Arsenal Vs Liverpool match report
Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad walked away with a massive win against Liverpool last night, in what was an action-packed game that our lads pretty much dominated the entirety of. This has put us in prime position to challenge for the title after beating the league leaders and bringing us within 2 points of the top spot. A win that we all needed and were hoping to see.
The Gunners walked away victorious after a hard-fought battle on the pitch, and here’s a rundown of everything that happened.
Arsenal started the game on fire, looking confident and raring to go, pressing hard and fast and were looking in control from the whistle, linking up well and creating chances early and it didn’t take long for Arsenal to break through the Liverpool defence and get in front. Martin Odegaard made a lovely through ball onto the run of Martinelli, Martinelli took a shot from just outside the box that was saved by Allisson but only knocked out into the feet of Saka who made no mistake but to bury the ball into the back on the Liverpool net and put Arsenal up 1-0 after just 13 minutes.
Arsenal looked in control and were dominating play until Gravenberch lobbed a long pass toward their front line, over Arsenal’s defence and into the path of Diaz, Saliba tried to shepherd Diaz and the ball away from the goal for Raya to come collect but a mix up at the back resulted in the ball bouncing up, hitting Gabriel’s hand and fumbling into the back of the net to equal the scores just before half time. Some sloppy defending and a chance for Liverpool to get back into the game as we walked into the tunnels at half time.
The second half started a lot like the first and Arsenal were on the front foot, looking like the more dangerous side going forward. In the 66th minute Gabriel thumped a ball from his own half out towards Martinelli, causing Allisson and Van Dijk to have a mix up at the back and the ball landed at the feet of Martinelli to smash into a vacant net and put arsenal 2-1 up.
Liverpool continued to try and get back into the game but Arsenal were defending well and in the 2nd minutes of extra time Trossard was seen skipping around two Liverpool players and darting towards the goal, with only himself in a decent position the winger fired the ball towards Allisson, going straight through his legs and into the back of the net securing the win for the Arsenal, A calm and composed goal from the Belgian and putting us in a great position going forward.
A massive win for our Arsenal men and a win that will hopefully give us the confidence to keep competing for this year’s title. We needed to win at least once this season against Liverpool and after a solid performance from the lads, we look to be in a prime position to go forward and fight for the title.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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Great win. So happy yesterday
Hopefully this win will instil belief in the lads to get on a winning streak
Great Job Boys
🙂 COYG!!!
Pat a little brain freeze I fear!! Havertz had the chance to take a well-aimed shot on goal, but instead, he ended up with a poor attempt even though he had enough time to choose his spot.
Totally agree, Robert. Whilst i’m delighted with his effort you have to accept that he is very poor when it comes to finishing. His general play was fantastic and he showed a lot of desire and passion yesterday. However, I can’t help but wonder how many goals we might have scored yesterday if we had an decent quick footed striker instead of Havertz yesterday?
I’m also still unsure about Raya. I know Saliba could have done better and even cleared the ball but Raya just does not react quickly enough in those situations. Saliba is shielding the ball for Raya to collect but he never does.
Above all though, it was a fantastic TEAM performance and one we thoroughly deserved to win! COYG!!
One thing what wasn’t really mentioned about the win was the injuries. It’s one the main reasons why I really rate Arteta as manager.
We have been crippled with injuries over the last few seasons, yet despite that, Arteta still gets the best out of his team. We went toe-to-toe against treble winning City with Haaland last season, whist we had Nketiah leading our line for months on end. So many other injuries, yet we kept pace almost until the end. This from a manager that most experts thought he’d even struggle to make top 4, let alone adding key injuries on top of that.
Which brings me to the win, but more importantly, the performance against Liverpool.
Partey has a setback before the game. Yes, he would have most probably only have made the bench, and we’ve been used to playing without him, but it was a psychological blow on the eve of a huge game.
We lose Jesus before the game as well. Zinny, and Saka both pick up injuries and have to go off.
Yet despite that, what a performance! Considering you’re up against a manager like Klopp, who’s team are on fire and are averaging something like 3 goals a game since Salah’s absence, yet Raya had barely anything to do.
We dominated most of the game, and were the only team that was threatening in the final third.
Of course Liverpool had injury issues as well, not as much as Arsenal, but it still a brilliant performance.
Injuries are part of the game, and some managers are more lucky than others, but I always feel Arteta has really been handicapped at times, especially at the business end of the last two seasons. Just imagine what he could do with a fully fit squad.
On a side note, MA also gets criticism for his subs, yet his substitutions are either second or first in the table for goals from the bench in the EPL. Another crucial one yesterday from Trossard.
This injury thing is just pure nonsense. As you yourself said, injruies are part of the game and by no means is Arteta more handicapped with injuries than other managers.
Salah AFCON and currently injured
Mac Allister missed whole December 23
Matip cruciate ligament done in December 23
Szoboszlai missed whole January 24
Jota missed 8 matches Nov-Dec 23
Jones missed whole November 23
Thiagos missed the last 12 months
TAA’s missed 2 months this season
Konate’s missed 3 weeks Aug-Sep 23
Robertson missed 3 months Oct-Jan 23/24
Even Alisson has been away few matches!
That is a lot more than we’ve had this season. Our injuries have concerned just the usual suspects of Partey, Jesus, Tomiyasu, all 3 known for missing chunks of every season they’ve been here with us.
Our back 4 has missed a total of 2 matches (Zinc both). Saka, Martinelli, Trossard, Nelson, Ödegaard have missed a total of 11 matches between them, Saka’s only one being the Man City match.
So you saying Liverpool hasn’t had injury problems as we’ve had, is just factually wrong, they’ve had it much worse.
Also City’s had worse injury record as well with Haland missing 12 matches, De Bruyne missing 32, Doku missing 9, Grealish missing 6, Stones missing 10. I dind’t include minor ones like Silva or Akanji.
So that being said, out of the top 3 we’ve the ones being blessed with injuries. Partey and Jesus were well known injury-prone players and we addressed this IMO with Rice purchase but not with Jesus.
But great performance nonetheless!
*I forgot Jurrien Timbers injury which was unfortunate, but him having just featured once, I don’t know how much of a miss he’s been.
So you think, a manager and a team are in no way whatsoever handicapped and inferior with key players missing?
So if that’s the case, you feel that Holding is at the same level as Saliba and Tomiyasu? Because they both missed the crucial final third of last season, and it’s our defence that cost us the title.
“and it’s our defence that cost us the title.”
Is that true? I seem to remember our attack and midfielders struggling as well. If partey or jesus lose the ball in front of our defence and we concede, is that the defences’ fault? Holding didn’t even play that badly – at the key parts of the season, jesus was very poor after apparently rushing back from injury, partey started playing particularly badly, and we often struggled to score. The hard truth is it’s very unlikely we’d have won the title last season if we’d had zero injuries – it was a good season, but we were always a bit short imo.
Davi
I agree with you about us being a bit short. Last year was a fantastic run for about 93% of the PL season, but we were too fragile during the final stretch.
Last year our attack and midfield struggled during that important stretch, and that just added to the pressure; which we have yet to overcome.
IMHO that is the last real obstacle for this team, the mental aspect of handling pressure. Hopefully this year is different, and if we can find some consistency then watch out.
Liverpool was undefeated for months, City goes on amazing runs, and if we can add that to our play we are as good as anybody; Liverpool match showed that.
Not so Durand, as we have a widely accepted “real obstacle ” still; namely the lack of even ONE effective proper striker!
THAT obstacle will only be overcome once we import such a player.
What a wonderful set of FACTS Dajuhi – you’ve made your point precisely, while giving MA and his players praise for their magnificent performance yesterday.
We often read how we used to hold on to injured players for too long, so if that’s the case, injuries have been around the club (like every other club of course) since football was invented!!
On the point regarding substitutions, MA has been so much better this season… apart from bringing on ESR for three minutes!!.
Keep bringing the FACTS to the table Dajuhi and I’m sure every fan appreciates it.
Wow, so it’s a fact that Holding is at the same level as Saliba and Tomiyasu?
Why do you think MA sold Holding if he’s one of the best CB’s in the world?
Who said Holding was as good as Saliba or Tomiyasu?
I can’t find anyone who’s said that, perhaps you can point me to the quote?
What I admired, was the work put in to point out that EVERY club has injuries and MA is not unique in that sense… something that you were claiming made him such a good manager.
MA sold Holding because he wasn’t in his plans,and had brought in better players.
What’s that got to do with your rant about MA having to cope with a unique injury list, that was completely debunked by DaJuhi?
The argument being made is that there is no drop off when key players missing. Which means it shouldn’t then matter if you pick Holding or Saliba. I personally disagree with that.
Would have Argentina won the world cup without Martinez and Messi? I doubt they would have even have made the final.
No, the argument being made by you was that MA had to cope with more injuries than other clubs and should be recognised for doing that – but you were issued with FACTS regarding Liverpool injuries.
There’s no need to make things up about the great work MA is currently doing, but when an obvious error can be so easily debunked, perhaps it’s time to judge him on the work he’s doing – he doesn’t need a false crutch to support him!!
Got your facts wrong yet again Ken.
I never said Arsenal had more injuries than anyone else, all I said was that they had a lot of injuries, and that it hit us hard because we didn’t have the quality in depth.
Get your facts right before commenting in future.
I get the point DaJuhi makes,but I also appreciate that not all injuries are the same. Depth for one,and not just depth but quality depth,is an important factor. For instance,City have Grealish when Doku is out. Sometimes injuries also happen to two players in the same position(like Timber and Tomi)-this situation is different from another team that also has two injuries but in different positions. Then there’s the relative importance of a player to the squad. For instance,Saliba getting injured is not the same as ESR getting injured-in the current squad anyway. There are other factors like timing of injury(an injury at the beginning of the season can have an impact different from another towards the end),type of injury and length of injury. Ultimately,you can’t assess the impact of injuries on a squad by just looking at the raw numbers. Team A (which loses 2 key players to long term injuries mid season without reliable back-ups) can be more affected than Team B which loses 5 fringe players to short term injuries.
Of course context is needed like you say.
If we had 5 key players missing for a home game against Sheff Utd, I would still fully expect us to beat them with ease, because there is such a gulf in class.
Injuries to City in most positions are not an issue, because they have so much depth in quality.
We did not have the depth last season, so when Saliba and Tomiyasu were out for the run-in, there was a massive drop in quality (although not according to Ken and DaJuhi), and the same the previous season when we lost Tierney, Tomi and Partey at the same.
DaJuhl, gave you the length of time that players were out, perhaps you could now give us the length of time Saliba and Tomiyasu were out – but of course he did that and you completely ignored the FACTS.
Your claim was that MA had to deal with injuries that other clubs didn’t have to and, once again, a bit of research proved you wrong.
He DIDN’T say there was no drop in quality and nor did I – you are making things up once again
Onyango, if you read DaJuhis post, he gives the information you are asking about and in the context you require… at least he does for me!!
That’s your opinion and that’s fine. Personally if Henry was out for 5 months and we were relying on Jeffers, I think that would have made life much harder for Wenger. I guess that’s just an opinion, as Jeffers may have gone on to bang in 30 goals for all I know, but it’s an opinion that’s based in reality.
Given all the injuries Wenger dealt with, I guess you ignore every single one of them then?
No, but I don’t use them as excuses either.
We’ve just seen a superb MA squad of players destroy Liverpool, who led the table – he doesn’t need false information to prop him up and, funnily enough, I can’t recollect him using injuries as an excuse anyway – can you?
Ken the context he provided includes type of injury and length of injury but I brought up a lot more factors than that,with examples. I’m not disagreeing with DaJuhi per se, just providing more context to the information he provided. From where I sit,both Jen and DaJuhi are right in their points of view. I agree that all the three teams have suffered injuries and that the situation is not unique to Arsenal.But I can also see the point that Arsenal has been most affected in the last two or three seasons of the three-most notably because Liverpool and City had better quality squad players in case of injuries. It’s not an excuse,just a highlight to put things into perspective and appreciate the team more given the importance of absentees like Partey,Jesus,and Tomi. I’m sure if Liverpool won,they’d have loved it more for just doing it without Salah and Szoboszlai. It’s worth noting that Jens made reference to not just this season. The Saliba injury last season and the Tomi/Tierney injuries the season before were huge. For Liverpool,the equivalent of those injuries would be VVD and we all saw how vulnerable Liverpool was in the absence of VVD.
Some people are not interested in putting things in a proper context as long as it fits a certain narrative.
Liverpool were one of the most severely hit by injuries last season. It is reasonable to suggest that this affected their performances and was an important factor in their final placing.
MC were one of the least affected teams by injuries. When you consider the overall strength of the squad this clearly was a factor that enabled them to field strong teams throughout the season in any competition.
Of course, this does not fit the narrative of other teams being “bottlers” etc. so is conveniently overlooked or dismissed.
Agree David – the point Jen was trying to make, was that The Arsenal had many more injuries than other teams and MA was so good at handling the situation.
DaJuhl pointed out quite succinctly and with FACTS that Liverpool had more long term injuries – a simple analysis.
Our only proven player with a long term injury problem, has been Partey, as we cannot evaluate Timber, even though he looked the part in his few appearances.
While watching MA growing ever more successful in his position, to say that he has overcome terrible injury problems within the sqyad, is quite untrue.
His biggest problem has been depth of squad and, with all due respect, that’s down to him not ensuring he has back up – a LB, DMP and a goalscorer (such as Tierney, Xhaka and Balogun).
8.38 am – second from last paragraph – what are you saying?
Wisely spoken Onyango. You have amply demonstrated the vital importance of TRUE CONTEXT when analysing statistical facts.
Pure numbers and how many weeks out for injuries, do NOT give a full or a true picture.
I think Liverpool are also missing endo (I presume to the ACN?) – I thought they lacked some defensive nouse in their midfield yesterday (Mac Alister was good in possession but he’s not really a defensive mid), and so endo could have made a big difference to the game.
Partey has been the big miss for us this season – side from him our injury troubles have not been anything special, as you say, aside from timber, who looks brilliant and probably would be a nailed on starter by now, but he hadn’t had the chance to establish himself in the side before his injury.
I thought Liverpool looked a bit tired, they have played a lot more football than us lately, but we were excellent, asides from mess up between Saliba and the keeper. Although, Raya’s distribution continues to improve and the speed in which he can catch a ball and pick out a pass is impressive. We had a goal from it the other week and almost again yesterday. Havertz is no natural finisher but otherwise put in a good shift. He needs to be back in midfield but Jorginho was superb and Smith Rowe decent last week, competition for places is hotting up.
A dominant display
What I noticed from so many of the in game comments is how we ourselves lack belief in the team. Saka missed a sitter too but that was overlooked by the Havertz miss in front of goal. The minute that Liverpool scored, the blame game started in full force with Ramsdale being backed against Raya as an example. I know that a lot of it is heat of the moment frustration but there was another 45 minutes to play.
Allowing Liverpool back into a game on the stroke of half time was unfortunate in the extreme. However, I was perhaps a little surprised but absolutely delighted, that the players’ heads didn’t drop in the second half. We actually believed we could win.
I expected a much tougher encounter from Liverpool who were pretty poor. The VVD/Allison cock up was a testament to that.
Not one Arsenal player had a bad game. Some were better than others and credit goes to our midfield who ran the show. Cracking!!
Like you SueP, I couldn’t believe the hostility that Raya received from the fans after their goal.
In my opinion, it was Saliba at fault, but that doesn’t fit into the scapegoat scenario
As mentioned above, Raya nearly made another goal from one of his throws, but hey ho, in the end we were magnificent yesterday… every single one of them.
Completely agree – I thought Raya was excellent yesterday, and the fault for the goal did lie with saliba, who was typically very good otherwise.
Rayas distribution was good throughout and it was good to see him going longer up to havertz – this was clearly a tactic that threw Liverpool off a bit and, even though havertz was pretty well dominated aerially, he contested well and a lot of our best moments came from our midfielders collecting the second ball
If I’m not mistaken, we never lost any big match against top EPL teams when Havertz played CF
Havertz isn’t even a specialist CF and he was a bit weak last night, yet he could still force Konate to foul him several times
His aerial ability and physicality were one of our biggest assets to escape from Man City’s and Liverpool’s high-press this season
Imagine if we have a physically-dominant CF like Joshua Zirkzee, Victor Osimhen or Dusan Vlahovic next season
@gotanidea I guess you watch through the back of your TV. #bangwagonfan
We wouldn’t have won the game without Havertz leading our front line
I agree that Havertz had a very good game last night and his performance was a massive contribution to the win. However, with a natural goal scorer last night we may have score four of five goals. Havertz is just not very good in front of goal.
Maybe Osimhen or Vlahovic can be our ultimate CF, who should be dominant physically, hardworking and clinical
You have a poing Gai👌
But really not about Havertz Matinelli was “street wise” to challenge Van Dyke at the back and then the error he never left them. The Boys deserved their win. And Kiwior coming in was a good one
Martinelli was pretty strong with his shoulder charge, to force Van Dijk made an error
We gave Liverpool there 1st real defeat of the season, we are the only club that have won the league in many enemies territory old Trafford, white handlane,armfield
I was going to say they’ve lost to Spurs but I noticed you saying ‘real defeat’ so I agree, we’ve the first ones outplaying them this season and thus, causing defeat.
Agenda and delusional fans, was that Martinelli that took a shot that led to the goal or havertz? This shows that a lot of you guys that talk and critic Havertz don’t even watch our matches. Bandwagon
I see we have another know it all amongst the rank and file with Chidi36 – it’s all about opinions and respecting other Gooners PAL and you need to recognise that ASAP!!!
“PAL” eh Ken! For a moment I thought your old drinking pal, PHIL was back on JA
Shout out to Kiwior. He had a great game despite having struggled in recent games-shows character. Also,I think the variation in midfield formation is good going forward for purposes of unpredictability-I doubt Liverpool planned for Jorginho. Jorginho,ESR and Havertz can be picked depending on opponent- three of them have different strengths which is good to have.
Whilst this is NOT a low block recipe for success but for games vs footballing sides and Europe IMO we learned a lot us of good things yesterday:
1 we underrate Jorginho, who complimented Rice so well and CAN play for 97 mins. They were everywhere. We dominated a physical Liverpool. This is my starting mf for big games
2 Havertz CAN play at 9 in this style – despite his box and finishing weaknesses his midfield s***housery, aerial power and lay-offs were a key part of our quick breaks and control
3 Raya CAN play in big games. He CAN control his box and his distribution is peerless
4 White is back to his best and his best is very very good
5 Kiwior is becoming comfortable at LB
6 Trossard is an important and very good player for us and we sometimes under-use and under-appreciate him
7 Little Gabi is peerless in big open games but not against low blocks where he is perhaps better used as a 2nd half sub when they are tiring
8 the media and some fans don’t give Ode enough praise. He’s a machine, pressing everywhere, running AND prompting the attack
9 we are surely the best off the ball pressing team in Europe
10 Arteta IS learning as are his team – this was a tactical masterclass
What a lovely review
What I hadn’t realised about Jorginho was his debilitating foot injury recently which I believe Arteta mentioned. By all accounts he only missed being available to play once because of it. A fit Jorginho will be a welcome addition
Great points. Like you,I feel like Odegaard doesn’t get enough credit for hard work he does off the ball. He relentlessly leads our press throughout the game – that takes a lot of energy and dedication I reckon. Exactly what you need from your captain. Him and Jesus are probably the best in the league at pressing from the front.
I don’t want to be too critical but several of these points are not new learnings
If anyone has truly watched and assessed Arteta’s team and his approach to games over the last few seasons these tactical nuances have been there and he has used them in various games.
Jorginho has played this role before. Havertz has also played as a 9.
The doubts about Raya are largely from certain disgruntled fans who have a certain fondness for Ramsdale.
I would agree that BW has been better recently. However, there are still questions about Kiwior at LB.
The strength of the squad in the areas where Trossard plays best is what limits his use. He is appreciated by many of the fanbase but the question then is who do you leave out?
Gabi is much more dangerous in open games. In those types of games he can be one of the most difficult to play against. However, he is threat in any type of game. All forward players find low blocks difficult. Trossard has sometimes played ahead of Martinelli and has also struggled when up against such setups. He has also generally been more impactful when coming on late in games.
I would agree with your 9th point.
The team is evidently evolving and improvements occur over time as players become more experienced, understand the patterns of play better and become more aware of how other players approach the game.
“I don’t want to be too critical, BUT…” Lol. David – perhaps you are missing my point a little. I am not saying that every player is the perfect 10 now and neither am I saying that ALL fans are against certain players (for whatever reasons). rather that SOME fans have been unconvinced. I am also not saying that my ideas are all ground-breaking, merely that they all (to me at least) manifested themselves at the same time in arguably our most important game of the season. Jorginho rarely plays either the full 90 mins or alongside Rice (note I don’t say “never”). Raya looked more commanding than I have seen him (note I don’t compare him with Rambo). Havertz had I believe his best game as a false 9 (note I don’t say “only”). Kiwior had his best and most comfortable LB performance (note I didn’t say he has become the perfect LB). Little Gabi is a confidence player, and his contribution wanes against low blocks more than any other player, as does his input in the last 30 mins IMO. In such games I would consider playing either ESR or Trossard, who can both play wide left, for the first hour rather than the other way around.
Perhaps for you I am stating the obvious, but if so it is not you that I am trying to convince.
Great game; made my Sunday evening.
But, please can the set-piece coaches have another look at the throw-in routine of the team; it’s so frustrating and annoying at the moment!
Zinchenko and (particularly) White take eternity to throw the ball; and when they eventually do, they throw it to the opponent! And they do it so repeatedly you begin to wonder what’s it’s all about.
I think Zinc is alright with throw ins. I believe we’ve scored a couple of goals already this season from his well timed throw ins including Jesus’ goal againt Forest the other day. White needs to improve though. Tomiyasu too-he probably takes longer than White.
Agree with you.
Our throw-ins are pathetic. We take so long and it not only give our opponents ample time to cover all our player, it also slows the tempo down in general, and that rally hurts us every time we play a team, who “only” want to defend.
Absolutely
White is now a legendary “take all day” ball thrower . One could grow a beard , shave it off and then grow it again before he EVENTUALLY throws the ball in, often to a nopponent anyway.
Its a nonsense and I WOULD STOP HIM TAKING THROWS, AS HE DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD. SERIOUSLY!!
worse still he got a yellow card and referees are now on to us taking ages at throw-ins… could come to hurt us if he gets a 1 game suspension.
Also highlights how poor our movement is – we have been quite slow this year for some reason… maybe Havertz ?
Arteta has brought pride back to the Arsenal. Head to head we can finally hold our own against the two top teams of recent times. The fans being electric, it was great seeing Liv getting a taste of their own medicine