Curtis Jones wins 100% of duels, asks Jurgen Klopp big question

Curtis Jones asked Jurgen Klopp the big question with his performance for Liverpool against Arsenal. This was a very different Jones.

Curtis Jones took the headlines in midweek as he scored two fantastic goals in Liverpool's 5-1 win over West Ham United. It made him an almost certainty to face Arsenal on Saturday.

That proved to be the case, too, as Jurgen Klopp stuck with the Scouser from the start. Jones played 68 minutes at Anfield - but there were no incredible goals this time around.

However, with the game now behind us, Jones did make another kind of statement. He suddenly looks like Liverpool's most reliable midfielder.

This wasn't a game, after all, where the midfields flowed and created. It was more of a fight and about establishing position - and Jones did that very well.

He won his sole tackle in the game, as well as his two challenged headers. Jones also won an interception, got a shot off and completed 88 per cent of his passes.

That last figure is arguably the most impressive. No midfielder passed at a better rate and the only two who matched it were defensive midfielders - Wataru Endo and Declan Rice.

Jones won 100 per cent of duels, completed passes far better than others in his position and was Liverpool's most consistent midfielder. In fact, of the other advanced midfielders to play in the game - Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz - Jones was dispossessed the least (just once).

Szboszlai, Havertz and Gravenberch were all tackled twice, and Odegaard four times.

And so Jones is now asking Klopp the big question - should he be the first midfielder on the teamsheet? He showed he was a matchwinner in midweek, now he's shown how he can fight and bring consistency to midfield in a massive game.

If he keeps this up, the Scouser will very quickly cement his place in the starting XI.