Liverpool can put Gary Neville’s “luxury” title race theory to the test against Arsenal

Liverpool face one of their biggest challenges of the season against Arsenal in the Premier League on Wednesday night, but they have all the tools to overcome it. Jurgen Klopp takes his players to north London brimming with confidence and ready to end the Gunners’ impressive five-match winning streak. If they are to keep the pressure on Manchester City then victory is a must.

The clash at the Emirates Stadium will feature two of the most in-form sides in the Premier League and promises to be hugely entertaining. Arsenal have won nine of their last 11 league games to move past Manchester United and make themselves look firm favourites to secure fourth place – due in part to their three games in hand.

Yet Liverpool won’t have anything to fear from their opponents as they set about trying to cut down City’s lead to a single point following their slip-up against Crystal Palace on Monday.

Klopp’s side have lost just once in their last 17 matches in all competitions – and even that defeat had no real meaning, with Inter Milan still exiting the Champions League after their narrow 1-0 win at Anfield last week. Liverpool’s barnstorming form in 2022 has been solid on solid foundations of 10 clean sheets over that period, but the point of difference arguably lies at the other end of the pitch.

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Liverpool now have a true claim to having the best array of attacking talent in the country. And they may well put it to good use against Arsenal, who already know all about it from their previous matches against them. Mikel Arteta’s side have failed to win, or even score, any of their last five fixtures against Liverpool in all competitions.

They will know the potential absence of Salah may not be as significant as first expected. Salah limped off against Brighton on Saturday and, although he trained for the first time on Tuesday and was described by Klopp as a “tough cookie”, he might not be risked.

Even if that is the case, Klopp has plenty of other firepower to call upon – firepower which could be crucial in deciding the title race. This was a point Gary Neville picked up on after Man City drew a blank against Palace.

“Liverpool are really dangerous. They look really dangerous,” he said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football. “I just look at those five strikers that they’ve got and going into the last part of the season knowing that you can win an awful lot of football matches with those five up front, whereas City don’t have that same luxury in attacking areas.”

Liverpool are a juggernaut on a roll towards the top of the Premier League. They are in impeccable shape and have diversified their attack to the point where a player who has 28 goals and 10 assists in 35 appearances might not actually be needed. Now would be a good time to put Neville’s theory to the test.