Arne Slot issues injury update and sends Arsenal warning to Liverpool stars

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has issued an injury update ahead of his side’s huge clash with Arsenal this weekend. Premier League fans will be treated to an early look at which team may be the title favourites when the Gunners take on the reigning champions at Anfield.

Nothing will be decided at this stage, and it’s not even close to a six-pointer with each team having 35 more games to play, but a win will serve as a key confidence boost should one of the teams come out on top.

At the very least, it’s an important litmus test for two sides who have both invested heavily in their respective squads this summer, and it’s not always an easy task to bed in new players.

Ahead of the game, Liverpool boss Slot has issued an injury update, providing some good news on Conor Bradley, who has remained fit after returning on the back of a long lay-off last time out.

“No, I don’t think so,” Slot told reporters when asked if there were any new issues. “I think the positive is that Conor Bradley only had one or two training sessions before the Newcastle game, he has trained this week the whole week – [well] not the whole week as there are still two days to go.

“(Alexis) Mac Allister has also started training again so I don’t think we had any injuries coming out of that game [at Newcastle], no. And Virgil (van Dijk) is also OK.”

Liverpool have ‘a lot’ to improve

Liverpool beat Bournemouth in their opener and beat 10-man Newcastle United 3-2 in their most recent outings, but while the Reds are winning games, there are concerns over early defensive issues, with four goals conceded in two games.

Asked what his side need to improve, Slot said: “The most simple answer to that is 'a lot' because we face a very strong team that were already really good last season and I think they have improved their squad a lot during the summer.

“If you then look at all the quality they have and especially one thing that stands out in the season until now – and what stands out in a negative way for us is we have conceded, if I include the [Athletic Club] Bilbao game, [from] four set-pieces. Of course, as we all know, that is one of their strengths – not the strength, but one of their strengths.

“They can play in multiple ways, you can see how well they are managed by Mikel [Arteta] and they are working for five years together, because they can play almost every style there is in football. That tells you how well managed they are. One of their strengths is also set-pieces and that is an area where, if you look at Monday when we faced Newcastle we conceded two and against Bilbao two, we need to improve. We were, by the way, really good last season, so no panicking at all. We also had to defend [a lot of] set-pieces at Newcastle, so then only conceding two is not even so bad!”

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