Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal: Match Report & Ratings | OneFootball

By Sam Coles

Match Report & Player Ratings

Before the game began, the Reds’ efforts this season were rewarded by a guard of honour from their title rivals. It was no surprise to see Conor Bradley replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, with the Northern Irishman being just one of six changes made to the team that started against Chelsea. With a win, Arsenal would have secured Champions League qualification for next season with the likes of Newcastle, Manchester City and Chelsea breathing down their neck.

The Anfield crowd may have been silenced just minutes into the game as an Arsenal free kick was swung into Saka at the back post, whose effort was miscued and never looked like troubling Alisson. Luis Diaz had the opportunity to show Saka how it’s done as an intricate attack worked its way into the Colombian for what should have been a relatively easy finish, but the strike was too close to David Raya.

The deadlock was broken 20 minutes in by Cody Gakpo. The Dutchman had initially squandered what looked to be a good chance for Liverpool by dawdling on the ball, by the throw-in was taken quickly by Curtis Jones, and the cross was whipped in with vigour by Andy Robertson straight into the head of Gakpo for his first assist this season.

Only a mere minute later, a beautiful ball over the top found Dominik Szoboszla,i who squared the ball to Luis Diaz for a simple tap-in. Liverpool found themselves celebrating once again just 87 seconds after netting their first.

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Just a couple of minutes into the second half, Gabriel Martinelli converted Trossard’s cross to put pressure on the Reds’ lead.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s arrival onto the pitch in the 67th minute was met with mixed emotions from Liverpool fans, some clapping and showing their respect for everything that the scouser’s done for our club and some more sour responses from those feeling betrayed and let down. The heckles dampened what was a terrific performance here and gave a different feeling to the game, detaching the fans from the team despite everything that they’ve done this season.

As the booing rang around Anfield, Martin Odegaard hit a beauty of a shot towards Alisson’s goal, which the Brazilian managed to turn onto the post, only for Merino to head in the rebound, kept onside by Trent’s left foot. Less than ten minutes later, a sloppy attempt to play out from the back by Arsenal led to two consecutive reckless tackles on both Darwin Nunez and Szoboszlai, leading to the Spaniard’s second yellow of the game and an early dismissal.

A chance to win the game late on fell the way of Andy Robertson, who placed his volley just wide of David Raya’s goal. Odegaar,d to,o had a chance to win the game just moments later but struck wide of Alison’s net. It was then the turn of Liverpool to try and escape with all three points as a last-gasp corner saw Van Dijk have his effort cleared off the line, only for Andy Robertson to convert the rebound. Unfortunately for the Scottish captain, the offside flag was raised almost instantly, and the game ended 2-2.

So, with that, here are your player ratings…

Alisson – 7 Perhaps could have done better with Odegaard’s effort to push it wide rather than into the post for Merino to knock in.

Conor Bradley – 7.5 The Northern Irishman continues to prove that he can replace Trent Alexander-Arnold with his pace and energy down the right flank. Could have done better to prevent Trossard crossing for Martinelli’s goal, but an otherwise decent performance.

Ibrahima Konate – 7 A decent display from the Frenchman in the first half could have done a bit better with Arsenal’s first goal as Martinelli ran off the back of him. He also committed an unnecessary foul on Lewis-Skelly, which denied Andy Robertson of his late winner

Virgil Van Dijk – 7 Once again, a decent performance from the skipper, but stepped forward toward Odegaard for Martinelli’s goal, allowing the Brazilian the freedom to head the ball in.

Andy Robertson – 7.5 The Scotland captain ran it back looking like himself of old. Got the assist for the opener with a sublime cross to Cody Gakpo and came close to winning it for the Reds twice.

Curtis Jones – 6.5 A better performance from Jones than we’ve seen of late, showing his ability with some beautiful passes, but he was caught in possession a few times.

Ryan Gravenberch – 6.5 Gravenberch was without his midfield counterpart, Alexis Mac Allister, but still showed his worth in the first half whilst Liverpool were on top. Unfortunately, he began to fade in the second as Arsenal pressed harder, with big gaps being left in the midfield.

Dominik Szobszlai – 7 A good display from Szobo, he controlled Salah’s pass beautifully to set Diaz up for the Reds’ second and injected energy into the Liverpool press.

Mo Salah – 7 The Egyptian King looked sharp in the first half, almost setting up Diaz for the opener and playing a beautiful ball to Szoboszlai for the second. However, in the second half, Salah looked a shadow of his first-half self and failed to manage a goal contribution or a shot on target.

Cody Gakpo – 7 The Dutchman scored in his 10th consecutive start for the Reds and became only the second player to do so after his counterpart on the opposite flank. Got the opener with a nice header and looked a threat, but failed to have as big an impact as he may have looked to have had.

Luis Diaz – 7.5 Diaz justified his start over Nunez and Jota with a goal in the first half and was consistently a threat to the Arsenal back line. Similarly to Gakpo and most of the Liverpool side, Diaz faded as the game went on.

Subs

Mac Allister – 7 The Argentine brought a familiarity and calmness to the erratic midfield battle, which may have prevented the Reds from losing all 3 points.

Darwin Nunez – 6 Didn’t have much involvement after coming on other than being taken out for Merino’s red card.

Trent Alexander-Arnold – 6.5 The reception from Anfield when Trent replaced Conor Bradley was mixed, but he booing certainly dampened the atmosphere running up to the Arsenal equaliser. He played Merino onside for his goal and came close to scoring from the free kick, which saw the Spaniard sent off.

Diogo Jota – 6 Didn’t do much though, put good pressure on Merino leading to his red card.

Harvey Elliot – 6 Came on late and failed to have much of an impact.