Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori could struggle to deal with the pace of Liverpool's wingers according to former Gunners left-back Nigel Winterburn

Former Arsenal left-back Nigel Winterburn feels that current Gunners defender Riccardo Calafiori could struggle against the pace of Liverpool's wingers should he be selected in the position at Anfield on Sunday.

Italy international Calafiori, although signed primarily as a centre-back, has become Mikel Arteta's first choice in the position for the bigger matches, and is often lauded for making a difference going forward having registered two goals and two assists in his 10 appearances so far this season.

But Winterburn, who won three top-flight titles and two FA Cups with Arsenal, is concerned about him going the other way, particularly against Liverpool's speedy wide men Bradley Barcola, Rio Ngumoha, Cody Gakpo and Victor Munoz, who will hope to have recovered from injury in time for Sunday's clash.

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Discussing Liverpool's wingers with Virgin Bet, Winterburn said: "I'd love to have played against them all. I would relish the opportunity to play against any of those players because you're testing yourself against the best.

"They've got pace, they've got ability. For me, I didn’t want to play against the more skilful players. I didn’t want them to keep moving the ball, it makes it more difficult for you to keep readjusting. I’m assuming it’d be Calafiori (starting left-back on Sunday), so I would suggest maybe he doesn’t want to come up against that - someone with too much pace."

Despite his concerns about Calafiori, Winterburn feels that a positive result at Anfield would go a long way towards fuelling the Gunners' charge to win a second successive Premier League title, particularly with sanctions looming for Manchester City.

However, he added that he feels the squad will be hurting after their surprise Carabao Cup exit at the hands of League Two side Fleetwood Town.

“Mikel Arteta will not want to lose back-to-back games, that's for sure," continued Winterburn. "And if they do, with only one Premier League game before they go into an international break, that would obviously put more pressure onto winning that next game.

"But you know, they're level on points with Man City. Nobody knows what's going to happen with Manchester City. Even if Man City won, and we (Arsenal) lost three points, I don't think you can determine anything at this stage of the season. It's going to be a fairly close-run Premier League again this season.

"I think a lot of people are expecting something quite big to happen to Manchester City. If it doesn't, then I think Man City will be very, very close behind them (Arsenal)."