PreviewCody Gakpo interview: Defensive work, Liverpool's spirit and Arsenal trip

The Reds head to Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon in possession of first place and the division's best defensive record.

But Gakpo and his teammates are fully aware of the stern challenge posed by Mikel Arteta's Gunners, who have finished runners-up in the last two seasons.

Liverpoolfc.com spoke to the No.18 at the AXA Training Centre to preview the trip to the capital. Read on for the interview…

Cody, Liverpool have the best defensive record in the Premier League this season by a considerable margin at the moment. Explain to us how you and your fellow forwards have been very much part of that…

I think defending starts up front when the opponent has a goal-kick or whatever. We try to do that as good as we can up front to help the midfield. And the midfield is helping us and then the attackers are helping the defence. I have to say, the back four – including the goalie – are doing an amazing job this season as well, conceding only three goals until now in the league. They are doing amazing and we are there to help them. It's a team effort. We cannot take all the credit from them. They do really well.

Have you yourself always taken pride in contributing defensively or has that gone up another level under this new management?

As an attacking player, defending is always the last thing you think about. But in football nowadays it's so important that you are there to help the team. Sometimes it's not that fun as an attacker because that's why you are an attacker, but I think everybody in our squad is aware of the importance of it and maybe that's what makes us that good at it at the moment. We have to keep doing that and I think we can even do it a little bit better at some moments. We have to work on that as well, keep on improving and then at the other end show our attacking qualities as well.

You're solid defensively but also really threatening in attack. Does that just show how well the whole team has adapted to the head coach's style of play?

We are defending well but when we recover the ball everybody is running forward as fast as they can and hopefully we get the ball. And if not, we keep possession and try to create chances from possession play.

And it looks like you're fighting for each other out there on the pitch…

I think we have a very good spirit. We know that we have to fight for each other, and I think we're actually enjoying it as well. I think that's one of our strengths.

So, a good performance in every department will be needed against Arsenal with all the quality they possess…

Arsenal are a very good side. They showed in recent years that they are very good. They have a lot of qualities all over the pitch. We will go there and try to play our best game and we will go there for the win. It's going to be a tough game, we know that, but we have to be ready for that.

Obviously it was a disappointing result in the league there last season. I suppose that game was a good lesson in how you can't really switch off for a second against them…

That was a disappointing match in the end. It was a close game – they played very well, in my opinion. You know when you play against Arsenal, with the qualities they have, if you switch off for one or two moments then you know they can take advantage of that – and that's what they did in that game. We have to be ready for them and we have to stay switched on ourselves the whole game, stay focused and try to play our own game on the ball. Hopefully it's going to be a good game for us.