Arsenal 3 Liverpool 1
The Gunners welcomed Liverpool to The Emirates looking to cut the gap to the league leaders to two points. This would be the third time the teams had met in the last month, with the visitors undefeated against Mikel Arteta’s side.
Arsenal had the first clear-cut chance of the game as they caught the visitors on the counter-attack. A quick throw out by Raya set Martinelli away and he beat Konate for sheer pace. The Brazilian cut the ball back to Saka and despite getting in front of his marker, could not get enough on his header.
After doing all the hard work he should have scored but instead, his glancing header went out to the opposite wing. It was a warning for Jurgen Klopp’s side that the hosts were going to look to stretch them on the break whenever possible.
The Reds were losing this battle in the heart of midfield and as Jorginho won the ball and found Odegaard, his vision saw him slot Havertz clean through on goal. The German did not look confident and could only drill his shot straight into the chest of Alisson.
Credit: @Arsenal
Fortunately for The Gunners, it rebounded straight to Saka, who took one touch before drilling it into the net with the Liverpool keeper nowhere to be seen. With only fourteen minutes gone, The Emirates erupted as they took the lead.
Liverpool’s midfield three of Jones, Gravenberch and Mac Allister never got to grips with the game. Odegaard was getting too much space to pull the strings for Arteta’s side, with Rice and Jorginho doing all the dirty work for him.
That said, the reoccurring theme in Arsenal’s game was still there for all to see. Despite dominating the game, they were not creating clear-cut chances to score themselves. They paid the price for this just before the interval.
A long ball up to Diaz in the box and the Columbian did not give up getting to the ball. As he got a foot in to poke it away from Saliba, it hit Gabriel’s hand and ended up in the back of the net. If it hadn’t, the visitors would have surely been given a penalty.
As a result, Jurgen Klopp’s side went in at the break level, despite still not having a shot on target. This was quite the let off and should have been the moment for the German to tear strips out of his players for a completely different team to take the field in the second half.
Liverpool seemed intent to attack from the restart, having some pot shots blocked before Mac Allister drilled a shot wide of the goal. Despite this, they still had not worked the very questionable goalkeeping of David Raya.
Credit: @Arsenal
The Gunners came forward and Havertz played the ball to Odegaard on the edge of the box. He checked back onto his left foot and his deflected effort went narrowly wide of the visitor’s goal. Another warning shot fired by Arteta’s side.
Havertz ran through towards goal but Mac Allister did well to get in front of the German before both players ended in a heap on the floor with the Arsenal man screaming for a penalty. The replay showed that he in fact kicked the back of the Liverpool midfielder. Both referee and VAR agreed.
The Reds then hit the self-destruct button as a long ball for towards Martinelli created carnage. Van Dijk used his strength to hold the Brazilian off as Alisson came sprinting out of his goal to meet the ball. The only problem, he missed it.
Liverpool’s captain was not even looking at the ball, expecting his keeper to boot it clear and Martinelli had the simple task of knocking it into an empty net. Two usually reliable players for Jurgen Klopp were doing their best impression of a Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson sketch.
Arsenal then had the chance to put the game to bed as Odegaard dinked a ball into the box where Kiwior was unmarked in the centre of the goal. Despite being only ten yards out, he headed it into the grateful arms of Liverpool’s goalkeeper.
Nunez then did well to skip past Havertz in the box but in his true style, he tried to smash the logos off the ball as he sent it high into the stands. Had he shown more composure a simple squared pass would have seen Jota knock in a Liverpool equaliser.
The Uruguayan at times can show moments of pure brilliance, but on other occasions he looks so raw you wonder whether you could get salmonella from just watching him. Reds’ fans have to hope their next manager can groom his talents more.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors as Havertz was bodychecked by Konate. The Arsenal man went to the floor holding his face, a common reaction to any contact on Arteta’s players, despite the replay showing the Liverpool defender push him in the chest.
Either way, having been booked earlier in the game, it was always going to be a second yellow card for the Frenchman. Klopp had to shuffle his pack, which resulted in Diaz playing at right back for the remainder of the game.
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