The game that may have been a title decider, is now a part of the Liverpool title parade. Arsenal’s awful week will get much worse as the challengers will be giving the champions a guard of honour on Sunday when the two teams face-off at Anfield.
Neither team comes into this game in the best form, but one team has won the league, and the other is still trusting the process.
Liverpool will still want to win as many games as possible and Arne Slot may think twice about rotating so much against Arsenal, like he did against their London rivals Chelsea.
Defence
GK: Alisson
The easiest position to predict at the moment. Caoimhin Kelleher is set to leave the club this summer and Arne Slot has no reason to give him any more game time, similar to the situation at right-back.
RB: Conor Bradley
The position of interest over the past week, as Trent says goodbye to his hometown club, it presents the perfect opportunity for Conor Bradley.
The Northern Irish international will be at the forefront of Arne Slot’s mind when considering what to do with this position and these remaining games will be an ideal audition.
Arne Slot has already come out and said that there will be no room for Trent for the remainder of the season, something many LFC fans enjoyed hearing. I expect Bradley to make a great case for himself going into next season.
CB: Ibrahima Konate
The Jarell Quansah of 2023/24 doesn’t seem to be here at the moment. After being given one of the few opportunities he has received this season against Chelsea he again failed to impress.
In a rather lacklustre performance from everyone, Quansah seemed to struggle again, however, the own goal and the penalty he gave away were not his fault, away from that it just had the feeling of a tense player.
This is the reason I believe Ibou will come back in and consolidate with VvD.
CB: Virgil van Dijk (C)
Captain fantastic. Virg will continue his run in the backline and lead his team out for their guard of honor.
LB: Andy Robertson
Kostas Tsimikas was another rotation Slot made last week and was another player who failed to impress.
Robbo has had a stronger second half of the season for the Reds and has looked closer to his former self.
As well as Alisson and Bradley, Robbo’s left-back spot looks as if it may be subject to a challenge form a new arrival this summer. Robbo will be keen to set a marker for his place in the XI.
Midfield
CM: Wataru Endo
I think this is one of the only players who had a performance to be proud of against Chelsea. The Japanese warrior, has become a huge fan favourite for his calm, collected, yet short appearances.
I think that Gravenberch will be given another short rest, but he will make the bench and will come on in the second half.
CM: Alexis Mac Allister
The Liverpool and Premier League player of the month.
Mac Allister has been one of the best midfielders in the world this season and has continued his form all the way through, when coming on last week he give Liverpool another dimension, he give the team a creative outlet through the middle, something he has been doing all season.
Attack
RW: Mohamed Salah
Mo will never not want to play, and with him trying to break the assist record and regain his top scorer title, Arne Slot will be in no hurry to give him a rest.
Looking ahead to some personal honours for Mo Salah, it would be key for his Ballon D’or challenge that he finish this season as strong as possible, no better way to do that then embarrass your title rivals.
CAM: Dom Szoboszlai
Another one of the regulars that was rested against Chelsea. The Reds missed Szobo’s engine and his pace, something that Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones cannot offer the team.
Szobo does have a knack for performing in the big games this season and will be looking to do the same on Sunday.
LW: Federico Chiesa
A player lots of fans have been calling for, the Italian winger has not been used or trusted enough this season and in the very few appearances he has made, he often makes a difference.
After a quiet performance from Cody Gakpo last week, Slot may find this the right opportunity to offer Chiesa the league start he has been clamouring for.
ST: Luis Diaz
Lucho has been used in this position for a large portion of the season, and in some cases has taken hold of the faith entrusted in him by Arne Slot.
There has been some news come out recently, that LFC will begin talks for a new contract for the Colombian, something that many LFC fans will be glad of considering the sagas we have had this year.
Going into this match many fans will be more excited for the proposition of a guard of honor from Arsenal then they are for the actual game.
I think that Slot and his team will be eager to make sure this won’t be another lazy performance and that they can look to end this season with as many points as possible and rub it in the faces of the “best team in Europe”.