Arsenal FC: 5 Keys to Victory Against Liverpool

Arsenal have had a mediocre preseason and first game. An appalling 0-0 draw against Newcastle showcased newfound defensive stability but not enough attacking thrust to break the deadlock against the Northern Club. Then followed a fortunate 1-0 win against Italians Udinese. There, Arsenal did create, but again did not have the end product or the cutting edge to defeat the attacking minded Italians who deserved to win the match.

Arsenal will need to win this game to stake their claim to a top four place and prove the doubters wrong.

Injuries:

 Johan Djourou

Jack Wilshere

 Gervinho(Suspended)

Alex Song(Suspended)

Kieran Gibbs

Abou Diaby

Armand Traore

Tomas Rosicky

Arsenal FC Lineups and Tactics

Arsenal( 4-4-1-1): Sczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Jenkinson, Frimpong, Ramsey, Nasri, Arshavin, Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott

 I believe that this is the best team that Arsenal can put out. A form of a new double pivot will be enforced with Aaron Ramsey and Emmanuel Frimpong, with Ramsey playing a more advanced role and contributing less to defense than Wilshere usually does and would go forward at times into that central midfield role which is vacated by the two deep-lying Liverpool midfielders.

Robin Van Persie will drop into those spaces behind the defensive line and look to create the spaces for Theo Walcott to score. He will not be the main creator, however, as that responsibility will go to the wingers, Samir Nasri and Andrei Arshavin 

Will Liverpool Play a High Line?

As I suggested before, I'm assuming that Arsenal will play a 4-2-3-1 formation, which will allow them to nulllify Charlie Adam and Luis Suarez. Arsenal's striker, Theo Walcott, is pacy and a good finisher, but can be lacking with the final ball at times. He can get in behind the defense and onto through balls provided by the attacking midfielders behind him. 

However, this will only work if Liverpool look to attack and play high up the pitch, giving Walcott space to run onto and allowing him to score. However, if this was not to be the case and they defended deep, a tagret man like misfiring Marouane Chamakh would be a better idea to try and hold the ball up to play in the attacking midfielders. 

Liverpool's Defense

Liverpool's defence is the weak point of the team. This was exposed by Sunderland, especially Sessgenon. Larsson and El Mohamedy ran riot on Flanagan, Carragher and Agger as well as Enrique. New Signing Jose Enrique has been good in a conservative sense and did what he was supposed to do. He helped the play down the left hand side.

Therefore, it is necessary that Arsenal store their main creative forces in their two inverted wingers. The point of their inverted wingers is to pressure both a full back and a centre back by getting in between them. That is why Arsenal's most technically gifted creators, Samir Nasri and Andrei Arshavin, will play there.

Wing Play

One of Liverpool's wingers is Stewart Downing. Downing has impressed in a Reds shirt so far and has shown glimpses of his pace, movement and crossing ability and is one of Liverpool's main attacking threats. Downing would be up against the French full back Bacary Sagna , who is experienced and is a great full back and is a great option to come up against Downing. The fear with Downing's play arises from the media's perception that he would link up well with Andy Carroll. If this is true, then if Liverpool's midfield and Downing are stopped, then so is Carroll.

On the other wing, Dalglish has a choice. He could play Jordan Henderson there, allowing him to drift infield and link up with Carroll; however, he has not impressed at all in his new role, and has been lackluster. A better option on the flanks would be the hard working Dutchman Dirk Kuyt. He would be up against a young full-back called Carl Jenkinson, which is an area of concern for Arsenal.

This game obviously depends on which pair of wide men does better. 

Controlling Liverpool's Midfield

 The first focus of the game should be to contain Luis Suarez, He is Liverpool's playmaker and a major threat. Therefore, I have the huge defensive midfielder Frimpong in my proposed Arsenal XI to "sit" onhim, and Aaron Ramsey as a deep lying distributor( With defensive responsibility to detain Suarez) as well who is given freedom to run into the central midfield role with ball possesion to try and create chnaces and draw the defensive midfielders out.

The second threat in Liverpool's midfield is Charlie Adam, playing the " quarterback" role and acting as a deep-lying playmaker to get the balls to the Liverpool attacking midfielders, Stewart Downing, Suarez and presumably, Dirk Kuyt. With the system I'm suggesting, its possible Charlie Adam could pressured by three players at once: an Inverted winger( Arshavin or Nasri), Aaron Ramsey moving up from midfield or Robin Van Persie dropping deep.