Connect with us

Football

Match Report: Arsenal vs Liverpool

Published

2 months ago

on

Premier League

Match Report: Arsenal vs Liverpool

Jota’s brace and Salah’s nutmeg goal put Liverpool just 2 points behind the top 4. The reds put in a brilliant performance at the Emirates, capitalizing on Chelsea and Leicester dropping points earlier on the day.

The champions were like their old selves from the get-go and kept Arsenal on the back foot for the whole game. Liverpool set their camp in Arsenal’s half; dominating possession, pressing, and counter passing, hardly allowing Arsenal to set up a string of passes.

 

First-half

In the first half, Arsenal sat deep in their own half allowing Liverpool to dictate the game. Arsenal defended in a 4-4-2 formation with Lacazette and Odegaard leading the line and Aubameyang and Pepe dropping into the midfield to cope with the threat from Liverpool’s full-backs.

Despite putting an amazing shift, Liverpool didn’t have anything to show for it on the scoreline in the first half. The first chance for Liverpool came in the 26th minute, Salah found Mane from the right but the Senegalese defender headed it straight to Leno. A couple of minutes later Mane was through on goal from a deflected goal kick, he squared it to Salah but Gabriel did enough to put him off. The biggest chance of the half came in the 34th minute when Milner fired his curling shot wide from a Trent cut back.

Arsenal only saw one attempt in the first half; Tierney played Aubameyang behind on the left side, who fired in a cross but Pepe’s effort was just catching practice for Allison. To make matters worse for the home team, Tierney got injured on the brink of half-time and had to be replaced by Cedric.

 

Second-half

Liverpool continued their domination in the second half and Arsenal failed to cause any real threat. In the 51st minute, Alexander-Arnold fired in a beautiful low cross to find Salah but his shot was blocked by Gabriel. Both teams made a change at the hour mark; El Neny replaced Ceballos for a like-for-like change, Jota came in for Robertson as Liverpool switched to a 4-2-4, desperate to find the opening goal. In the same minute, Cedric launched a shot from outside the box, straight at Allison and that was the last sight of goal for Arsenal.

3 minutes after coming on, Jota broke the deadlock for Liverpool; beating both, Chambers and Holding to head it in from a curling Trent cross. The second goal came soon after, Fabinho played a looping ball in behind with Salah latching onto it after Gabriel’s clumsy touch, rolling it in through the legs of Leno. In the 73rd minute, Salah had a chance to get his second, this time being found by Firmino but only for Leno to make a good stop.

In the 77th minute Martinelli replaced Aubameyang and Wijnaldum came in for Firmino, so they could switch back to 4-3-3. Arsenal playing out from the back created yet another mistake, making it 3-0 on the scoreline; Trent nicked a loose pass from Gabriel into Salah’s path, The Egyptian found Mane, who just had to roll it to his other side for a surging and screaming Jota to fire it in.

Rhys Williams replaced Kabak in the 83rd minute to take Liverpool’s tally for center-back pairings in the season to 21. The Reds went on to dominate until the final whistle. In the 91st, Trent fired in a great delivery from a set-piece as Mane put wide an open header and the last play of the game saw Allison play Salah in behind, whose shot got blocked and fell into the path of Mane, however Leno closed him down to block his attempt on goal.

 

Standout Performers

Fabinho – The Brazilian was solid at his natural no.6 role, winning the ball back several times and making good tackles to stop any sort of counterattacks. He helped his team to dominate the midfield and was the pivotal point of their pressing. Along with Tiago, he dictated Liverpool’s tempo of play and it was his ball over the Arsenal defense that led to the second goal.

Trent Alexander-Arnold – The right-back reacted to not being picked by Gareth Southgate and put in his best performance of the season. He threatened Arsenal’s defense throughout the game by launching in crucial crosses and cutbacks from the wide-area and also stole the ball for the third goal. His defensive work was on point too, except when Tierney was easily able to play in Aubameyang behind him.

 

We hope you enjoyed the article ‘Match Report: Arsenal vs Liverpool’. What did make of the game? Will Liverpool make the top four this season? Let us know!

 

Read more on football here: 

Related Topics:

Trending

Copyright © 2019 Sporting Ferret | All Rights Reserved