Jurgen Klopp has a big call to make with regard to his Liverpool attack for Sunday's Premier League game against Arsenal.
Since his arrival on Merseyside seven years ago, the German has guided the Reds to success in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Super Cup, the Community Shield and the Club World Championship, all whilst deploying a 4-3-3 formation.
However, in an attempt to arrest his side's disappointing start to the season, the German tweaked the system for Liverpool's 2-0 win over Rangers in Europe earlier in the week. He set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 shape, allowing him to unleash Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz in attack.
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When speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Klopp may have dropped a clear hint that he plans to stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium after admitting that "teams have worked out how to play against us when we're not at our best".
"For us, it's much more important that we become unpredictable again," he told reporters. "We need different systems for that as well. This is not the only system we can play. It was now a 4-4-2. Always when you name systems, it's 'Is it 4-3-3 or is it 4-5-1? Is it 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1?'
"We don't want to make it more complicated than it is, but there are obviously different systems available for us, and we have to choose from now on which one is the best for the next opponent or the best for us in the moment. We have to be more unpredictable, definitely."
Should Liverpool stick rather than revert back to type, then Klopp must decide whether to hand Roberto Firmino a recall to the starting line-up. The Brazilian is statistically the Reds' best-performing forward so far this season, with five goals and three assists in the Premier League.
In addition, he has an outstanding record against Arsenal with nine goals in 13 Premier League appearances - including one in the corresponding fixture last season just minutes after entering the field of play. On that night, Firmino replaced Diogo Jota, and that could be a change Klopp looks to make right from the start on Sunday.
If so, this decision wouldn't improve things too much for Arsenal even if the result is not coming face-to-face with their new arch-nemesis straight from kick-off, having already become one of the Portugal international's favourite opponents.
In 11 appearances across all competitions against Arsenal, he has scored eight times. The first was in Wolves colours during a 3-1 win at Molineux towards the end of the 2018/2019 season, and he actually opened his account for Liverpool following his transfer in the summer of 2020 against Mikel Arteta's side.
In fact, the Emirates Stadium is slowly developing into his happy hunting ground. He's never failed to score in this fixture with Liverpool, not to mention he has notched a pair of braces on two of his last three visits - including goals either side of half-time to deny Arsenal a place in last season's Carabao Cup final.
Whatever decision Klopp makes in attack is unlikely to fill Arteta with too much confidence, given Firmino and Jota's respective goalscoring records. So, Arsenal fans ought to be hopeful that Spaniard has devised a plan to stop the pair, as they will surely be Liverpool's biggest threats in attack in north London if they both feature.
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