Parlour claims only two Liverpool players make cut in Arsenal combined XI – ‘Salah up front’
Ray Parlour thinks only two Liverpool players would make the cut in a combined XI with Arsenal ahead of this weekend’s game at Anfield.
Liverpool and Arsenal head into Sunday afternoon’s game on very different trajectories.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have suffered a major fall from grace this season. After lifting the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in 2021/22, they have exited each cup competition in poor fashion and they are likely to miss out on a place in the top four.
Following Newcastle United and Man Utd’s wins on Wednesday night, Liverpool are ten points adrift of the Champions League places with ten games to play.
Arsenal meanwhile are in dreamland at the top of the Premier League. They will five points clear of Manchester City if Pep Guardiola’s side win their remaining game in hand.
The Gunners beat Liverpool 3-2 when the sides met at the Emirates earlier this season. Arsenal will take a significant step towards winning the title if they win again this weekend.
Based on form and fitness, Parlour has argued that Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are the only two players who would be included in a Liverpool-Arsenal combined XI.
“Looking at current form, [the defence] has to be all Arsenal, except for Virgil van Dijk,” Parlour told Netbet.
READ MORE: Are true, brilliant Number 10s coming perilously close to extinction?
“I know he isn’t playing great, but you would get him in alongside Gabriel, no disrespect to Rob Holding, and with William Saliba currently out injured. You would also still have to find a spot for Mohamed Salah, but you can’t leave Bukayo Saka out and Gabriel Martinelli is playing well so it is an awkward one.
“But with Gabriel Jesus having recently come back from injury, I would put Salah up front over the Brazilian. You’ve got to get Salah in there somehow – he could play as a false number nine up front with Saka and Martinelli on the wing – as Jesus has only just come back.
“Liverpool don’t get many spaces. You’ve got Aaron Ramsdale in goal, I am happy with Ben White at right-back, he’s a good defender and has done so well this season, and at left-back, Oleksandr Zinchenko has been brilliant. I love Andy Robertson, he’s a good player, but Zinchenko has been one of Arsenal’s best players in recent weeks.
“I’d certainly rather have White and Zinchenko over Trent Alexander-Arnold and Robertson.
“And in midfield, Thomas Partey has been excellent, and you can’t leave Martin Odegaard out the way he’s been playing. Nobody from Liverpool’s midfield gets in. Partey, Granit Xhaka and Odegaard, as a three, they work so well together, and I can’t see how the likes of Jordan Henderson or Fabinho get in the way they are playing.”