Liverpool cruised to a 6-3 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, but it was Trent Alexander-Arnold’s superb cross to Luis Diaz that set Arne Slott’s Premier League leaders on course for this emphatic result.
“The cross is something else,” Gary Neville commented Sky Sports. “It’s precision. There are very few players in the history of the Premier League who can get a sixpence like that, with that level of accuracy, speed and whip. It’s absolutely perfect.”
Alexander-Arnold’s pass was the highlight of the match as his four successful shots from open play were the most he had ever made in a Premier League game, in fact it had been two-and-a-half years since he last did so, also against Spurs. , as it happens.
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
FREE TO WATCH. Highlights from Tottenham v Liverpool
But it’s his wider range of passing that makes Alexander-Arnold such a rare talent. Much has been made of the control that Slott has tried to exert at Liverpool, but their right-back remains understated, often looking for riskier but more rewarding passes. :
He has made the most passes of any player in the Premier League this season, with 205, and his average passing distance is 19.1 metres, the longest of any Liverpool player .
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s passes often break the backline of Liverpool’s opponents
It becomes clear from the number of passes he made, breaking the back line. Alexander-Arnold averages 11.5 passes per 90 minutes this season, second only to Kevin De Bruyne, but the Liverpool man manages it from deeper areas.
Seven of his passes against Tottenham went past six or more opponents. It’s been more than a year since he’s done that in a Premier League game, but it shows he can cut through a team. There’s certainly no more impressive passer in the country.
Rodgers’ dribbling against Manchester City
“He exploded last season and I think he’s a really high-class player. That was Pep Guardiola’s verdict after Manchester City’s departure from Aston Villa on Saturday.” In a 2:1 loss.
It was perhaps the most remarkable performance this reporter has seen all season, harassing the reigning champions with his power, running away from them with his speed and punishing them with his skill.He stood out against his old club.
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
FREE TO VIEW. Highlights from Manchester City vs Aston Villa
He set up John Duran’s opener and then scored the second himself.He has five goals and three assists in the Premier League this season, but that only hints at his role under Unai Emery.
Rodgers, 22, ranks among the top 10 players in the Premier League for dribbles and through balls, but what is particularly interesting is his immense importance to Emery, arguably his toughest opponent.
He dribbled five times against City, having done the same against Arsenal. Rodgers hasn’t done it more than twice in any of his appearances this season against teams other than the top two. Villa are using him to get up the pitch in these games :
“We had to switch,” Emery explained afterward. “One of the qualities he showed was his drives, and we were able to get past him “.
There have been some suggestions that Rodgers has looked tired at times this season, and understandably so.This was the first time in a month that he had played at the weekend without also featuring in a midweek game for Villa.
Interestingly, four of Rodgers’ five Premier League goals this season have come in games where he hasn’t played in the previous midweek.
Leicester’s contrasting keepers
If Mads Hermansen’s importance at Leicester City was still in doubt, the goalkeeper’s absence against Wolves highlighted it as Danny Ward was criticized by the home support as the Foxes ran out 3-0 winners at the King Power Stadium :
According to Opta, none of the three goals were attributed to him as an error. James Justin was more obviously at fault for the second, but it was tempting to think the hugely impressive Hermansen could have kept Wolves from scoring all of them.
The boos for Ward were unseemly but reflect the fans’ frustration, and the stats back up the eye test.In Hermansen, Leicester have the most goals scored in the Premier League this season with a combined 6.44 goals.
Mads Hermansen has prevented more goals than any other Premier League goalkeeper
In the current season, Hermansen scored the second most shots in the Premier League
That’s partly because he’s faced the second most shots of any goalkeeper in the competition, which in itself speaks volumes for how precarious a position Leicester are in. With almost anyone else out there, they’d surely be sitting in the relegation zone already.
With Hermansen out for a while, the fear is that’s where they’ll end up. And Leicester have been an issue here in the 2022/23 season, with Ward and Daniel Iversen struggling throughout that campaign. :
Ward’s record that season underlines the contrast: while Hermansen is preventing 0.42 goals per 90 minutes this season, Ward ranks last among Premier League goalkeepers at 0.28 goals per 90 minutes over the past three years.
On average, that means the difference between the two could be two goals every three games. Unsurprisingly, Leicester will be eagerly awaiting his return. The defeat at Wolves was a bit of an unwelcome taste of how things might go without him.
