Liverpool hosted a fellow 100% record side Arsenal on Monday afternoon. At least one of the two teams if not both would lose that record. It ended up being the visiting Gunners after a dominant display from the Reds of Merseyside.
Mikel Arteta and Arsenal had a pretty clear game plan of sitting back defensively but then not being scared to send numbers forward with the chance of a counterattack. Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp accepted this, having the majority of the chances in the opening 20 minutes. Their ever-present pressing made it hard on Arsenal defenders, while their intricate build up play created some dangerous chances. Most notably a chance for Sadio Mané after his delayed run into the box was picked out by Trent Alexander-Arnold and his first-time shot was well saved by Bernd Leno.
Even with the early chances falling Liverpool’s way, Arsenal were the ones to score first. It was their first attack of the game in the 25th minute. A brilliant pass by Granit Xhaka broke through Liverpool’s press and midfield. Alexandre Lacazette then sent Ainsley Maitland-Niles down the left-hand side into acres of space. His resulting cross was trying to find Willian but only was able to find Andy Robertson, whose attempted clearance hit off of his heel and fell kindly to Lacazette unmarked right in front of goal. His scuffed shot still found its way over Alisson Becker who was caught by surprise by Lacazette’s less than ideal connection. It doesn’t really matter how, what matters is Arsenal took the lead. It was definitely against the run of play.
It only took Liverpool three minutes to equalize. After their dominant play in the first portion of the game you can’t say it wasn’t deserved either. Naby Keita took drove at Arsenal’s defense when David Luiz and Granit Xhaka pulled him down. The referee did well to let play continue as the ball fell to Roberto Firmino after the foul. He passed to Mohammed Salah whose brilliant first touch and pace got him past Kieran Tierney. He then rifled a shot that was parried by Bernd Leno but then fell to the anticipating Mané who tapped it in from 3 yards. It was an astonishingly quick response from the Reds.
The rest of the half proceeded with more Liverpool dominance. They had all of the ball and were patiently passing around Arsenal’s low block trying to find their way through it. Alexander-Arnold would be the one who provided the pass that did just that. After a little bit of buildup play from Salah, he passed it back to Alexander-Arnold who whipped in a delicious delivery to the back post. It just went over a jumping Hector Bellerin’s head and the man who gifted Arsenal the opening goal, Robertson, was there to finish it off rather comfortably for a left back. And just like that Liverpool were in the lead going into half time after originally falling behind.
The beginning of the second half was similar to the first. Liverpool were dominant while trying to get the third goal that would probably end the game. However, as the game went on Arteta brought on some attacking reinforcements as they searched for the equalizer. One of those reinforcements in Dani Ceballos, created their best chance of doing that. His pinpoint and timely through ball found Lacazette who was clean through on goal. Moments earlier the same exact play happened, but Alisson saved his shot and a delayed flag came out to suggest he was offsides. This time around he was clearly onside and just had to beat an onrushing Alisson. Alisson was confident and quick off of his line cutting off the angle really well. Lacazette took a quick touch to the side of Alisson and then tried to chip it past the goalie, but Alisson stood his ground and made an excellent save to deny Lacazette and Arsenal the equalizer. After that chance you got the feeling that was their moment to get a result from the game.
Sure enough, Liverpool continued to dominate with Arsenal not getting too many chances. Liverpool a little surprisingly continued to press and try for a 3rd to put the game away. With them attacking and being so successful, it stopped Arsenal from having any sort of possession that would allow them to create any chances. New signing Diogo Jota came into the picture in the 75th minute for his Premier League debut, and he made a big impact. He had 2 or 3 really good chances and looked like he fit in naturally with his pressing ability that was talked up by assistant manager Pep Lijnders in midweek. After only 13 minutes of playing in the Premier League while wearing a Liverpool shirt, his impact was rewarded with a goal. Salah once again was able to hold up play with the ball at his feet and then feed it back to Alexander-Arnold who whipped in another inviting delivery that was headed clear. The clearance wasn’t the best and only went as far as Jota at the top of the box. His first touch with his thigh wasn’t the best but it sat up nicely for him to skillfully slice a volley into the bottom left hand corner. The strike went through Bellerin’s legs and nicked the post on the way in, giving Leno absolutely no chance. It was a great goal to top off a pretty impressive cameo from the newly acquired forward.
With that goal coming in the 88th minute, the game was done and dusted. Liverpool would end up as 3-1 winners. Jota’s goal means Liverpool jump over Everton into second place in the premier league with three wins from three games, meaning Jota is probably already loved by Liverpool fans around Merseyside. Arsenal on the other hand drop to fifth place but can come away with a lot of positives and a benchmark for where they need to be in order to challenge for silverware.
This game was utterly dominant from Liverpool. It can act as yet another strong message to the rest of the Premier League that they aren’t going anywhere. They showed in this game they’ll be just as good if not better as they were last season. If other teams want to catch up, they’ll need to match that quality of play. Liverpool seemed to slowly but surely ramp up the pressure on Arsenal and always looked in control, even when they were scored on. Other than one mistake that seemed more unlucky than a lack of concentration, they looked in peak form. They seemed to score when they wanted, with a prime example being the fact that they scored right after Arsenal did. It was a sublime performance. And it sends a clear message to the league: Liverpool are still definitely title contenders. If other teams in the league want the Premier League trophy, it’s looking like they’ll need to go through Liverpool to get there.