Liverpool took their lead in the FA Cup tie at the start of the year.
The outrageous quality of his long-range passing is key to breaking down Arsenal, whose structure out of possession is so good as to make it nigh-impossible to play short passes through them.
Liverpool escaped the Emirates with an FA Cup win, though should probably have been beaten by half-time. Arsenal consistently smothered their attempts to play the ball out from the back, turning the ball over to create a series of glorious chances, most of which were missed by Kai Havertz. This errant finishing undermined a smart Mikel Arteta tactical switch, changing from their classic 4-3-3 to a 4-2-2-2, which Klopp admitted to being startled by.
It was only after Liverpool adapted at half-time that they wrestled control of the game, and Alexander-Arnold was its key factor. Klopp shuffled his forward line and put his quickest players on the wing, with Darwin going to the left and Diaz to the right. Arsenal’s weaknesses are increasingly glaring: their full-backs are vulnerable to long balls over their heads: Liverpool, Fulham and most recently Nottingham Forest exposed exactly those flaws in recent weeks. In this context, Takehiro Tomiyasu’s erasmus at the Asia Cup has proved problematic for Arsenal.
Alexander-Arnold has the range to play exactly these kinds of passes, so Klopp will surely want to fit him into the team. Arteta countered during that Cup tie by figuring attack was the best form of defence, introducing Gabriel Martinelli to attack the space vacated by Alexander-Arnold, curbing his creative influence. It was at this point Klopp turned to Bradley, who locked down the wing and gave Liverpool the platform to go and win the game.
Bradley’s emergence has been stunning, and he gives Liverpool a defensive solidity at right-back they have not been guaranteed for years. But if Liverpool are to go on and win the title and make glorious Klopp’s farewell, they need to start winning these kinds of matches.
As brilliant as they have been this season, Liverpool haven’t yet beaten a title rival, having drawn with Arsenal and Manchester City. This is what hamstrung in the season before last, in which they missed out on the league by a single point to City. They drew all of their games against the other three sides to finish in the Champions League places – City, Chelsea, and Spurs – when a single win in any of those games would have handed them the title.
Given the pace of the race, Liverpool must capitalise on opportunities to slow down their opponents when they can. This is one such opportunity, and for that, they will need to maximise their attacking output. With Salah out and Darwin a doubt, Alexander-Arnold will likely be asked to step up to the plate.
Bradley may have to be satisfied with merely a substitute appearance this time around.
Arsenal vs Liverpool; KO: Sunday 4.30pm, Sky Sports
