Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos has claimed Arsenal will find it easier to defend against Liverpool than they did against Burnley.
The Gunners saw off Sean Dyche's side 2-1 in their first home game of the season on Saturday to make it two Premier League wins out of two.
The Reds feature Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in a feared front-three - but Sokratis reckons that might prove easier to stop than the physical, direct approach offered by Burnley's duo Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood.
And he insists their clash this year will be a different story to last season's thrashing on Merseyside.
“It is a different game," Sokratis said [via Evening Standard ].
"Maybe it is more easy, because you don’t have to fight a lot - but they also play football.
“If they are on good day and you are having a bad day, it is hard. In the end, we know that it is difficult and we respect Liverpool a lot. But I think the best [way] is to go and play our style of game. We will see what happens.
“But the 5-1 last season…it was not the game to take five goals - [there was] the penalty kicks, we made mistakes.
“I think this year will be different, but we have to improve of course from the work we do with the coach and his staff.â€
Sokratis has formed a new central defensive partnership with summer signing David Luiz - and he says playing alongside the Brazilian evokes memories of his partnership with Mats Hummels at Borussia Dortmund.
“When I was in Dortmund I played with [Mats] Hummels, who has the same style as David,†the Greek international added.
“It was also a very good partnership and it is very good [now with Luiz]. It was his first game, it is important that we won and we can go from here."
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Source: mirror.co.uk
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