Sport | Football

Reds backline looking vulnerable ahead of tricky games against Man City and Newcastle

Liverpool dropped more points as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Aston Villa on Wednesday

Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Four reasons to give Arsenal title hope ahead of tough Liverpool run	Liverpool draw at Aston Villa to give Arsenal title-race hope	Liverpool draw at Aston Villa to give Arsenal hope

Simon Collings @sr_collings1 minute ago

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Arsenal are feeding off hope in this title race and seeing Liverpool draw with Aston Villa will have given them more belief that Arne Slot’s leaders can be caught.

For the third time in their last three Premier League games, Liverpool dropped points as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Villa Park on Wednesday.

The gap to Arsenal is now eight points, but the Gunners have a game in hand and can cut their lead to five points with a win over West Ham on Saturday.

Liverpool then head to Manchester City on Sunday and Slot will be determined for his side to bounce back after a frustrating night in the Midlands.

Much of the spotlight fell on Liverpool’s attack given their wastefulness.

They had 17 shots on goal, but just three were on target.

Darwin Nunez was, perhaps, the most culpable and he squandered a glorious chance with just over 20 minutes to go.

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“You can understand there is one person in the dressing room who feels quite down,” said Slot.

“[Dominik] Szoboszlai made it an open goal chance and then Darwin was, of course, it was not his best leg, he’s right footed, of course, but it was still a big chance.

“I was hoping that he could have got another one, because a player like him probably wouldn’t miss two chances in a row.”

For all the talk of Liverpool’s wasteful attack, their defence looked vulnerable on Wednesday and that, more than anything, will give Arsenal hope they will drop more points.

Since beating Manchester City 2-0 at the start of December, the Reds have kept just three clean sheets in 13 Premier League games.

In that time, they have conceded 18 goals, too.

In the 13 Premier League games before that, Liverpool kept seven clean sheets and conceded just eight goals.

For much of this season, Slot’s side have had the best defence in the Premier League.

But now Arsenal have conceded four goals less than them.

Injuries have played their part and, in particular, the absence of Ibrahima Konate from Liverpool’s backline in December was felt.

Arsenal, though, know all too well about the impact injuries can have and will have little sympathy for their rival’s struggles.

A leaky Liverpool defence will give the Gunners hope they can be caught, especially given what Slot’s side have on the horizon.

A trip to the Etihad on Sunday is followed up three days later by Newcastle, and the in-form Alexander Isak, coming to Anfield.

It feels like a defining set of matches in the title race, especially as after that the home stretch will be in sight as we enter the final 10 games of the season.

The trump card for Liverpool could, of course, be Mohamed Salah.

He may be a forward but he has the ability to help make up for the holes in Liverpool’s defence with his excellent output in front of goal.

Salah on Wednesday took his tally in the Premier League to 24 goals and 15 assists in just 26 games.

The Egyptian also became the first player to score and assist in 10 different matches in one of Europe’s big five leagues in a single season since Lionel Messi for Barcelona a decade ago.

Salah is at that Messi level right now and it is easy to see how he could end up finishing this season with a record tally of 50 goals and assists combined in the Premier League.

That would, surely, be enough to get Liverpool over the line but, while they keep conceding goals, Arsenal still have hope in the title race.

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