Liverpool will be looking to stunt Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes on Thursday, making it two wins from two against the Gunners this season.
Liverpool predicted lineup vs Arsenal
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Jones; Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Wirtz; Gakpo.
Liverpool are on a nine game unbeaten streak in all competitions since changing their system, drawing four games and winning five.
Liverpool team news vs Arsenal
Arne Slot could be without both of his natural striker choices, as Alexander Isak remains out due to a lower leg fracture, while Hugo Ekitike is also a major doubt with a hamstring problem.
This will likely mean Cody Gakpo leads the line again for Liverpool, with another option being Florian Wirtz as a false nine.
Liverpool will also remain without the likes of Giovanni Leoni and Wataru Endo who have injuries of their own.
Mohamed Salah is also missing due to the Africa Cup of Nations, meaning Liverpool will be without three of their star-studded forwards for this tie.
Narrow approach
Since their 2-0 win against West Ham, Slot has made tweaks to his system in order to solidify things after a poor run of form, which saw the Reds lose their three games prior by three goals margins.
The systematic change saw Slot implementing overlapping full-backs to better affect, which was a predicted direction for this Liverpool side after the additions of Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong in the summer.
This allowed Liverpool to overload the centre, having all four of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz in the team together.
By packing the middle, Liverpool have been able to counter press more effectively, control games with closer proximity between the midfielders and start to pick up more points as a result.
While there are plenty of positives of their new system, one area that is currently lacking is the explosivity in the front-line, which is quite heavily packed with ball to feet players, especially with the likes of Salah and Isak out.
This can sometimes mean Slot’s side become quite sterile in the final third, struggling to inject the tempo needed and beat a man 1v1 to open things up.
It will be interesting to see if Salah can add that by coming back into the side with a free inside-forward role, allowing him to take risks and speed things up in more central areas.