Arsenal’s impressive victory over Leicester on Sunday evening highlighted that Mikel Arteta will only need to make one key change to deliver the same outcome against Liverpool.
Cedric Soares started at full-back for Arsenal against Leicester and was constantly targeted by Brendan Rodgers as Harvey Barnes proved to be a problem all afternoon, causing the only defensive issues Arsenal suffered throughout the game.
The Gunners are set to play Liverpool on Wednesday evening and they have the newly-signed Luiz Diaz on the left-hand side who is firing on all cylinders for the Reds currently.
If Takehiro Tomiyasu still isn’t fit then Arteta must find a solution as the victory over Leicester exposed a potential chink in Arsenal’s solid armour.
Tomiyasu hasn’t featured for the Gunners since mid-January with his last game ironically coming in the semi-final Carabao cup defeat at the hands of Liverpool.
Since then, Cedric has been tasked with providing cover and more often than not he has not put a foot wrong.
However, it is clear that the opposing team can exploit Arsenal’s right-hand side as Cedric naturally isn’t solid defensively despite the hard work he puts in.
Barnes was Leicester’s main threat on Sunday afternoon and big reason for this was due to his dominance over Cedric in the air, and his blistering pace to match.
Arsenal will have to be very mindful on Wednesday against Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp’s wingers are experts at destroying full backs.
Having Tomiyasu back for the match would certainly be ideal, but Arteta must take into consideration the mistakes he made by rushing back the Japanese international in the last match against Liverpool in January.
The 23-year-old was unusually fragile at the back and then it also lead to another setback in his calf injury after being rushed into the side.
Cedric has been good for Arsenal in recent matches, however, the match against Leicester proved that once he is up against a quality winger, who is direct in his style of play, then the Portuguese defender is going to struggle which creates issues for Arteta’s defence.
The Gunners have been exceptional in other areas of the pitch, and if the right-hand side can be solidified by Wednesday then Arteta will give his side a much higher chance of getting points against a formidable Liverpool side.
It might mean really keeping Cedric on a leash and limiting his overlaps with Bukayo Saka.
Make sure you have subscribed to The Arsenal Way and the Fan Brands team along with plenty of your football.london favourites will be producing daily Arsenal content for you to enjoy including match reactions, podcasts, football fun and interviews.
