'Well at least you tried!...'
I had been invited on FCK The News to record a preview (above) of this game, and on there I said two things. The first; was that Arsenal need to come 'and not embarrass themselves as Liverpool have given them a few humblings in the last five and a half years at Anfield. The second; was that Joel Matip should start over Joe Gomez, as he has been in form and 'may nick a goal from a set piece'. Matip did indeed nick a goal, the important opening one and Liverpool went on to win 3-1. The scoreline looks comfortable, but it could have been a different story in the first half, as the Reds took longer than usual to get into their stride.
Arsenal started well in the first half getting forward troubling the high line that Liverpool have been playing. Nicolas Pepe was the main threat cutting in off the right side onto his left foot. Pepe curled a shot just wide that Adrian looked like he would not have got to, and he also got away from Andy Robertson on the break, but he could only shoot straight at Adrian, much to the Liverpool stoppers relief. Even before Pepe's attempts, Adrian had the Liverpool faithful gasping, as he came off his line when not needed. Virgil van Dijk had the situation under control, and was shielding the ball back to the Spaniard, but Adrian rushed out and his clearance was poor; the ball found its way to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but his looped attempt just fell wide of the goal. Matip was back on the line, but he looked confused as to where the ball would drop, so therefore had the ball been on target, it is unlikely he could have prevented it from crossing the line.
Once Liverpool survived those early scares, they started to get a proper foothold in the game and had wave-after-wave of attacks. The game would have been one that Xherdan Shaqiri or former Arsenal man Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would have loved to start as Liverpool's attacks started to get predictable, and they needed someone to carry the ball from the midfield, beat a man and supply the front three, rather then the square passes they had most been played by the midfielders. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Robertson continued to get the ball in wide areas, but their delivery flattered to deceive at times. It was starting to look like a set piece or a mistake by Arsenal would be what Liverpool needed to finally break the deadlock. Then in the 41st minute the goal came, and was indeed from a set piece as I had predicted in the aforementioned preview. Matip headed in Alexander-Arnold's corner, the irony was van Dijk was being held so the likelihood is that a penalty would have been given anyway.
The second kicked off and Liverpool smelt blood, the flew out of the traps and a 48th minute penalty when David Luiz pulled a huge chunk of Mo Salah's shirt. The Egyptian did not go down, but Anthony Taylor had seen enough to have no hesitation in giving the spot kick. Luiz was booked and Salah beautifully dispatched the penalty into the top corner, no keeper would have stopped it, Bernd Leno had no chance. Ten minutes had not passed since the second goal when Salah got his second to make it 3-0. Luiz had been for conceding the earlier penalty, so when Fabinho played a ball into Salah on the halfway line, the joint Golden Boot winner spun away from the Brazilian at a frightening pace and then ran into the box and produced a precise finish into the bottom corner past Leno. Lovely stuff. The contest was over with still over half an hour still left.
Arsenal pulled a goal back in the 85th minuted through substitute Lucas Torreira, but it was a scant consolation. Liverpool showed their clinical edge and the gap between them and the north londoners, but compared to previous visits, Arsenal can look at this with a bit of optimism as they were in the game until the second goal was scored. Unai Emery, came with a game plan to try and neutralise Liverpool, and catch them on the break, but they were unable to take their chances. Liverpool however, knew had to put the ball in the back of the net when it counted and got the job done. Liverpool are still top of the league with an 100% record, but they will want to get that first clean sheet of the season and hope that it will come away at Burnley in their next game.
@DubulDee
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