Former Premier League winner Martin Keown has heaped praise on Liverpool’s two full backs, and believes ‘lethal’ left back Andrew Robertson could be key against Manchester City on Sunday.
The Premier League’s established big two go head-to-head at Anfield in the biggest league game of the season thus far, and Keown believes the Reds’ full backs could shape the destiny of the contest.
“Naturally, both defences are bound to be busy and it will be a challenge for Liverpool if their full backs are to bomb forward like usual,” he wrote in his Daily Mail column. “How will Trent Alexander- Arnold and Andrew Robertson respond?
“Alexander-Arnold has produced the most crosses in the Premier League this season — 130, with Everton’s Lucas Digne the next nearest on 100. Robertson is lethal on the left side, too, having scored the crucial equaliser in their late comeback against Aston Villa last weekend by bursting into the six-yard box.”
OPINION
What Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp does with his two full backs against City is going to be absolutely fascinating to watch. Will he play it safe and have them operate in a more restrained fashion, or will he give them license to bomb on and create chances like they normally do? Trent Alexander-Arnold has created the second most big chances of any Premier League player this season with nine – only City’s Kevin De Bruyne has more (11) – while Robertson has the joint tenth most with four [Source: premierleague.com]. What’s interesting is that both City and Liverpool have four players present in the top ten of that list, a remarkable quirk that shows how evenly matched these two attacking forces are. Robertson is probably less prolific than Alexander-Arnold in creating chances, as their top ten rankings show, but is more potent as a goalscoring force. He’s not a regular contributor in terms of goals, of course, but he pops up here and there, including against City last season. Alexander-Arnold’s strikes, though, are a rarer breed. If these two are running wild on Sunday it will be a good sign that Liverpool are having the better of things.
