Can Arsenal defence stop Liverpool dominance?

Posted on December 28, 2018

When Unai Emery took on Arsene Wenger, a new ray of light came into the life of Arsenal fans after bidding a heavy-hearted farewell to the Arsenal Boss who ruled the field for 22 years. But in his later stages, Wenger was not as good and left an unbalanced team for Emery to control for.

A highly dominated attacking squad, Emery did try to bring in some relief to the defence by signing Greek monster, Sokratis, but is still missing a dependent centre-back.

However, Emery-ball has been purely dominated in opponents half, focusing more on handling the possession, pressing through the lines on towards the goal via squeezing between the defenders. Not only this, but Emery lays way more emphasis on attacking combinations along with large-shouts outside the box.

This style of play does give the Gunners to don the pitch but also leaves them feeble in other half of the pitch. While scoring as many as 41, the Gunners have also conceded 25 goals, which is heavy considering their 4th spot position. And to face a trio of Salah, Firmino and Mane who have accumulated most goals together, it will be a task of wonders for Emery’s defence.

Even in their last game against Brighton, Arsenal gave the home side as many as 12 chances to take on goals, but were lucky enough to not concede more than one. This time instead, the defence of Arsenal will face Liverpool and if the Reds are given this many chances, Anfield will roar higher and higher.

Yes, you could consider their injury vows upto a certain extent – but that won’t keep them from lining up against Liverpool tomorrow. Mustafi is back to training but a visit to Anfield would be too early for him I guess, which makes Laurent Koscielny that only natural option to start with Sokratis at the heart of defence.

No doubt, Arsenal will have to defend out of their skin when they face the deadly trio of Liverpool who can consume even the best defenders, considering the form they are in.