Liverpool vs Arsenal: How the team’s weakness could be their strength

Premier League football is back at last. All the Arsenal fans watching what was actually quite an exciting international break have been buzzing for the return of domestic action to see Mikel Arteta’s side again.

Then everyone remembered that it’s Liverpool. At Anfield. Under the floodlights.

Suddenly the excitement levels dropped somewhat. But over the years of annual drubbings the supporters have grown thick skin. Losing away at a ‘big six’ side has become the norm. It’s still desperately painful, mind you.

What Arsenal have now is some renewed optimism. Then again, those words have been used numerous times in conjunction with trips to the red half of Merseyside, and two points in the past eight league matches at Anfield are all that there is to show for it.

Liverpool vs Arsenal: The Gunners’ weakness of being negative when going in front could be morphed into an effective tactical strategy at Anfield

But this is a team on the up, brimming with confidence, sitting fifth in the Premier League table and unbeaten in ten matches across all competitions. There is belief of securing a result, no matter how incomplete the team is in certain departments and having factored in how devastating this Liverpool side truly is.

Arteta has been building over the summer and this squad of players is nothing like those that have made the journey north and left empty handed for almost a decade. From back to front there are exciting players, talented individuals and a collective spirit.

The new signings have made a magnificent impact, playing a substantial role in making Arsenal more solid, structured and fluid.

Not everything is where it needs to be, however, and one of the team’s primary weaknesses is their attitude and response to going in front. Ironically, that might work to their advantage on Saturday.

We will learn a lot about the confidence of this group by how they start this game. Over the past few weeks there has been a growing trend that has become so frequent that any less constitutes something of a shock: Arsenal fly out of the traps, press high and push their centre-backs way up to the halfway line.

This front-footed and assertive approach has seen the Gunners blitz teams away and effectively win matches inside 20 minutes. On show against Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Leicester, this all guns blazing mantra is both exhilarating in its blink of an eye execution, and then nail-biting. Arsenal have secured these leads and then sat on them.

So how will this work in their favour?

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