Curtis Jones won man of the match against Chelsea, but might be overlooked for Sunday afternoon’s Premier League visit to Arsenal, says one Liverpool icon.
Liverpool hero Mark Lawrenson does not think Curtis Jones will start against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon despite his “excellent” performance against Chelsea last weekend. The midfielder was awarded man of the match in the 2-1 win over the Blues, but then started on the bench against RB Leipzig on Wednesday night.
Jones has started successive Premier League matches for the first time since February, but has failed to begin any of Liverpool’s three European matches so far. He has completed a full 90 minutes just once, during the 5-1 Carabao Cup thrashing of West Ham, in which he grabbed an assist.
The 23-year-old missed two early games-season due to a knock picked up in August – and only earned three substitute appearances before his first league start of the campaign at Crystal Palace before the international break. Jones made the bench in England’s defeat to Greece this month before leaving camp for the birth of his child, meaning he missed out on a possible cap against Finland.
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Arne Slot framed his decision to bench Jones against RB Leipzig as “logical”. He said: “I think, in everyone’s opinion, he was the best player on the pitch [vs Chelsea].
“But if you dive a bit deeper into it, he’s only played two [league] games this season from the start and didn’t finish any of the two. So, for me, it was a bit too early to play him again two days later.
“And if you have Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] – who is back from being sick – it is in my opinion the logical choice to make.” Liverpool icon Lawrenson empathises with Jones’ position given the midfield competition at the club.
He nevertheless reckons there’s little chance of the academy product starting in Sunday afternoon’s clash against Arsenal with Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch all now available for selection. “He’s learning, and he was absolutely excellent at the weekend,” Lawrenson told the ECHO courtesy of Free Bets.
“He’s basically having to dislodge one of their three midfield players – who are all outstanding players and are all experienced and as a three. They look very, very good together. So, it’s a tough one for Curtis but he can’t do any more than what he did [vs Chelsea].
“And the manager will be thinking if on Sunday he needs to change it, I think that one of the first people he’ll be looking to is Curtis. So, he’s very much in the manager’s plans.”
However, Lawrenson went on: “But at the moment you probably have the other three in front of him, and they’re all outstanding, seasoned international footballers who are about to play in a really, really big game… So I wouldn’t have thought he would start.”
