Liverpool continued their dominance over Arsenal earlier today as they picked up a 3-1 win at Anfield to remain at the top of the Premier League table.
Jürgen Klopp’s side were frustrated early on but eventually took the lead just before half-time through Joel Matip. A more comfortable team took to the pitch in the second half and turned on the style, as Arsenal had no answers.
Let’s take a look at three reasons why Liverpool beat Arsenal.
Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal – 3 reasons why the Reds emerged victorious
Full-backs on their game
Unai Emery’s side lined up with a diamond shape, but because of how starved they were of the ball, most of their attacking moves came from long passes from David Luiz or Granit Xhaka when there were turnovers.
Liverpool’s pressing game was at its finest, and Arsenal were forced to play a narrow game. That meant the Liverpool full-backs were asked to attack more, which they did.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson often got into dangerous positions and although the Gunners cleared most of the crosses. They failed to deal with a corner that was taken by Alexander-Arnold.
In the end, it was Joel Matip who wanted it more than Sokratis, and the Cameroonian buried his header past Bernd Leno. A good bit of joy for the former Schalke man over the former Borussia Dortmund star.
A bit of help from David Luiz
The Brazilian was at fault for the second and third Liverpool goal as he failed to deal with Mohamed Salah’s speed, and trickery.
The penalty was obvious as he had a hold of Salah’s shirt in the penalty box. The Egyptian took it with authority and Leno has no chance.
Salah then turned Luiz with a clever bit of skill on his way to calmly slotting the ball past Leno for his second and Liverpool’s third.
All in all, a forgettable game for the former Chelsea man.
Arsenal’s inability to make their chances count
Before Liverpool scored their first, Arsenal had the best chance of the game that fell to summer signing Nicolas Pepe.
Although the game finished with Liverpool managing 25 shots to Arsenal’s 9, had Pepe scored in the first half, the complexion of the game might have changed as Arsenal would have had a goal to defend.
Pepe was through on goal in the first half after Jordan Henderson’s attempt to clear the ball didn’t work out as he would have wanted. The former Lille man then showed his burst of pace, but his shot was pretty tame and lacked the placement as it was straight at a thankful Adrian.
Against a team like Liverpool, especially at Anfield, you need to take your chances, and Arsenal found that the hard way today.
