[ad_1]
Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Arsenal on Monday Night Football saw nine points out of nine kick off their defense of the Premier League title. Preliminary evidence suggests that Jurgen Klopp’s team will pause a bit this season …
Last Updated: 09/29/20 12:13 am
Liverpool’s chaotic 4-3 win over Leeds on the first day of the season offered some encouragement to their Premier League rivals. Mohamed Salah looked deadlier than ever, but the solidity that underpinned his title charge was absent. Was it a sign that standards were slipping?
It was certainly a tempting thought for teams looking to close the gap to the top of the table in the new season, but moving forward two games and their hopes of a Liverpool knockdown seem fanciful at best. Two of those teams, first Chelsea and now Arsenal, have figured it out for themselves.
In Monday night football, Jurgen Klopp’s team followed up last weekend’s 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge with an equally impressive show of force at Anfield. Mikel Arteta’s side had beaten them twice in the previous four months. However, a third consecutive surprise never seemed likely.
That is not to say that there were no awkward moments for them.
But Arsenal’s lead, after Alexandre Lacazette’s rare opening goal, lasted only 147 seconds and it was a small miracle that they were still in the game when Diogo Jota scored Liverpool’s third in the final stages.
In the end, Jurgen Klopp’s men had attempted 21 shots to Arsenal’s four and the numbers were similar against Leeds and Chelsea. In addition to scoring maximum points in their first three games, Liverpool have attempted the most shots in the Premier League and faced the fewest.
It’s a small sample size, of course, but the numbers show your dominance anyway. “They’re like a machine,” Roy Keane said at the Monday night football study. Jamie Carragher, meanwhile, said they had sent a message: “Liverpool are going to make some stops.”
Klopp, dismissing Keane’s comments that they were defensively sloppy “on one or two occasions,” described his team’s display as “absolutely exceptional” and, in truth, no one was arguing otherwise.
2:59 FREE TO SEE: Highlights from Liverpool’s win against Arsenal
His first half performance had it all.
There was fierce work off the ball that makes this team a nightmare to play against. “The pressure, the connection between them, the anticipation of where the ball is going to go, it’s absolutely brilliant,” said Gary Neville as Liverpool pinned Arsenal in their own half.
Arteta’s team managed to play through the Liverpool press for Lacazette’s opener, but it was an isolated event. Otherwise they barely had time to breathe and the statistics proved it. At halftime, the Gunners had just completed 24 passes in the opposite half and five in the final third.
Liverpool’s starting lineup was no different than last season: Jota was just on the bench while Thiago Alcantara was completely lost, but the players who led their charge for the title seem just as hungry and dangerous now and that’s it. bad news for rivals.
2:35 Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admits Liverpool dominated ‘every aspect of the game’ after watching his team suffer a 3-1 defeat at Anfield
There was the familiar sight of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane tearing apart the opposition. There was even another winger combination for the second goal, with Andy Robertson finishing off a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross.
All the hallmarks of this team’s previous successes were there to be seen again and while Arsenal offered more attacking threat as they advanced further down the field in the second half, that in turn allowed Liverpool to provide a reminder of his counterattack power. It was only due to a finishing waste that they didn’t kill the game earlier.
Arsenal were able to get behind Liverpool’s defense at times, with Lacazette denied by Alisson midway through the second half, but the high line is what allowed them to suffocate Arteta’s team for much of the game and for Klopp the rewards outweigh the risks. “If you are that high, of course there is a risk,” he said. “We had to be brave to cause trouble for them.”
8:19 Jurgen Klopp wanted clarification from Roy Keane after hearing the former Manchester United captain describe aspects of Liverpool’s game as ‘sloppy’
Few teams will be able to cope with them if they continue in this way and their quick start to the season is even more sinister for the rest given the circumstances elsewhere.
Chelsea and Arsenal continue to work under the direction of Frank Lampard and Arteta, as the last two games have shown, while Manchester City and Manchester United have not been helped by the reduction in preparation time in a turn already adjusted for the new campaign.
“I think Liverpool have had an advantage in that. [Manchester City and Manchester United] they were in Europe, “Carragher said.” I always felt that Liverpool would have an advantage because they knew when their season was over. Teams from Europe could leave the next day or stay another week to reach a semi-final or final. “
Liverpool have certainly asserted that advantage, judging by the integrity of their performance against Arsenal in Monday night football. Defending the Premier League crown is not easy, but it seems that Liverpool’s “machine” is back on track. It is up to the rest to find a way to keep up.
ONE MILLION POUNDS! You can imagine?
You read correctly. Don’t miss your chance to get £ 1 million free in this week’s Super 6 round. Play for free, tickets before 3pm on Saturday.
[ad_2]
