Brendan Rodgers has said Liverpool will receive an important psychological lift with victory at Arsenal and that dominating space, not the ball, is the key to winning at the Emirates Stadium.
Liverpool face Arsène Wenger’s side on Monday having made a 100% start to the new Premier League campaign and aiming for their first win at the Emirates since August 2011. With Arsenal losing their first game of the season at home to West Ham United, and his team recording two 1-0 victories while integrating several new signings, Rodgers believes another away win would have a major impact on Liverpool’s morale.
The Liverpool manager, who saw his team collect only five points from a possible 24 against the top four last season, said: “It is a game against a rival you are going to be competing with at the top end of the table and while Monday’s game won’t give a full picture of how it will finish up it is important for confidence and psychologically.
“Arsenal, like many teams, are still trying to find rhythm and flow but while doing that you want to win. West Ham got a good result there but with [Alexis] Sánchez back he is a real catalyst for them and they played well at Crystal Palace. It is a challenge we are looking forward to.”
Rodgers has clearly done his homework on Arsenal’s problems on home soil, insisting there is a familiar pattern to away wins at the Emirates.
He said: “If you assess games against Arsenal we have always had dominance of the ball, especially at home. If you assess the last 10 games Arsenal have lost at home, it was about dangerous possession for the teams who won.
They only averaged four shots on target with 43% possession. That tells you you don’t need to dominate the ball but you can dominate the space. That is important in the away games. Tactically we’ll arrive in a good mind about how we can win it. There are certain games you look at the approach to get you the result and that is something we have been working on this week.”
At a press conference held on Saturday to preview the Arsenal fixture, Rodgers also entered the debate over Christian Benteke’s controversial winner against Bournemouth. The Premier League has written to all 20 clubs to clarify the new offside rules after the linesman Harry Lennard wrongly allowed Benteke’s goal on Monday to stand despite Philippe Coutinho being offside, attempting to play the ball and distracting Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
Rodgers claimed Lennard had “made an excellent decision in terms of assessing very quickly there might have been an intent but there is no way Philippe Coutinho is going to get the ball”. He also praised Benteke’s movement and finishing before adding, strangely: “Of course if I am Eddie Howe and Bournemouth I am going to be disappointed because it was only a few weeks ago we were told that was offside and shouldn’t count.”
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