Through all the problems of the last fortnight for Liverpool, the one positive to emerge is Trent Alexander-Arnold.
While too many of their stars are suffering from tiredness or a loss of form, Alexander-Arnold gets better with every game. Jurgen Klopp handed him his return after two months out with a knee injury in the second-half of the damaging home defeat to Crystal Palace on April 14 when Conor Bradley came off injured.
He made his first start since February 10 against Atalanta in Bergamo on Thursday and won the penalty for Mohamed Salah to score the only goal. Alexander-Arnold was Liverpool’s best player, spraying the ball all over the pitch, and the Reds’ comeback hopes ended when the drained full-back was forced off just after 70 minutes.
He managed 80 minutes at Fulham before Klopp brought him off with the game won - and he opened the scoring in the 3-1 victory with an exquisite free-kick to take his tally this season to three goals and nine assists.
Alexander-Arnold, 25, was enjoying his best season before his campaign was disrupted by knee trouble and he is now Liverpool’s best creative player.
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The Reds will look to him again over their remaining five games to see if they can lead them to the title in Klopp’s last season. Alexander-Arnold has been given a free role when Liverpool are in possession and he explained how Klopp has told him to drop deep to play like a quarterback.
“The more and more I’m playing in the middle of the pitch, the more pressure and the more tight and compact I find it,” he said. “So the manager has told me and the team to drop out of the block, try to get on the ball and get up the field that way, whether it’s driving with the ball or passing it over the top.
“It’s just trying to get on the ball as much as possible and trying to make things happen from deep and create.” Liverpool can be exposed by early balls over the top into the space he has vacated, but he knows the Reds must gamble in their last five games with the Reds sitting in second place in the title run-in.
Alexander-Arnold has returned after being out injured (Getty Images)“There has to be discipline in there and it’s not just me who has the freedom to go in there and do that,” he told Sky Sports. “The rest of the team have to move around, adjust and make sure we’re in a good position to go and win the ball back and make sure we’re still protected and not exposed if we lose the ball.
“But within that there is then freedom and space to get on the ball, make things happen and get us up the pitch essentially. At this point of the season, we have nothing to lose as a team. We need to try to get goals as well, we need to chase goal difference.
“We scored three goals against Fulham, which is a positive. It’s a big week now for us to go and push on and we’ve built a good foundation after a tough week.”
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