Arsenal receive triple title boost ahead of Liverpool amid Riccardo Calafiori and Bukayo Saka wait

Arsenal secured their second win of the season in Europe with a narrow victory against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night.

That said, there were signs of encouragement that should act as a boost going into the clash with Arne Slot’s side.

With that in mind, football.london goes through what they see as potential Premier League title boosts following the European win.

How hard he works

Now, granted, I’d love it if Kai Havertz was banging in the goals and to be fair to him, this was the first time in eight games he has failed to score at the Emirates Stadium after what has been a great run of form. However, what he produced on Tuesday night was an incredibly intense display - winning tackles, aerial duels, fouls and creating for his teammates.

There were definitely opportunities that went by the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard that certainly should have had a better outcome. Arsenal will need his work rate on Sunday and an eighth goal in nine home games would not hurt either.

A midfield rediscovered

Being very honest, what we witnessed at Bournemouth on the weekend was simply not good enough from a midfield perspective. Mikel Merino, Declan Rice and Thomas Partey might be a combination that can work, but last weekend it simply didn’t.

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An obvious lack of creativity was the bedrock of the problems that the side endured and after going down to ten men, the changes did very little to stem the existing problems escalating as the game went on. For Shakhtar, Arsenal’s use of Leandro Trossard through the middle with two wide players in Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli allowed for greater threat and incisiveness.

Against Liverpool, the hope will be that Bukayo Saka returns to fitness and takes up the right wing slot. Martinelli had a good game and threatened, forcing the goal of course, and reuniting the front three that saw the side through an unbeaten start to the campaign gives them the best hope of winning, perhaps as underdogs, against Liverpool.

Calafiori replacement

The timing could not be worse with Liverpool just four days away.

In his place, neither of Oleksandr Zinchenko nor Jakob Kiwior were selected and instead Myles Lewis-Skelly came on. He looked comfortable on the ball, and moved into the semi-midfield role seamlessly.

Defensively there were certainly question marks and some very nervy moments. The idea he could go up against Mohamed Salah is scary, and it would be a shock to see him there but diamonds are indeed made under pressure.