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Arne Slot is ready to unleash attacking weapon on the Premier League

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Arne Slot says he is ready to give Federico Chiesa more minutes in the Premier League after the Italian played 90 minutes in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven.

Liverpool signed Chiesa from Juventus in the summer for £12.5 million but he hasn’t been heavily involved after missing 14 games due to a muscle injury.

The PSV Eindhoven defeat was the first full game Chiesa has played for the club since he joined and Arne Slot now believes the 27-year-old is ready to contribute in the Premier League.

Speaking to the media ahead of Liverpool’s league fixture with Bournemouth on Saturday, Slot has suggested we will soon see a lot more of the former Fiorentina forward.

Slot said: “He’s ready for more minutes. If he can play 90 in the CL, you can play PL.” “His main problem is he is in competition with Diaz, Gakpo, Nunez, Salah and Jota. They are doing very well as well. A big compliment to him how hard he worked.”

To date, Chiesa has only appeared in the league for 25 minutes so it won’t take too long for him to double that figure.

Given he played the full game on Wednesday and Mohamed Salah was rested, it stands to reason that Chiesa will start from the bench against Bournemouth but it does mean that Slot now has the ability to rest and rotate Salah when needed.

Of course, the Egyptian is not known for being happy about being taken off or rested entirely but there are a lot of important games coming up that Slot needs Salah to be fit and firing for.

How can Chiesa contribute to Liverpool’s attack?

Besides the obvious answer of goals and assists, the main thing that Chiesa brings is his comfortability on the ball in all areas of the pitch. The Italian is composed but also possesses the close control and turn of pace to make him a threat wherever he receives the ball.

As we saw for Darwin Nunez’s second goal against Nottingham Forest, Chiesa is very good at driving up the pitch with the ball and so is a tremendous asset on the counterattack.

According to Fbref data, Chiesa ranks in the 96th percentile for progressive carries with the ball at an average of 4.13 per 90 minutes. This is fancy talk for he is extremely dangerous when driving into space with the ball.

Liverpool tend to move the ball with a greater emphasis on precision and timing than under Jurgen Klopp when it was all about pace and intensity on the break and this is where Chiesa can be so valuable.

Now that he’s approaching full fitness, we should see a lot more of him and it only serves to make Liverpool a more formidable force as they target their second Premier League title.

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