Arne Slot on the lesson Liverpool can learn from Arsenal in the title race

Evening Standard

·01 de abril de 2025

Arne Slot on the lesson Liverpool can learn from Arsenal in the title race

Reds boss has highlighted where the Gunners are better than league leaders

Room for improvement: Arne Slot

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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot believes his players have plenty to learn from Arsenal despite being poised to beat the Gunners to the Premier League title.

There has been little to separate Arsenal and Liverpool for long stretches of this season as the two sides established themselves as the leading title contenders in the first half of the season, though Slot pointed out that the Gunners set the standard from set-pieces.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s Merseyside derby, Slot said he was proud of Liverpool’s record defending corners but that they could improve attacking them.

He said: “We're always defensively the best team in the league when it comes to corners. We hardly concede goals. Then we concede three or four and it's already 26 per cent. We have some of the best players for defending corners.”

The Dutchman, who joined Liverpool from Feyenoord last summer, acknowledged the growing importance of set-pieces in the modern game.

He continued: “You cannot win a big game if you have a negative balance in your set-pieces. Arsenal shows us on a weekly basis the strength of set-pieces.

“We want to do better attacking corners but we hope to keep our record defensively on set-pieces.”

Aerial threat: Virgil van Dijk

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Liverpool’s squad is well-suited to defending corners. Standing 6ft5in tall, centre-back Virgil van Dijk is among the league’s best aerial players, and, when fit, his 6ft4in centre-back partner Ibrahima Konate can say the same. Liverpool, though, have scored seven headed league goals this season to Arsenal’s nine.

Their goal-scoring record from set-pieces is among the worst in the league, though, scoring just four times from dead ball situations. Only Leicester (4) and Fulham (3) have scored fewer, while Arsenal streak ahead with 11.

This has not been much of a hindrance to Liverpool’s title charge, however. They remain comfortable leaders in the title race, 12 points clear of second-placed Arsenal.

Arsenal’s set-pieces have improved dramatically since the club hired set-piece coach Nicolas Jover in 2021. The German had previously worked with Manchester City and Brentford and quickly revolutionised Arsenal’s routines. The club scored the most goals from corners in the Premier League in his first season in the role and again in 2023-24.

Liverpool do not have a dedicated set-piece coach on their staff, the responsibility falling instead to first-team individual development coach Aaron Briggs.