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Collymore: Liverpool full backs will be ‘critical’ v Man City

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Image for Collymore: Liverpool full backs will be ‘critical’ v Man City

Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore believes that the Reds’ two full backs could be the key against Manchester City on Sunday.

The Premier League’s established top two go head-to-head at Anfield on Sunday in what could be a season-defining contest, and Collymore believes Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson could be Jurgen Klopp’s most prized assets.

“For Liverpool, the performances of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson will be critical,” he wrote in his Daily Mirror column. “They are arguably the best two full-backs in the world and, as a ­former striker, I can tell you the ­accuracy of the crossing is tantalising.

“I did notice against Newcastle and Aston Villa that for two thirds of both games neither really got forward into attacking positions with any ­regularity and both times Liverpool really had to work hard for victory. Pep Guardiola will have looked at those games and realised that two sides who are likely to finish in the bottom half of the table were both able to negate them to some extent.”

OPINION

It’s interesting that Collymore says that Aston Villa were able to partially negate Alexander-Arnold and Robertson, because the latter got on the scoresheet, while the former was an absolute terror from an offensive point of view all game long. Guardiola will be well aware of the threat the Liverpool full backs pose when they’re rampaging forward, and so he will be keen to for his midfielders and attackers to pin them back if possible. They likely won’t be able to for the entirety of the game, but if they can minimise the threat of the full backs then they’ll go a long way to stymying the Reds’ creativity. The problem then is that City also have to find a way to negate Liverpool’s fantastic front three. If they’re worrying too much about the full backs then Roberto Firmino will drop in deep and set Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane lose on the champions’ backline. There are risks to just about whatever either team does on Sunday, and it will be fascinating to see how they both approach things at Anfield.

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