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Soccer pundit Alan Shearer has named his Liverpool and Arsenal combined XI ahead of the teams facing off at Anfield in the Premier League this Sunday — with some surprising selections.
Shearer, who was critical of Liverpool earlier in the week having watched the Reds take on Newcastle United on Monday, named just four Liverpool players in his team. He also left out some big names from both sides including Ryan Gravenberch and Martin Zubimendi.
Speaking to Betfair, Shearer had Alisson Becker in goal with his back four containing only one player from Liverpool: Virgil van Dijk. He had Arsenal duo Jurrien Timber and William Saliba in there, alongside Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Saliba is an excellent defender but Timber being in over Conor Bradley or Jeremie Frimpong is arguably controversial. Milos Kerkez hasn't had the easiest start at Liverpool but Lewis-Skelly hasn't started for Arsenal yet, with Riccardo Calafiori preferred.
In midfield, Shearer went with Dominik Szoboszlai, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard. Gravenberch, Zubimendi and Alexis Mac Allister can all feel aggrieved at not being in there, with Florian Wirtz another who could have got the nod.
And in attack, Shearer picked Mohamed Salah and Bukayo Saka (despite them both playing the same position) and then one of either Hugo Ekitike or Eberechi Eze.
"Liverpool were really poor," Shearer said on the Rest is Football podcast earlier this week. "I know it’s very, very early, and I know they’ve got new players, but defensively, they are all over the place.
"Milos Kerkez had another really poor game, Mohamed Salah didn’t look his normal self, and they couldn’t get Florian Wirtz into the game. I know they’ve got a great mentality; they won the game, and that is a huge positive for them.
"But there are also plenty of negatives — how they were dominated by 10-man Newcastle in the second half, the way they were beaten for Bruno Guimaraes' goal, Kerkez was far too weak at that far post. They’ve got a lot to work on, Liverpool, to get back."
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Shearer also offered his take on the Alexander Isak transfer saga, which is continuing to dominate the agenda at the moment.
"It has to be resolved," he said. "They can't go through to next Monday again. Newcastle have got Leeds on Saturday. It's just been going on and on. I know the chairman was in Newcastle last night so my guess would be that something has to be sorted in the next two or three days.
"It can't drag on into the weekend again. One way or the other, it has to be resolved. Unfortunately, you have a three-year contract in this situation. That's you or your agent's fault for signing such a long deal without any get-out clauses."
Our Liverpool and Arsenal combined XI: Alisson; Timber, Saliba, Van Dijk, Calafiori; Gravenberch, Rice, Mac Allister; Salah, Ekitike, Gakpo.
English (US) ·