Last year, Arsenal made pretty short work of Liverpool.
It was, by any measure, an impressive performance at the Emirates which yielded as comprehensive a victory over a Liverpool side as I had seen for years, certainly in the Jurgen Klopp era.
That campaign was marked by such victories and memorable also for our fortune on the treatment table. It wasn’t perfect, of course, but we enjoyed the vast majority of the season unencumbered by injuries to key players.
When it comes to injuries, however, your luck can evaporate in a matter of days and we find ourselves going into this year’s clash with Liverpool in an entirely less fortunate position, struck down with the sorts of injuries which can quickly derail a season.
Already without Martin Odegaard, it looks likely that we will be missing Jurrien Timber, Bukayo Saka and Riccardo Calafiori though injury too. And that’s not to mention the absence of William Saliba through suspension.
Put simply, it’s unlikely to be quite so easy an encounter this time around.
Crucial will be the formation Mikel Arteta decides upon. In recent weeks, his efforts to compensate for the absence of those key players have been met with mixed success – and that’s putting it generously. We have, at times, been turgid and difficult to watch.
If we’re to go toe-to-toe with an in-form Liverpool side this time around, we’re going to need to see much more cohesion, more attacking ambition, and more discipline in possession than we have seen in our last three or four outings.
The matches against Shakhtar and Bournemouth in particular were memorable only for their uncharacteristic sloppiness and general constipation on the ball. Even if we are at home this Sunday, we cannot afford another performance like it.
If we are without Saka, Calafiori and Timber, the manager is going to need to find a way of making Mikel Merino, Declan Rice and Thomas Partey work in particular. Creativity and ball progression have been in short supply and there is a sense that those three come up a little short in that department.
If we’re to get the best out of Kai Havertz too, the manager will need to get the mix right in midfield because the German has looked isolated and ineffectual in recent weeks. That’s not to say he hasn’t been game, rather that he’s had scraps to work with and dead ends to chase. We need better.
There remains understandable clamour for the introduction of Ethan Nwaneri to the first team but it feels fanciful at this stage. If the manager didn’t think Shakhtar offered a good opportunity to hand Ethan some minutes, the chances are even more remote that he deems the Liverpool match a better opportunity. Alas, the chances of Ethan featuring at all feel remote and I think that’s a shame, though I understand why it would be a gamble to start him now, with precious few minutes in his legs.
This feels like the first time in a while that the spotlight really will be entirely on Arteta. So often his players have been able to do the business for him but now he’s going to need to do the business for them. He’s going to need every ounce of street smarts he can muster, ever trick in his tactical book. Arne Slot is no fool and will have plenty of tricks up his sleeve to go with a squad in better shape than his opponent.
Can the Arsenal manager rise to the occasion?
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