The international break is typically an unwelcome disruption to the season but Liverpool and Arsenal have had such miserable years that the time to focus on something else probably did them good.
Mikel Arteta continued with Arsenal’s usual 4-2-3-1 formation, making four changes to the team that drew with West Ham in March, as David Luiz, Pablo Mari, Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka made way for Rob Holding, Gabriel, Dani Ceballos and Nicolas Pépé.
Jürgen Klopp made two changes to the team that beat Wolverhampton Wanderers, giving a much-needed rest to Georginio Wijnaldum so James Milner had a chance in midfield, while Roberto Firmino returned in attack in place of Diogo Jota. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 shape.
Arsenal looked to pressure Liverpool by guiding them toward the left. Alexandre Lacazette would press Nathaniel Phillips while Martin Odegaard stuck close to Fabinho, then, when Liverpool passed to the open Ozan Kabak, Odegaard would step up to press the Turk while blocking the pass into Fabinho. This did help to disrupt Liverpool’s build-up, but it never really helped Arsenal win back the ball, as the pass back to Alisson Becker was always open, enabling Liverpool to simply start again.
Liverpool attempted to work their way through this by having Milner drop back next to Fabinho, outnumbering Odegaard in this area. The issue was that Arsenal would often have one of their holding midfielders follow Milner and the Yorkshireman was unwilling to risk turning out, meaning Liverpool would usually be playing the ball back to Alisson, back to square one.
Typically when Liverpool structure their midfield like this, pulling one back next to the holding player while the other pushes forward, they use Thiago Alcântara in the double pivot. We have spoken previously about how this wastes his talents a bit, as it takes him away from the final third where he can be used to unlock defences, however this match showed the other side of the argument. Liverpool could have done with his ability to avoid pressure deeper in midfield so they could progress the ball, and the Spaniard was instead left a bit wasted in the higher role as they struggled to get the ball to him.
When Wijnaldum came on in the second half, he showed what Liverpool had been missing as he dropped in next to Fabinho and used the space available to turn out and progress the ball.
Thiago was influential when he got on the ball though, looking to switch the play over to Robertson advancing down the left.
Struggling to play out, the full-backs were, as usual, Liverpool’s main creative outlets. They pushed high in attack, far enough forward so that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Pépé were caught in two minds as to whether to continue to track them deep into their own half. Liverpool would then send passes out towards Trent Alexander-Arnold and Robertson, stretching Arsenal’s backline and creating crossing opportunities.
Liverpool’s other main way of attacking was to send direct passes towards Mohamed Salah for the Egyptian to make something out of, helping to push Arsenal back.
Liverpool weren’t exactly full of bright ideas yet they were better than Arsenal, whose only attacking strategy appeared to be baiting Salah into pressing the centre, then advancing down the left in the gap he had left. Even that fell through on the stroke of half-time when Kieran Tierney was replaced by the right-footed Cédric Soares due to injury.
With the game seemingly headed for a 0-0 draw, Klopp made changes on 61 minutes. Off went Robertson, with Milner moving to left-back, and on came Jota, seeing Liverpool switch to a 4-2-4. This immediately paid off for Liverpool as Alexander-Arnold whipped in a cross for the Portuguese, making a run between Calum Chambers and Holding, to head home. It was an excellent cross and some clever movement, however both those things become a lot easier to pull off by simply adding an extra attacker, taking away the spare man in Arsenal’s backline.
Minutes later they doubled their lead. Roberto Firmino had dropped back to help play out and spread the ball wide to Alexander-Arnold, and the Brazilian’s movement caused enough confusion to win some space for Fabinho. Aubameyang had been in a position to press Phillips but, with Firmino making a run through the centre, he ran back to stop the simple pass inside; Lacazette had been marking Fabinho, but, with Aubameyang deserting him to follow Firmino, Lacazette left Fabinho to cut off the potential pass back to Phillips as Alexander-Arnold turned around and shaped to play backwards; Odegaard had been on the opposite flank and was tracking Thiago as Arsenal retreated into their half, but he scrambled across to pick up Fabinho when he realised Lacazette had left him. It was too late though – Fabinho had his space and Alexander-Arnold gave him the ball, picking out a first-time pass forward to Salah. Soares had been drawn out to close down Alexander-Arnold and so Salah was left one-on-one with Gabriel, who made a mess of his challenge, allowing Salah to squeeze the ball past Bernd Leno.
Having secured a good lead, Klopp reverted back to the 4-3-3, bringing on Wijnaldum for Firmino, and rounded out their win with a third goal minutes later. Arsenal tried to play out from the back, drawing the press of Salah, but Gabriel misplaced his pass out to Soares, allowing Alexander-Arnold to pounce
Liverpool scored two goals from both of those strategies from the first half: first through a full-back’s cross, then a direct pass to Salah. They then sealed their win taking advantage of a mistake in what had been Arsenal’s main strategy.
With Chelsea dropping points earlier in the day, the possibility of Champions League qualification for Liverpool doesn’t look out of the question.
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