Liverpool 1 – 0 Arsenal – Match Report

A brilliant Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick eight minutes from time saw Liverpool edge past us at Anfield to claim the three points.

An even affair saw both teams defend resolutely throughout, and ultimately the Hungarian midfielder’s excellent 30-yard strike saw the points go to the Merseysiders, as our nine-month unbeaten league away run came to an end.

Eberechi Eze made his debut as a second-half sub, but we couldn’t find a way to get back level as our six-game unbeaten run against the Reds ended.

Defensive reshuffle

The stats pre-match pointed to this being a high-scoring affair, with only matches between Liverpool and Tottenham seeing more goals than our encounters with the Reds. However chances were at a premium in the first half as both defences held firm, even though ours suffered a big setback very early on.

Just four minutes had elapsed when William Saliba was forced to withdraw after picking up an injury, with Cristhian Mosquera taking his spot in the heart of our defence in what was his second Gunners appearance.

But he slotted in well with Gabriel to keep the Reds quiet in the opening 45, who could only muster up an opportunity for Cody Gakpo who fired wide after drifting inside on 13 minutes.

Instead, we showed plenty more attacking more attacking threat than our hosts, and our first sight of goal came when a corner fell into the path of Noni Madueke who did well to dig the ball out of his feet and get off a shot that forced Allison into a smart save.

The England winger was looking sharp in the right wing berth opened up by Bukayo Saka’s injury last week, and he again put the Liverpool defence under pressure on 35 minutes when he got around left-back Milos Kerkez and chopped the ball onto his left foot, but the defender’s desperate lunge diverted the shot over the crossbar.

Riccardo Calafiori then had a couple of half-chances when he saw an effort dribble wide after flicking a defender, and from the resulting corner nodded wide as both sides went back into the changing rooms still looking for the breakthrough.

Reds respond

The tense affair continued after the restart and on the hour mark the Reds finally troubled David Raya when Florian Wirtz saw a shot on the run pushed away by our no. 1, and while the ball was scrambled into our net by Gakpo, the Dutchman was well offside in the build-up.

But that brief spark of goalmouth threat spurred the home side, and crowd, on and Arne Slot’s team began to pull the momentum in their favour, with Gakpo firing low straight at Raya and Calafiori and Declan Rice having to block efforts from Mohamed Salah as he belatedly began to become an influence in proceedings.

Mikel Arteta responded by putting on Martin Odegaard and Eze for his Gunners bow midway though the second half, but with eight minutes to go it seemed as though either side would need something spectacular to win it, and unfortunately for us it was the Reds who found a way through.

After winning a free-kick 30 yards from goal in a central position, Szoboszlai stepped up to take it and arrowed it over the wall and past Raya, and saw it clip the post before our net rippled for the first time this season.

For the remaining time we pushed hard and laid siege to the Reds goal, but as the champions’ defence had done all game, they refused to buckle and repelled our attacks to end our 100% start while maintaining theirs.

What’s next

We now head into the first international break of the season, and return to action on Saturday, September 13 when we host Nottingham Forest. Our Champions League campaign kicks off three days later when we visit Athletic Club, before Manchester City pitch up in north London on Sunday, September 21.