Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has been vocal about the importance of defending set-pieces well, and his side has conceded just one goal from dead-ball situations this season

When Andoni Iraola was told on Friday that his Liverpool side had shipped just one goal from set-pieces this season, his sharp retort suggested it remained a source of frustration.

While many fans may have long since forgotten how the concession came about in match number six of 13 thus far - a 3-1 triumph against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup - Iraola evidently has not.

So it follows that a manager so focused on the minutiae will have devised a strategy for when Premier League champions Arsenal arrive at Anfield on Sunday. Mikel Arteta's outfit has established itself as the division's most effective side from dead-ball situations, notching an impressive 19 from corners alone last term and 25 overall, accounting for 35 percent of its league goals.

Arteta's methodical approach ultimately delivered silverware in the top tier, which only encouraged imitators throughout the division, and that particular style of play has sparked numerous heated discussions about the current state of Premier League football.

Scarcely a match goes by now without a series of penalty-area melees, and virtually every club possesses a long-throw specialist to deploy when needed. So resisting the formidable set-piece merchants will prove crucial to Iraola securing what would represent the most important victory of his brief Liverpool tenure thus far this weekend.

Thwarting Arteta's Arsenal has proved beyond so many sides in recent campaigns, but Liverpool contained the Gunners admirably last season, winning 1-0 at Anfield in late August before an injury-ravaged and confidence-sapped side secured a goalless stalemate in North London back in January.

Keeping Arsenal at bay once again could well thrust Iraola's burgeoning Liverpool side into the early title conversation, though the head coach is acutely aware that his squad must maintain the same defensive resilience that has seen them concede just one goal with 11 men on the pitch since August.

"It is very early in the season because [Arsenal] hadn't scored [from set-pieces] until the last weekend and now they have scored two goals," Iraola says (via the Liverpool Echo). "I hope they stay there 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. I think we have, touch wood, dealt very well with defending set-pieces so far this season. But it's probably the biggest challenge, yes.

"The head coaches are not there every minute and we cannot control everything with the set-plays, so it is (assistants) Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper who are the ones in charge with the analysts this season. I am happy, we are dealing with it well.

"But it is very early in the season so I don't want to say this and then we start conceding set-pieces. It is a long-term thing and I hope we can keep it this way.

"Defensively, we are defending really well lately but still we have some situations where we need to improve. In the league, we have been less dangerous offensively. So it is still too early to take big conclusions but there are improvements needed everywhere, yes."

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Central to Liverpool's defensive resilience has been Jeremy Jacquet's developing partnership with Virgil van Dijk, alongside Ronald Araujo's impressive displays at full-back. Discounting the Manchester City defeat, in which the visitors claimed a commanding 3-0 victory at Anfield following Ryan Gravenberch's dismissal after an hour, Iraola's side has conceded just five goals in seven matches.

Uruguayan international Araujo has deployed his center-half instincts to considerable effect on the right flank, bolstering a backline already marshalled by Van Dijk and protected by the highly-regarded Alisson Becker.

Iraola says of Araujo: "Yes it definitely helps having a center-back at right-back when we talk about defending set-pieces.

"It helps a bit with the height and the physicality of the team, you know. It helps us to defend better but it is true that you lose a little bit also offensively on the other side.

"Offensively we cannot demand of Ronald the same thing of other full-backs and what they give us. But we have to balance this with other positions and other patterns.

"In terms of results we are now probably in the best place but even in the first bunch of games I think, the two draws at the beginning condition everything else.

"Apart from that most of the results have been good, no? We still need to improve a lot like many of the teams right now, especially those who have changed managers. We need to keep improving a lot, this is normal, we knew this [would happen]. The good thing is we are improving while getting good results."

Considering both sides have managed just one more goal between them than Brighton's 23 so far this season, neutral observers might witness a grinding battle at Anfield on Sunday.

However, three points for the home side would represent the clearest indication yet that it is re-establishing itself as a genuine contender.