Carragher names surprise Arsenal player he ‘wishes’ played for Liverpool amid title ‘concerns’
Jamie Carragher has picked out one Arsenal player he “wishes” played for Liverpool as the Reds legend has lost confidence in Arne Slot’s side in recent weeks.
Liverpool have been held to draws by Everton and Aston Villa in recent weeks, opening the door slightly to Arsenal, who are now eight points behind the league-leaders with a game in hand.
But Carragher believes that gap should be larger, and perhaps would be if Slot had an Arsenal player to call upon to bolster his defence.
“Liverpool are the more balanced line-up. There are a few causes of concern more recently, however. It is hard to imagine Liverpool failing to score against City this weekend. Equally, on current form you would not bet on them keeping a clean sheet,” he told The Telegraph.
“Without wishing to sound overly critical, Liverpool should have beaten Everton and Aston Villa. The goals they conceded were preventable. Whoever falls short this season will be asking themselves if they could have done a little more in the summer and January transfer windows.
“For Liverpool, I have been banging the drum about the need for defensive reinforcement and wish they had a full-back like Jurrien Timber. The recent injuries to Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley leave Slot short of cover.”
Timber joined the Gunners from Ajax in the summer of 2023 but suffered a season-ending injury just minutes into his debut.
The 23-year-old has been excellent in his first full campaign, making 34 appearances in all competition, playing right across the defensive line and also looking comfortable when drifting into midfield.
Slot now has only Trent Alexander-Arnold as an option at right-back following an injury to Conor Bradley, and the Reds are widely expected to sign a new left-back in the summer amid doubts over both Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas.
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Although the games are coming thick and fast to put pressure on his squad, Slot is confident his players will continue to put in maximum effort, as they have done all season.
Slot said ahead of their clash with Manchester City on Sunday: “You always learn in every game but I see mostly the same things. So, these players are able to play every three days on the best of their capabilities in terms of physique. If you saw yesterday again, I mostly take Dom Szoboszlai as an example – what a work-rate for his third game in a row.
“Until the last, last second, he kept on running up and down, up and down, up and down. That’s the only thing I can ask for and what the fans can ask for. And that we are then unlucky not to score our chances, that’s football unfortunately.
“But we cannot accept – not the fans, nor me – that they don’t give maximum effort. But that’s what they constantly do and I assume that they will do again. But you never know the outcome because we face – with Villa, with Everton away – difficult opponents.
“The fixture list for us now is a few difficult ones in a row – that’s what you have to accept. The good thing is that we are not behind someone, we are still number one and that’s the good thing if you go into a run of games like this.”
