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Liverpool could feel the blow of opportunity. Chelsea’s shocking loss at home to West Brom earlier in the day had shattered their safety in fourth place and how Liverpool became capital. Jürgen Klopp’s team had fun in London this season and the trend continued with a fifth win in six visits to accompany the draw in Fulham. Quite abruptly, they are only a short distance from a Champions League final through the Premier League.
This was not just a victory; it was a controlled detonation from Arsenal, which failed to show any sparks of attack. All Mikel Arteta’s team could do was cross halfway and it was hard to remember them creating an opportunity.
Liverpool set the tune from the first whistle and the only question was whether they could show the necessary avant-garde. They gave their answer shortly after Klopp made a bold change shortly after the hour, sending forward Diogo Jota down left-back Andy Robertson.
Three minutes later, Jota had finished off with a header from a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross and it was the signal for Arsenal to lose the only thing they had contributed to the occasion: their defensive stamina.
Alexander-Arnold has endured a difficult period with his exclusion from Gareth Southgate’s England team, but he was excellent here, and Klopp noted that he had benefited “100%” from not playing during the international break.
The right-back played a minor role in the rest of his team’s goals. For the second he played an inside pass to Fabinho, whose ball overhead saw Mohamed Salah walk away from a weak challenge from Gabriel, and for the third he took advantage of a loose clearance from Gabriel. From there, Salah crossed, Sadio Mané spun and tapped him and Jota lunged for the door.
The harsh truth for Arsenal, as Arteta suffered one of their worst games in charge, was that the scoreboard should have been heavier. The floodgates threatened to open after Jota’s first goal and Salah would be denied by Bernd Leno in a heads up. In the end, Salah was not able to play in Mané either narrowly. The frustrating and erratic Arsenal must show a better face in the Europa League quarter-final first leg at home to Slavia Prague on Thursday.
“We need to apologize to our fans, the standard was not close to what we wanted,” Arteta said. “I am completely responsible. We were extremely poor. When you don’t do the basics, you don’t have a chance to compete. We looked tired, but it was more of a mental problem. We didn’t win enough duels and we gave away so many easy balls. It’s very frustrating, a huge shock to the system. “
Liverpool have the little affair of a Champions League quarter-final first leg at Real Madrid on Tuesday, but Klopp made few concessions on it in terms of his selection. Gini Wijnaldum came on as a late substitute, having played in all three of the Netherlands’ matches at halftime, including the 7-0 win over Gibraltar, but, other than him, Klopp was as strong as possible.
Liverpool’s counterattack was close to perfect. They did not allow Arsenal to play from behind or get out at all and from an early juncture the game took on siege characteristics. All the intensity came from the visitors. They dominated in challenges 50-50, with Fabinho particularly imperious in midfield.
Arteta saw Kieran Tierney limping with knee problems in first-half stoppage time while missing the injured David Luiz (who might need knee surgery), Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, plus Granit Xhaka, who was sick. The selection problems didn’t help, but Arteta refused to use them as an excuse.
Liverpool created a great opportunity in the first half when Alexander-Arnold won the ball overhead from Dani Ceballos, exchanged passes with Roberto Firmino and retired for James Milner, who had time and space. It crawled wastefully wide. There were other blinks as Mané turned to Leno and also almost found Salah with a clipping. Firmino fired a low and deflected shot.
The pattern did not change in the second half: Liverpool manipulated the ball, made some changes, tried to create space on the flanks; Arsenal clings. Klopp was rewarded for his bravery with the replacement of Jota, who saw Milner fall to the left back and the new man take an inside-left attacking position, with Mané out of him.
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The Alexander-Arnold cross for Jota was a beauty and the contrast between Liverpool’s home and away form continues. His six most recent league wins have all been on the road, his longest sequence since 1955. “This was a very important statement from us,” Klopp said. “We have to win our games and apply pressure [on the top four] and that’s what we did here. “
