OPINION
We may only be approaching the third weekend of the new Premier League season, but the fixture list has already thrown up a number of top tier clashes.
Manchester United took Chelsea apart on the opening weekend, before VAR won man of the match when Manchester City faced off against Tottenham last Saturday evening. This weekend’s offering is Liverpool against Arsenal, a tie made all the more interesting by the fact that neither side has yet to drop a point in the league so far.
Naturally with a match of such a high calibre, there have been comparisons aplenty between the two sides, and the general consensus from pundits has been that the Reds are the better side on paper compared to their Southern visitors.
And that argument was backed up again on Friday when Danny Mills picked his combine XI for Sky Sports News.
With Liverpool v Arsenal on Saturday live on Sky Sports, Danny Mills has selected his combined XI
Thoughts? ?https://t.co/DK3ks6Lmqu
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 23, 2019
The former England intentional chose seven Liverpool players to just the four from Arsenal, and surely would have gone with Alisson Becker in net over Bernd Leno had the Brazilian been fit.
But one man who will no doubt be fuming at being left out is Reds defender Joel Matip.
The Cameroonian was omitted in place of David Luiz, but if we’re being honest, that feels like a poor call.
Matip may not have been the most reliable when he first came to England, but ever since he was called upon to replace the injured Joe Gomez last season, he has been a stellar addition to the Reds’ backline.
In his only Premier League start of the season so far, he made two interceptions, one tackle, and a massive 10 clearances, as per Whoscored.
By contrast, Luiz has a reputation for being erratic, and surely wouldn’t walk into Jurgen Klopp’s starting 11 ahead of the £100,000-a-week Liverpool ace [Spotrac].
Mills has got this one wrong.
