Liverpool’s set piece dominance can be the key to beating vulnerable Leeds United side

Liverpool host Leeds United on Wednesday evening in a crucial Premier League clash.

The Reds can make it nine wins on the bounce in all competitions and go to within three points of league leaders Manchester City, who play Everton on Saturday.

And Jurgen Klopp’s side will fancy themselves to take all three points against a Leeds side struggling with injuries and winless in four games.

Robin Koch’s suspected concussion means he joins Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper and Patrick Bamford on the sideline for Wednesday.

And those key injuries - combined with some worrying underlying defensive stats for Leeds - should provide the key for set-piece success.

Leeds’ set-piece woes

Since their promotion to the Premier League in 2020, Leeds United’s set-piece problems have been well documented.

They conceded 15 goals from set-plays last season - the most in the league - and have already conceded 12 so far this campaign.

Manchester United hadn’t scored from a corner set piece this season in 139 attempts, until they travelled to Elland Road on Sunday and Harry Maguire headed home.

And Liverpool know all too well how vulnerable their visitors can be, having scored from corners in two of their last three meetings.

Marcelo Bielsa’s insistence to mark man-to-man instead of zonally means that if attackers lose their marker they are essentially free.

And that is exactly what happened in this fixture last season, as Virgil van Dijk muscled away from Koch and was alone to power in a header and make it 2-1.

Injuries are worsening the problem

The aforementioned injuries are hugely important here.

In Koch (6ft 3in) and Cooper (6ft 2in), Leeds are missing arguably their two most aerially dominant defenders, while Bamford (6ft 1in) usually takes up the only ‘zonal’ role on the near post.

Diego Llorente has struggled to adapt to Bielsa’s man-marking system and was bullied by Maguire at the weekend, while Struijk will be unable to marshal three powerful runners in Van Dijk, Joel Matip and Fabinho.

Liverpool set to take advantage

For a side who struggle so chronically with defending set-plays, it can’t get much worse than facing Liverpool at Anfield.

The Reds have scored 14 times from set-pieces this season - two more than second-best Manchester City - and have a powerful squad to pick from.

The colossal defensive pairing of Van Dijk (6ft 3in) and Matip (6ft 4in) cause problems for the best of defences.

Meanwhile, there is no one in the Premier League more dangerous with their set-piece delivery than Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Klopp will have a varied armoury of tactics prepared for Wednesday and will fancy a potential front-line of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz to do the business in open play.

But the option of set-pieces to break the deadlock can be a simple and effective method, and can definitely cause Leeds problems.