Liverpool face one of their sternest tests yet against Arsenal, and a player within the home side’s ranks has already admitted defending Mohamed Salah is an “impossible” task.
Currently, the two teams are separated by four points and two places in the table, and both managers head into the clash with injury concerns.
Arne Slot will be hoping to have Diogo Jota back in the fold, while Mikel Arteta is facing a serious headache over who will be tasked to keep an in-form Salah quiet.
Riccardo Calafiori has been deployed at left-back but came off with an injury in midweek, while Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jurrien Timber are not expected to be available.
It leaves Jakub Kiwior, 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly or Oleksandr Zinchenko as the realistic options, though the latter openly admitted in 2023 that Salah can be “impossible” to stop.
In a podcast with Rio Ferdinand, Zinchenko was asked who the toughest player he has faced is, and he said: “Salah, I think it’s Salah.
“With all due respect to the others, to Riyad [Mahrez] as well, who I played against at Leicester, Salah is an absolutely explosive and unstoppable winger.”
The defender has played against Liverpool on six occasions with Man City and Arsenal and experienced a number of tumultuous moments, with Salah scoring three times across those games.
Zinchenko has only just returned to Arsenal‘s matchday squad after a calf injury, and he will be in danger of more Salah-induced nightmares if he starts.
“The community Shield (2019) we won penalties and Mikel was still there (on the coaching staff),” Zinchenko further reflected.
“At half-time, I went to the dressing room and I said, ‘Mikel, what do I need to do against all this’?
“Virgil van Dijk on the ball on the left side and plays with his right foot without any pressure. With his first touch, Wijnaldum runs behind between me and Nicolas Otamendi, and I need to protect inside.
“Salah drops wide, the ball to his feet and the distance between me and Salah was like 50 meters. Imagine he gets pace against me, I’m finished.
“What do I need to do at half-time? There was like five balls like this in a row.
“When Mohamed is receiving the ball at his feet and he gets the pace, it’s impossible, impossible.”
Sounds like the matchup Arteta should choose if you ask us!
Salah has seven goals and seven assists so far this season and heads into the game full of confidence, no doubt eager to move Slot’s side seven points clear of the Gunners with a win.
