Having arrived at Liverpool midway through last season, the German has had the chance to take his players through a full preseason ahead of the new season. “I hope it will take time, and that we can take advantage of the fact that we have stability”.
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Klopp has insisted that he has not been giving any thought to Arsenal’s difficulties.
Wenger recruited Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach in May for around £30m but has failed to add any other big name signings since then.
The best bet in my opinion for this game in for both teams to score. Having made a number of additions over the summer, Klopp has looked to shape the squad into one that he can call his own – and hopefully one that will challenge for a spot in the upper echelons of the table. “It’s not a financial competition, football is a performance competition”.
Last season there were signs of it coming together, not least in a run to the Europa League final, but it was also obvious that more work and different players were required.
That has strengthened Wenger’s resolve to resist any urge to spend his way towards success this summer. Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista are out of the match after they picked up injuries in pre-season, whilst Laurent Koscielny is unlikely to play.
Leicester bucked financial gravity previous year but have discovered this summer that money still has a lure.
Liverpool duo Daniel Sturridge and James Milner are likely to miss Sunday’s opener with hip and heel injuries respectively.
If N’Golo Kante gets around Dimitri Payet, I don’t see Payet touching the ball too often.
“On the longer distance money is still vital sometimes”, Wenger said.
“I think he will be bold with his team selection at the Emirates”. “You can still make fantastic buys at normal, reasonable prices”, he said.
Arsenal have lost only once to Liverpool in 10 encounters, but that was a 5-1 drubbing in February 2014. But I think Arsene Wenger might put [Alexis] Sanchez a little more advanced this season, he’s always impressed for Chile like that.
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Ronald Koeman, who is managing across the city at Everton, said earlier this week his team were only at 70 per cent fitness and Klopp admits his players’ involvement in Euro 2016 robbed him of a “perfect pre-season”. I’m sure if you ask the other boys, they will say he would be an obvious choice for captain.
