Arsenal travel to Anfield this Halloween weekend looking to banish their Merseyside demons. The defending Premier League champions haven't won away at Liverpool in a whopping 14 years. A win at Anfield could put Mikel Arteta's troops top of the table for the first time this season. But they'll face a massive test against the well-drilled Reds, who dumped Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup earlier this week. And ahead of Sunday's mouthwatering showdown, Dean Scoggins is on hand to break down how the north Londoners can leave Merseyside with all three points in the latest episode of our hit show, Tactics Exposed.
Target Van Dijk
This one might surprise you because what I actually want to say with Arsenal is target Virgil van Dijk. I know he's world-class, but actually, I think you can expose Liverpool by giving him too much to do. When they're in much more of a mid shape, where they get more in a transitional phase of play, this is where they have a problem. What happens is Milos Kerkez gets dragged across one way, teams have been pinning Jeremy Jacquet over here, and that leaves Van Dijk with far too much to do. Which way does he go? Does he stay close to his centre-back, or does he go out to his left-back?
You open up gates for teams to run through. Kerkez is obviously a more attacking option on that side, but that gives that right-hand space for Arsenal to target. A ball goes inside, and then you've got a runner off the back of Mac Allister. Now think Declan Rice here, Arsenal fans. Think Martin Odegaard; think runners running off the ball in behind. Those ghost runners will be what Arsenal are trying to target. Go for it, Declan Rice. They can really hurt Liverpool and catch them in that sort of transitional phase.
Battle of the playmakers: Odegaard vs Wirtz
The flow state that Odegaard is in at the moment, he's ticking and it's lovely. Confidence is high; he's setting the tempo. He's the press setter and he just lends the ball to others before getting it back. Here is where I think Odegaard can really target a little weakness of Liverpool. He has come off a defender who doesn't want to jump out of this back line to come and receive the ball. Because they're man-v-man in midfield, that's where the space is. That's where you can turn and get at Liverpool. If the ball is in an outside area, then you're targeting those underlap runs when you've opened up the centre-back corridor. That is absolutely where Martin Odegaard will target.
Barcola vs Calafiori
To play as a winger in this system, you have to work your cojones off. Bradley Barcola has actually done that quite well this season, but he's working so hard going that way back into a defensive position that it takes away from him affecting the game a little bit more. You're going to look at a scenario where it's going to be Barcola against Calafiori. Barcola is going to have to work very, very hard going back. Calafiori likes to get into that area, so we've got a race between those two guys to be the extra man that supports the winger and overloading the defender. All that in the background of a man up front in Alexander Isak, who is going to really cause problems and peel off onto a centre-back. It is not going to be easy for Arsenal. However, I do think with Declan Rice and deep runners coming off the back of Mac Allister and Gravenberch, Arsenal can go away and get their first win at Anfield since 2012.
