- Slot admits there’s something wrong at Anfield
- Was left fuming after a loss against Forest
- Liverpool face AC Milan on Tuesday
Author: liquidsp
Credit: Getty Images
Liverpool meet Milan in their first Champions League game of the season, in what will be Arne Slot’s first match in charge of the Reds in Europe.
The two sides had contrasting fortunes at the weekend. Liverpool’s superb start to the season was brought to an abrupt and surprising halt at home to Nottingham Forest. The heavy pre-game favourites, Liverpool were expected to continue their winning start to life under new manager Slot.
But Forest had other ideas and secured a first away top-flight win against Liverpool since February 1969, ending their 25-game winless run at Anfield in league competition.
Milan finally kickstarted their season with a resounding 4-0 win over promoted Venezia. Four goals in the first 30 minutes helped ease the pressure on Paulo Fonseca, who earned his first win as Milan boss at the fourth time of asking.
Slot will now turn his attention to Europe, where Liverpool return to the Champions League after a year in the Europa League. They reached the quarter-finals in that competition last season before being eliminated by eventual winners Atalanta.
Slot was managing Feyenoord, of course, in the 2023–24 season. The Dutch side qualified for the Champions League group stage, but Slot could only guide them to a third-place finish in Group E after losing all three away games against Atlético Madrid, Lazio, and Celtic.
Despite having one of the most difficult set of fixtures, Liverpool will be confident of getting a result here. They have won four of their last five away games against Italian sides in European competition (L1), with all five of those coming since 2020. They also did the double over Milan in the 2021-22 UCL group stage.
Mohamed Salah has started the Premier League season on fire and thrives in Europe, too. His 41 Champions League goals for Liverpool is the highest tally any player has recorded for an English club.
Milan are unbeaten in their last four games against English sides in the Champions League (W2 D2), with each of those coming across the previous two seasons (against Spurs and Newcastle). They’ve never previously managed to avoid defeat in five consecutive games against English opponents in the European Cup/Champions League.
In team news, Ismaël Bennacer, Alessandro Florenzi and Marco Sportiello are long-term absences for Milan, while Malick Thiaw is out until the end of the month with an ankle injury.
Liverpool got through their game at the weekend unscathed. Harvey Elliott is the only member of the squad out through injury, although Federico Chiesa is still lacking match fitness.
Milan vs Liverpool Head-to-Head
This will be the fifth meeting between Milan and Liverpool in European competition, with half of their previous clashes coming in the UEFA Champions League final (2/4) – 2004-05 (won by Liverpool on penalties) and 2006-07 (won 2-1 by Milan).
Liverpool have won all three of their Champions League games at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, winning 1-0 in 2008 and 2-0 in 2022 against Inter, and 2-1 against Milan in 2021. The Reds are the only team to play there more than once as a visiting side in the competition while maintaining a 100% record.
Recent Form
Despite their win at the weekend, Milan have not yet convinced under Fonseca. They’ve won just one of their opening four matches in Serie A and sit four points behind leaders Napoli. They’ve not really had any issues creating good opportunities; they lead all teams in Serie A for touches in the opposition box (133), while only Atalanta (7.9) have generated a higher expected goals tally than them (7.6).
It’s at the back where they’ve been susceptible though, and have consistently been conceding high-value chances to their opposition. Milan’s 0.17 xG faced per shot is the highest in the league. Unsurprisingly, their opponents’ 20.7% shot conversion rate is also the highest mark in the league. So while they’re not conceding shots at a frequent rate, when they do get cut open, their opponents are getting excellent chances on goal.
Liverpool will hope their hiccup to Forest was only a blip. After all, they’ve won three of Slot’s first four games, and Callum Hudson-Odoi’s strike at the weekend was the first goal they have conceded all season.
Who will come out on top? Comment below.
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An under-strength Arsenal face a huge test of their Premier League title credentials at rivals Tottenham, while Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag desperately needs a response from his side at Southampton.
AFP Sports looks at the pick of the action as the English top-flight returns from an international break this weekend:
Can Arsenal cope?
Arsenal have already blinked first in the title race to fall two points behind Manchester City and Liverpool.
The Gunners were held 1-1 at home by Brighton last time out after Declan Rice was harshly sent-off early in the second half.
Rice is therefore suspended for tomorrow’s north London derby to compound injury woes for Mikel Arteta.
Captain Martin Odegaard is expected to miss three weeks due to an ankle injury picked up on international duty with Norway.
New signing Mikel Merino is also absent from the Arsenal midfield with a shoulder injury.
However, there was some good news for Arsenal as Arteta signed a new three-year deal on Thursday.
“Together with the players and everyone at the club, we are looking forward to the coming years, with our supporters, who have emotionally transformed the club and the team,” said the Spaniard.
Arteta has led Arsenal to second-place finishes in each of the past two seasons but he must come up with a masterplan to avoid leaving his side with an early mountain to climb in the title race.
A trip to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium kicks off a daunting run of three tough away games in eight days.
Arsenal face Europa League winners Atalanta on Thursday in the Champions League before a showdown against City.