Liverpool's Defensive Rebirth: Araújo's Impact on Set Pieces

Andoni Iraola has pinpointed Ronald Araújo as a quiet cornerstone of Liverpool’s defensive rebirth at set pieces – but even that renewed steel, he admits, will be stretched to its limit by Arsenal on Sunday.

Liverpool have turned one of last season’s great weaknesses into an early-season hallmark. They have yet to concede a single set-piece goal in the Premier League and have allowed only one in all domestic competitions: Conor Gallagher’s late header for Tottenham in a Carabao Cup tie at Anfield in September. For a team that leaked 20 non-penalty set-piece goals in the league last year – the joint-worst record alongside Crystal Palace and Iraola’s own Bournemouth – the transformation is stark.

This version of Liverpool defends dead balls with a different posture, a different edge. Iraola traces that shift not just to tactical tweaks but to the profile of his players, starting with Araújo.

“It definitely helps having a centre-back at right-back when we talk about defending set pieces,” the Liverpool head coach said, highlighting the Uruguayan’s influence as he also hinted that Dominik Szoboszlai and Víctor Muñoz could return from injury. “It helps with the height and the physicality of the team.”

Araújo does not raid the flank like a traditional full-back. He patrols it. The trade-off is obvious and Iraola did not try to dress it up.

“It helps us to defend better but it is true that you also lose a little bit offensively on the other side,” he said. “Offensively we cannot demand of Ronald the same thing as other full-backs and what they give us, but we have to balance this with other patterns.”

The balance, so far, has tilted decisively in Liverpool’s favour when the ball is dead. Iraola has been quick to spread the credit, pointing to assistants Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper and the club’s analysts as central to the turnaround in the numbers. The routines are sharper, the marking more aggressive, the box less chaotic.

Now comes the acid test.

Arsenal, who struck 25 non-penalty set-piece goals on their way to the title last season, built a reputation as the most ruthless dead-ball side in the country. Their corners and free-kicks became almost as feared as their open-play combinations, a constant looming threat even in tight games where little else was on offer.

They have not yet hit that same rhythm this term, but Iraola is not fooled by the slow start.

“It is very early in the season and they hadn’t scored [from set pieces] until last weekend and now they have scored,” he said. “I hope they stay that way for a while but they are a big threat.

“From set pieces they are a big threat. They have very tall players who are very good headers and they work it very well. They give you a big demand and I think we will have to defend very well.”

Liverpool’s defensive numbers give them reason to be confident. Iraola, though, knows how quickly one misjudged run or mistimed jump can shred a record that has taken weeks to build.

“I think we have, touch wood, dealt very well with defending set pieces so far this season,” he said. “But Arsenal is probably the biggest challenge.”

Liverpool’s new-found authority in the air now meets the league’s most notorious dead-ball machine. One of those reputations will come out of Sunday looking very different.