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After a September clash against Manchester United, Liverpool's forthcoming match against current league leaders Arsenal always looked to be the toughest test of the early season for Brendan Rodgers' side. And according to Jordan Henderson, a newly implemented tactical wrinkle to the surprisingly successful 3-5-2 employed in recent weeks could play a role in the club's chances come Saturday.
"I thought we defended really well and going forward we looked really threatening," said Henderson of Liverpool's performance against West Brom before moving on to highlight the shift to one holding midfielder behind two more advanced players as ket to that success. "Both Stevie and myself could get forward more with Lucas as our protection. That was the idea and I was a bit disappointed not to get a goal. I had a good chance in the first half."
With a few unexpected weeks off seeming to have given Lucas the fitness boost needed to do the heavy lifting as the lone holding player against West Brom, expectation will be high for a similar set-up involving Henderson, Lucas, and Gerrard against Arsenal with it unlikely Philippe Coutinho will be ready to start on his return from injury. The expectation will be similarly high amongst the players, with the entire squad growing in confidence with each passing week.
"Confidence is very high at the minute," Henderson added. "We've started the season very well, but there's still room for improvement and we're still going to push and try and become better as a team, so hopefully we can keep doing what we've been doing and we can go to the Emirates and get a good result. They're all tough games in the Premier League and Arsenal have been flying of late, but so have we, so I think it will be a good game to watch and hopefully we can get a good result.
"It would send out a message to the rest of the teams that we're here and we mean business. But I think the main focus is going there and playing like we have been. We're just focusing on progressing as a team and we're looking forward to the big game on Saturday."