Liverpool are in good form after a largely satisfactory preseason. There won’t be a better time to play Arsenal this season.
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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has plenty of injury issues too, particularly in the central-defensive region, though Dejan Lovren has trained fully after a knock to increase Klopp’s own options in that region.
“It’s a bruise in the heel, but on Sunday it was a little better, on Monday it was better and it has been better and better and better”.
Jürgen Klopp will have a preferred starting eleven in his mind for Sunday’s kickoff, but injuries always have a role to play before any football curtain call. And Klopp and the Melwood staff will be assessing the fitness of Daniel Sturridge and James Milner over the next couple of days, before filling out the match roster in pen. That spares the German from making one or two hard decisions, but there are still a couple of places seemingly up for grabs.
Perhaps the biggest selection poser is who leads the line. This leaves Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi battling for the lone striker spot.
Last season, Wijnaldum excelled in a more advanced position, so why fix something that isn’t broken by moving him out of his comfort zone?
The Dane also feels the experience of 30-year-old Ragnar Klavan means he will get the nod ahead of fellow Bundesliga import Joel Matip. “Arsenal are without a number of key players, especially defensively, and from what I’ve seen they look under-cooked”.
Liverpool could have star midfielder Emre Can fit and ready to face Arsenal in their opening Premier League clash against Arsenal on Saturday 14 August.
“We knew about it because a lot of teams chose this way against us so it we could have defended on this day better”. Yes, it was only preseason but a performance like that can’t be totally ignored. Klopp is certainly full of confidence and claims that no one will want to play Liverpool, and considering their dealings in the transfer market they seem as a force to be reckoned with. Both obviously have their advantages and disadvantages so it will be interesting to see which formation Klopp settles for, for the majority of the season.
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The former Borussia Dortmund coach, who replaced Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool manager in October 2015, stated that he never looked for excuses last season, and he would be continuing that way.
