Five reasons Liverpool will annihilate Arsenal on Saturday
By David Gate
No. 1 – Leadership Disparity
There are many reasons Liverpool are beyond Arsenal at the moment but there is no greater disparity than in the area of on-pitch leadership.
Jurgen Klopp has coined the term ‘mentality giants’ to describe his squad and they prove that to be true week-in and week-out.
While many have questioned whether or not captain Jordan Henderson is the best midfielder at the club there is no doubt of his leadership qualities, his connection with the manager or the respect of his teammates. He understands what it means to fight for the fans.
Behind him is Virgil van Dijk, who would be the club captain at any other side in the Premier League. Have you seen a better defensive leader in your time watching football? I haven’t.
You then add the mental strength of Fabinho, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane and there is top-level leadership and captaincy candidates across the pitch.
Look at Arsenal: they don’t even have a captain. Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey both left in the summer. They scrapped captain’s notes from the match-day program because there is no-one to write it.
They are planning on sharing the armband between Nacho Monreal, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil; none of which are guaranteed starters. If Liverpool are the ‘mentality giants’ then Arsenal are the ‘mentality dwarves’.