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LONDON – They are not the absentees who mourn the most during a season when Liverpool need to be rescued, but Diogo Jota and Fabinho provided a helpful reminder on Saturday of what Jurgen Klopp’s team has missed.
The Reds completely dominated the 3-0 win over terrifyingly poor Arsenal, but only after Jota added power to a performance that Fabinho set the pace. This was Liverpool’s best team show since defeating Crystal Palace 7-0 in December and one that must have felt somewhat cathartic after their recent tribulations.
Klopp’s men are within two points of fourth-placed Chelsea and can embark on the Champions League quarter-finals against Real Madrid as well as the Premier League showdown with renewed optimism after rediscovering the authority that made them champions. Worryingly for Arsenal, this was also a throwback to their old self, but we’ll talk about that later.
“It was a very important statement for us,” Klopp said after the game. “We have to show that we fight for it, we can’t talk about it, we have to show it on the pitch. In our situation, it’s clear. All the things that have happened to us in the past this season brought us to a position where we don’t have it in our hands. We have to win our matches and someone else has to lose. We have to pressure them and that’s what we did tonight. We have to fight and we are going to fight. “
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The Gunners were tied after more than an hour due to Liverpool’s inability to assert their superiority, an affliction that largely explains why the visitors are now struggling to finish in the top four. Despite controlling the game with Fabinho and Thiago pulling the strings in midfield, the game was scoreless at the hour mark when Klopp introduced Jota for Andrew Robertson and traded James Milner to left back. Milner had blown the visitors’ best chance up to that point, coming out sideways when Trent Alexander-Arnold found him on the edge of the penalty area.
The sense of reminding others of what they were missing carried over to Alexander-Arnold, who responded to his surprise omission of Gareth Southgate’s last England squad with a concentrated display brimming with quality, exemplified by his impressive center of precision for Liverpool’s first game. Jota received his delivery whipped from the right with a header that Bernd Leno could not suppress, and from there they threatened to rampage.
Fabinho released Mohamed Salah, who evaded Gabriel’s weak challenge to attack the goal from a tight angle. He aimed for the only part of the goal he could actually see, between Leno’s legs, and aimed a cute shot through the gap to double his lead.
Arsenal became very weak. Gabriel appeared shocked, giving Liverpool possession to make it three in a decisive and costly loss that Jota finished smartly.
Jota now has 18 goals for Liverpool and Portugal this season, an even more impressive return given this is his first season at the club following a £ 41 million transfer from Wolverhampton Wanderers and he missed a large part of the season between the 10 from December. Until march 4. This was also Fabinho’s sixth outing since January 24, yet he made more tackles (six) than anyone else on the field with Thiago (92%) the only Liverpool outfield player to record a pass completion rate. higher than its 89%. It feels almost criminal on nights like this to think that he has had to replace the central defender.
“We are a bit used to [not scoring early on]. It’s our year, if you like; we haven’t scored with our first chances, “Klopp told Sky Sports.”[Milner] didn’t score much with a babysitter. He thought the same! We have to work hard and try more often and all these kinds of things. Obviously we brought Diogo [Jota], which is in very good shape. He stretched things out. He played a lot with Portugal, that’s why he was not a starter. “
Arsenal simply couldn’t compete. They had only lost one of their four encounters with Liverpool under Mikel Arteta, and the Spaniard had suggested before this that he wanted his team to win through a more assertive and expansive style than the hold-and-counter approach that yielded past successes. What followed, instead, was a brutal lesson in how far they are from that goal.
“I don’t know if it was the worst [performance of my tenure] but probably one of the worst and the one that really surprised me, “said Arteta.” It leaves us in a position where we have to apologize for what we have done on the pitch today. I don’t care who’s missing, those are excuses. The international [break] They are excuses and I hate excuses.
“They were much better than us in all departments. And they deserved to win the game by a higher margin. I am fully responsible for that. The rest, about one player. [missing], two players, three players, they are just excuses. “
There remains a strong suspicion that Granit Xhaka is not good enough for a team that aspires to be a regular in the Champions League, but they failed in their passing range in central midfield. Since David Luiz was also unavailable, Arteta revealed after the game that the club is evaluating whether surgery will be necessary for the 33-year-old’s knee injury, the Gunners did not have a player capable of picking an early long pass to help out. overcome. Liverpool’s relentless press. Instead, they simply handed over possession cheaply, exemplified by Gabriel’s extravagance for Liverpool’s third goal. He gave away the ball 19 times, a number of Calum Chambers games.
Losing Kieran Tierney to injury at halftime after a clash with Milner was unfortunate, and it felt significant that the first two goals came down the channel the Scottish international had been patrolling. It was also revealing that Arteta retired captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang when Arsenal were losing for the second game in a row. The task here does not suit him, it must be said, being asked for so much defensive work on the left flank, but he cannot stay on the periphery for much longer given the stakes this month.
Arsenal’s season now hinges on their Europa League quarter-final tie with Slavia Prague, whose first leg will be played at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday. It will take renewed energy with Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe as possible candidates to return. Arsenal need both the exuberance and the quality of their youth.
Liverpool still have an active fight on two fronts despite a terrible recent home record and the continued absence of key defenders, including Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez. And the signs suggest that they are beginning to regain enough depth in the team to make both challenges competitive to say the least.
