The Radar: Salah missing Arnold's service, Arsenal's defence getting stronger

Welcome to The Radar, a Sky Sports column in which Nick Wright uses a blend of data and opinion to shed light on need-to-know stories from up and down the Premier League. This week:

🔴 Trent's absence explains Salah's dip
💪 Has Arsenal's defence got even stronger?
⚒️ Potter out, Nuno in at West Ham
🔍 Who to keep an eye on this weekend

Salah feeling Trent absence

Arne Slot is on unfamiliar ground having lost back-to-back games for only the second time as Liverpool boss. So is Mohamed Salah. A player whose goals and assists inspired last season's Premier League title triumph is experiencing a significant drop-off.

Salah has not scored an open-play goal in the competition since the first day of the campaign. His numbers are down across the board. Goal involvements, both actual and expected, but also touches, touches in the opposition box, shots and chances created.

It is still early in the season. A goalscoring performance against his former club Chelsea, live on Sky Sports on Saturday, could serve as a turning point for a player who has of course set absurdly high standards. But what's behind his subdued start?

Maybe there is an element of age catching up with him. Salah turned 33 in June. But the absence of the player who provided most of his service looks like the bigger factor. Liverpool miss Trent Alexander-Arnold. His exit has impacted Salah more profoundly than anyone.

The strength of their connection on Liverpool's right was arguably the side's biggest asset, not just because of the volume of passes received by Salah from Alexander-Arnold, but the type.

The right-back gave Salah exactly what he needed.

It can be seen in Opta's data for line-breaking passes. Alexander-Arnold made 147 of them to Salah last season, a whopping 36 per cent more than any other Premier League pairing, with Josko Gvardiol to Jeremy Doku next on 108.

Alexander-Arnold's defensive frailties tended to draw more focus but he was, and still is, a unicorn of a right-back in his ability to break structures and bypass defenders with his distribution, ensuring Salah regularly received the ball in positions to hurt opponents.

Salah has not been helped by instability at right-back this season. Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley have been affected by injuries. Slot has had to use Dominik Szoboszlai there. But the reality is that nobody can replicate Alexander-Arnold's contribution.

Szoboszlai has been the main provider of line-breaking passes to Salah this season in the 26-year-old's absence. But his average of 3.5 per 90 minutes falls well short of Alexander-Arnold's 5.6 per 90 minutes last term. It is little wonder Salah's numbers are down.

Alexander-Arnold had years to build his chemistry with Salah, of course. Bradley and Frimpong are still at the beginning of that process. But Liverpool knew they were losing irreplaceable qualities with Alexander-Arnold's departure to Real Madrid.

It is one of the reasons, coupled with the tragic death of Diogo Jota, for their huge investment in forwards during the summer. The hope is that the arrivals of Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak will help facilitate a recalibration of their attack.

That may well come to fruition as the season progresses. But if Salah's struggles without Alexander-Arnold continue, it will take something very special indeed to make up the shortfall from one of the Premier League's great individual campaigns last term.

Arsenal's formidable defence

While Liverpool's form stutters, there is a sense that title rivals Arsenal are building some momentum. They host West Ham on Saturday unbeaten in six since their defeat at Anfield in August.

Martin Odegaard's return to form was the biggest talking point after Wednesday's Champions League win over Olympiakos at the Emirates Stadium but Mikel Arteta also made a point of highlighting an 11th clean sheet in their last 14 European league phase or group stage games. "It's remarkable from the boys," he said.

Arsenal were indebted to goalkeeper David Raya for his outstanding save to prevent a Daniel Podence equaliser but it was another game in which they gave very little away. Olympiakos threatened but their 10 shots were worth a meagre 0.5 expected goals.

Arsenal were similarly stingy in beating Athletic Club by the same scoreline in the first round of fixtures and the team with the fewest expected goals against in this season's Champions League occupy the same position in the Premier League.

This defensive solidity has of course become characteristic of Arteta's side. But the early evidence this season suggests an already formidable defence has become even stronger. And that despite injury limiting the minutes of the hugely influential William Saliba.

Saliba's absences have derailed Arsenal in previous seasons. Now, though, they are far better equipped to cope, with the additions of Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie ensuring they have top-quality options in every position across the backline.

It is some going to be showing defensive improvement given the levels they were already hitting. Having also added greater attacking threat and variety with their summer transfer business, they look well-placed to mount a stronger challenge this season.

Potter's unceremonious end at West Ham

This job can throw up some tricky assignments and last week brought one: an interview with Graham Potter when he appeared to be on the brink of the sack at West Ham. Sure enough, his exit was confirmed less than 24 hours after we sat down together.

It was impossible not to feel sorry for him as he carried out a full round media duties to preview a game it turned out he wouldn't oversee. But the club will feel their ruthlessness in making the change before Monday's trip to Everton was vindicated.

The battling 1-1 draw has given Nuno Espirito Santo a platform to build on. The influence of the former Nottingham Forest boss could be seen on their performance even after two training sessions.

Everton's opener came in familiar circumstances as West Ham failed to properly deal with a corner. It will take more than two sessions to resolve their issues from set-pieces. But the performance ranked as West Ham's best of the campaign defensively.

They restricted Everton to only 0.73 expected goals. There was better organisation and also some intensity to their defending. West Ham blocked six shots, a big increase on their previous average, as players showed a willingness to put their bodies on the line.

That defensive diligence was a hallmark of Nuno's Forest and there were parallels offensively too. West Ham were set up to attack at speed, registering more of what Opta term 'direct attacks' than in their previous five fixtures of the season combined. Arsenal won't be easy. But at least this time Nuno has had a full week to prepare.

Player Radar: Who else to keep an eye on

Did Sunderland do the best business of any Premier League club in the summer? Granit Xhaka, Nordi Mukiele, Omar Alderete and the rest of their new signings will be aiming to pile more misery on Ruben Amorim and Manchester United on Saturday.