Liverpool Postmortem: Reds Rally to Deny Gunners at Home | OneFootball

Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool: The Postmortem

This was a game that probably deserved a draw and given the games location, aided the reds far more than the hosts.

Below is how the team lined up, with match details following.

Starting Eleven

GK – Caoimhin Kelleher

RB – Trent Alexander Arnold

RCB – Ibrahima Konaté

LCB – Virgil van Dijk (c)

LB – Andy Robertson

CM – Alexis Mac Allister

ACM – Curtis Jones

CM – Ryan Gravenberch

RF – Mohamed Salah

CF – Darwin Núñez

LF – Luis Díaz

Subs

Dominik Szoboszlai – Alexis Mac Allister (63 mins)

Cody Gakpo – Luis Díaz (63 mins)

Kostas Tsimikas – Andy Robertson (63 mins)

Goals (Assisted by)

Arsenal 1 – 0 Liverpool

Bukayo Saka (Ben White) – 9 mins

Arsenal 1 – 1 Liverpool

Virgil van Dijk (Luis Díaz) – 18 mins

Arsenal 2 – 1 Liverpool

Mikel Merino (Declan Rice) – 43 mins

Arsenal 2 – 2 Liverpool

Mohamed Salah (Darwin Núñez) – 81 mins

Important Match Stats

Possession

Arsenal 45% – 55% Liverpool

Total Shots

Arsenal 9 – 9 Liverpool

Corner Kicks

Arsenal 1 – 3 Liverpool

Goalkeeper Saves

Arsenal 2 – 1 Liverpool

First Half

The opening period of this game was a slow one for the visitors, as they struggled to get to grips with the game state and perhaps decided upon a too high line so early in the game. Due to a precise lofted through ball over the head of the reds left back (by Ben White), Andy Robertson, he was caught dropping too soon to enable the off-side trap implemented by his team leader, Virgil van Dijk.

As the Scot began to turn and cover ground, that famous recovery pace of old struggled to replicate itself within legs that have undertaken close to 600-senior games. Unfortunately for the Scotland skipper, his direct opposition for the afternoon was none other than England’s star wide man, Bukayo Saka, who had recovered from a thigh injury (sustained on international duty) to take his place on the wide right of Arsenal’s attack.

As the flying winger gathered the ball and drove into the red’s penalty area, a superb cut back and adjustment of his frame completely outmanoeuvred his flailing marker, Robbo, before he fired an unstoppable left footbed shot into the roof of Caoimhin Kelleher’s net. The clock read nine minutes and the home side were 1-0 ahead.

The next few minutes allowed the match to settle and it would be on 18-minutes that Trent Alexander Arnold placed an ideally executed near post corner onto the head of the Colombian flyer, Luis Díaz, who flicked on the training ground perfected set piece, allowing the advancing captain, Virgil van Dijk, to head home from close range. With the scores levelled at 1-1, it would be Arsenal that became the aggressor for the remainder of the opening half, without ever threatening the goal of the away side.

As the two battling title hopefuls continued to cancel each other out, the half ended with one more goal arriving just prior to the intermission. Following a needless foul in a dangerous position (on the near side), it enabled Declan Rice to deliver a wonderful curling cross into the heart of the Liverpool penalty area, which was met by the ideally positioned scorer, Mikel Merino. The Spaniard evaded the off-side trap and subsequent VAR analysis to ensure his side, Arsenal, entered the half time break with a narrow 2-1 advantage.

The whistle sounded to end an eventful 45-minutes, with more team talk questions than answers for the LFC head coach, Arne Slot.

Photo: IMAGO

Second Half

On resumption of the second half, no changes were made by the visiting side, despite some flaws in the starting eleven which had ended the initial period. With some stuttering and under-par performances within the Liverpool ranks, it would be on 63-minutes that three alterations would be made by the new Liverpool boss.

Andy Robertson had endured a tough opening hour, Luis Díaz had delivered little more than his assist, whereas the Argentina World Cup winner, Alexis Mac Allister, was not his usual inspiring self and was already in the referee, Anthony Taylor’s, black book. The incoming trio of Kostas Tsimikas, Cody Gakpo, and the Hungarian skipper, Dominik Szoboszlai, entered the fray to breathe new impetus into the travelling party.

As the minutes ticket by, the opportunities were merely fleeting. Arsenal have become a team that is routinely hard to break down, whilst being able to create goal scoring moments from well-rehearsed set pieces. The pitch injury to Mikel Arteta’s standout defender, Gabriel Magalhães, came ten minutes prior to the triple substitutions of Arne Slot, something which saw the hosts drop into a deep and organised block. With space and creative patterns of play hard to come by (for either side), it would be the reborn England superstar, Trent Alexander Arnold, who would be the one to break the stubborn Arsenal resistance.

As the Real Madrid target surveyed those ahead of him, the £120m rated Liverpool academy graduate was able to split the gunners defence and release his Uruguayan teammate, Darwin Núñez, who drove into the final third at pace. It would be the Egyptian King, Mohamed Salah, who would dart inside his rampaging attacking partner, allowing a clever sideways pass in behind the retreating defender. With just the keeper, David Rays, to beat, the reds record breaking scorer slotted the ball into the bottom corner to take the scores to 2-2.

The final period of this game reinvigorated the home side into action and despite some mild uplift in offensive endeavour, the game eventually petered out until the final whistle.

Final Thoughts

This was a game that the home side needed to win, especially after last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth. Liverpool will be much the happier of the two factions, given the away ground setting and ability to reengage later in the season at Anfield. A draw was a fair reflection on the game, where Arsenal enjoyed the better of the first half, whilst the reds were far stronger in the second period.

Steven Smith’s Pre-match Prediction:

Arsenal 1 – 1 Liverpool