Ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Anfield to face Liverpool, former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher has praised the Gunners’ squad and believes that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp must be “envious” of their team. Carragher also suspects that Klopp may have explored the possibility of signing Arsenal wingers Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli in previous transfer windows, but admits that ship has sailed.
Saka and Martinelli have both enjoyed superb seasons for the Premier League leaders, with both players attracting praise from Klopp over the past year. Carragher believes that the duo bring the lightning pace and penetration that Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane introduced to Klopp’s 4-3-3 system five years ago.
Carragher predicts that Arsenal will arrive on Merseyside with more belief than they have had since their last league win at Anfield in 2012. He had previously predicted that Liverpool would beat Arteta’s side, purely because of home form, but now believes that Klopp must wish half of Arteta’s team were in his starting XI.
Carragher notes that Klopp’s side are not so dissimilar in make-up to what Arteta inherited in 2019, full of ageing players on big contracts who need to be eased out so the promising youngsters and next signings can shine. The difference is that Arteta was prepared to be more pragmatic based on the tools he had when he took over.
Carragher is worried about how rigid Klopp is in believing that the team must play the same high-pressing way, no matter how good the opponent or whether his personnel are able to execute it. He cites Liverpool’s last two games against Manchester City and Chelsea as prime examples of this high-risk football, where a low-energy team tried to press high and play man-to-man all over the pitch while a yard off the pace.
Despite the lack of overlap in the maturing of their title-challenging teams, Klopp and Arteta have gone about their club building in similar ways, backed by patient boardrooms who have drowned out external noise and stuck to their long-term vision. Before this season, Liverpool were the template for Arsenal to imitate, especially when Arteta was under pressure to deliver quicker. Now Arsenal are the model for Klopp to follow when embarking on the next stage of his Liverpool reconstruction.
Arsenal will look to maintain their eight-point lead over Manchester City this weekend, while Liverpool are aiming to boost their fading top-four hopes. Carragher believes that it is important for Arsenal to kick Liverpool while they are down and deliver a performance worthy of champions.