'Not sure if he can': Paul Merson suggests he does not trust Liverpool midfielder to start vs Aston Villa

Today at 12:15 PM

Liverpool are arguably the best team in Europe right now.

The Reds are flying high at the top of the Premier League and the top of the Champions League, and the beginning of the Arne Slot era couldn't be going any better.

However, when you're playing this well, you do have to make some difficult decisions in terms of squad rotation.

Liverpool have a number of players who are knocking on the door of the starting XI.

Kostas Tsimikas has arguably been better than Andy Robertson lately, while Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz are duking it out for a spot in the starting XI.

Curtis Jones has been in remarkable form as of late, but Dominik Szoboszlai is also a very solid midfield option.

Writing in his column on SportsKeeda, Paul Merson has been discussing the Jones vs Szoboszlai dynamic, and he says that against Aston Villa this weekend, the Hungarian should start.

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Dominik Szoboszlai should start over Curtis Jones

Merson shared his verdict on how Arne Slot should configure his midfield in this match.

The pundit reckons that while Jones has improved a lot, he shouldn't be in the XI for this game.

"Curtis Jones has improved a lot. But I’m not sure if he can start ahead of Dominik Szoboszlai in this game. Both of them are good players. However, as a manager, I think you look at Jones and get the feeling that he can make more of an impact when coming off the bench. Still a top player, I don’t see any reason why he won’t be considered for an England call-up," Merson wrote.

Jones stats compared to Szoboszlai

Merson would like to see Szoboszlai start over Jones in this game, but the stats suggest that Jones has been better this season.

Jones is outperforming Szoboszlai in a number of key metrics, and that's why he's been starting lately.

Jones was actually compared to Cole Palmer after his assist in the Champions League in midweek, and while rotation is very important, you don't drop a player when they're in this kind of form.

Szoboszlai needs to step his game up a bit if he wants to reclaim his place in the Liverpool XI as, at the moment, he's being slightly overshadowed by Jones.

With Harvey Elliott set to return from injury soon, Liverpool's creative midfield options will soon be very exciting to say the least.