Andros Townsend says what everybody has got wrong about Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool

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Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold once again proved himself under Arne Slot with a masterclass against Bournemouth.

Alexander-Arnold kept a clean sheet and grabbed an assist as Liverpool beat the Cherries 3-0 on Saturday.

Anfield hosted the Premier League encounter, with Alexander-Arnold impressing Troy Deeney with his efforts at both ends of the pitch.

Alexander-Arnold wants to be the ‘best ever’ under Slot, with the right-back certainly among the top full-backs in world football.

There are no question marks over his attacking ability, but his defensive abilities have often come under fire.

Andros Townsend makes Trent Alexander-Arnold claim at Liverpool

Jumping to his defence, however, is former Premier League winger Andros Townsend, who discussed just how special the Liverpool star is on BBC 5 Live’s Monday Night Club.

“I’ve never been on his side, I’ve never come up against him personally, but I think he’s somebody who is a good one-on-one defender,” said Townsend.

“People talk about ‘oh he can’t defend’, but he can defend, it’s just that his role in the Liverpool team is more focused on what he does going forward.

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“So maybe at times he’s caught out, or people perceive that he’s caught out of position, whereas it’s somebody elses job, it was maybe [Jordan] Henderson or Fabinho’s job to cover him when he gets forward.

“But people see Trent high up the pitch and the winger running through and think Trent can’t defend, but actually one-on-one he’s actually a very competent defender.”

Can Arne Slot take Trent Alexander-Arnold to another level?

Alexander-Arnold has certainly been liable at the back at times, both for Liverpool and England in recent years.

But so far this season there have been very few, if any, faults to his game, both defensively and offensively.

The Reds have kept several clean sheets under Slot with Alexander-Arnold at right-back, with the likes of Alisson and Virgil van Dijk also playing key roles in those superb efforts.

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But the manager’s free-flowing football approach has also allowed the full-back to get forward as much as possible, and that has worked very well so far this season.

Perhaps the presence of Conor Bradley is also driving the number one right-back, with Alexander-Arnold not wanting to be replaced by the young Northern Irish star.