Liverpool were given time to stew over their loss to West Ham at the start of the month thanks to the international break, whereas Arsenal came into this match on a ten match unbeaten run.
Jürgen Klopp made two changes to that side, bringing in Kosta Tsimikas and Thiago Alcântara for Andy Robertson and Jordan Henderson. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Mikel Arteta made just one change to the team that beat Watford thirteen days ago, as Thomas Partey replaced Ashley Maitland-Niles. Arsenal lined up in a 4-4-1-1 shape.
Arsenal attempted to press Liverpool high however they had little success. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would pick up Joël Matip, while Alexandre Lacazette dropped into midfield to pick up Fabinho and Emile Smith-Rowe picked up Trent Alexander-Arnold. This left Bukayo Saka to deal with two men on the left, pressing Virgil van Dijk while curving his run to block the pass wide to Tsimikas. Having to concern himself with Tsimikas slowed down Saka’s pressure, giving Van Dijk time on the ball to pick out long passes.
The far greater issue for Arsenal was that Thiago Alcântara would drop in next to Fabinho though. With Fabinho pulling over to the right to drag Lacazette away and create space, the Spaniard had space to pick up the ball and play out. Saka began to narrow his position to try to deal with Thiago, however this would leave Tsimikas free out wide – while every other Arsenal attacker was marking just one man, Saka was trying to keep track of three which was obviously far too much.
Partey did sometimes push forward to follow Thiago, but this would leave space behind him that Diogo Jota was happy to drop into and exploit, making the Ghanaian reluctant to move too high up the pitch.
As a result, Arsenal’s pressing failed and they soon began to drop deeper into a compact block to press near the half-way line instead of near Liverpool’s box.
Despite this success in playing out, Liverpool weren’t exactly cutting through Arsenal though. Part of this was the aggressiveness of Arsenal’s backline, quickly snapping to Liverpool’s forwards to ensure they couldn’t pick up the ball cleanly and run at them, but also Sadio Mané having an abysmal start to the game – any time the ball went near the Senegalese it would end up getting handed to an Arsenal shirt.
It was through Mané that Liverpool took the lead though. With Arsenal dropping off, Liverpool’s full-backs were welcomed forward and Aaron Ramsdale had already been called into action to rescue the away side several times, but the goalkeeper wasn’t able to stop Mané’s header from a free-kick. Takehiro Tomiyasu was stood deeper than the rest of the defensive line, rendering their high line completely useless, and Mané simply attacked the space faster than the defenders could retreat to get to Alexander-Arnold’s excellent cross first.
Liverpool doubled their lead early in the second half by pressing high, pressuring Arsenal into giving the ball back to them high up the pitch. Liverpool managed to force Arsenal into handing them possession in their half several times in the first half, however they blew them away at the start of the second, creating several chances through their pressure before Nuno Tavares handed Jota the ball and the Portuguese rounded Ramsdale to finish. Alexander-Arnold reflected on this after the game, saying: “First half we had the aggression but didn’t capitalize, but the first 15-20 minutes of the second half was as good as we’ve played pressing-wise this season. Completely ran all over them. They continued to play out the back but we were all over them, they were just seeing red blurs all over the place.”
Hoping to pull back a goal, Arsenal began to press high again, however the same issues remained. Liverpool added a third when Alisson Becker picked out a pass to Tsimikas free on the left and Tomiyasu stepped out to meet him, leaving Arsenal three-versus-three at the back. Before Tomiyasu could get to him, Tsimikas headed the ball on to Jota, who in turn flicked it in behind for Mané to run onto, outpacing Ben White. Tavares came across in an attempt to cover, leaving Mohamed Salah completely free to tap home Mané’s cross.
The same thing happened minutes later for Takumi Minamino, who had just come on as a substitute, to get a goal. With Arsenal pressing high, Liverpool played out to Tsimikas, who passed inside to substitute Jordan Henderson to play to Mané running in behind. Arsenal’s defenders had dropped off quicker this time, meaning Mané, outnumbered, took a touch and held up the ball instead of breaking through. He rolled the ball wide for Salah, who moved inside a little before releasing the ball to Alexander-Arnold sprinting down the outside to drill a first-time cross across the face of goal. Tomiyasu still hadn’t managed to get back in time after getting pulled forward to press Tsimikas, meaning that when Gabriel followed Mané’s run, Minamino was left free at the back post to tap the ball into the net.
The score was perhaps a little harsh on Arsenal but it did display the obvious gap in quality between the two teams despite the improvements Arteta has accomplished: their press malfunctioned and they were unable to anything to adapt to this failure, never really testing Liverpool.
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