Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video
Just when you think you’ve seen everything a season can throw up, you get a game like that yesterday. It’s one that both teams will probably think they should have won, so maybe a point is a fair result, but fairness and football are odd bedfellows at the best of times.
Arsenal started brilliantly. With the front three of Gabriels Martinelli and Jesus, and Bukayo Saka, we did everything you’d want going to a place like Anfield. Immediately Martinelli blazed beyond Trent Alexander-Arnold, Xhaka’s fizzing shot deflected out for a corner. That set the tone.
A slip by Andy Robertson allowed Saka to drive forward, and if there was a touch of good fortune in how the ball rebounded into the path of Martinelli, he made sure to make the most of it, taking it on then poking it beyond the oncoming Alisson. Saka created a good chance for Jesus at the back post but he couldn’t keep it down. It wasn’t one-way traffic, Robertson got in behind but shot wide, however Arsenal were very definitely on top.
The second goal came when Xhaka played Martinelli down the left, he cut inside, and delivered a cross which Jesus headed home. I don’t know where van Dijk thought the Brazilian was, but he was nowhere near him. 2-0, and very much deserved. Van Dijk took his frustration out on Jesus, picking up a yellow for a cynical foul, while at the other end Salah couldn’t make the most of a mistake and fired wide.
There’s been a lot of talk about the incident between Xhaka and Trent as the catalyst for Liverpool’s revival, but I don’t buy it. It’s too simplistic. First, the Arsenal man is frustrated at not getting what looked like an obvious free kick, and while I don’t want to go too far into the weeds with the ref, it felt to me like Liverpool got every soft foul going, and most of the time we didn’t. The coming together between the two players is probably unnecessary but it’s the kind of thing you see week in, week out. It wasn’t the referee issuing two yellow cards that got the Liverpool crowd going, it was the goal they scored.
Mikel Arteta called it sloppy afterwards, and I think that’s right from our perspective. We weren’t sharp enough defensively. From Liverpool’s perspective, I think it’s a bit fortunate, Henderson miscues, it falls kindly for Salah and the ball actually ricochets in off Gabriel who had dealt with the Egyptian really well until that point. That’s when the noise started, that’s when the Liverpool fans stopped calling their own players ‘knobheads’ and got behind their team.
There was a hint of what was to come before half-time. Aaron Ramsdale made a very good save before Henderson blazed over. It could have been level at the break. The half-time argy-bargy with the referee (which brought funny stuff out of Roy Keane on Sky), meant that both Liverpool full-backs were on yellow cards, along with van Dijk, and with Saka and Martinelli on the wings, I was sure we’d try and run them in the second half. It didn’t quite turn out like that.
Konate was allowed to play the game like a bull on speed, gleefully charging from china shop to china shop, but the slightest contact from Rob Holding on Jota saw them awarded a penalty. It was soft in my opinion, but I think if it happened up the other end I’d want it. That was in the 51st minute, and you have no idea how thankful I am that Salah put it wide. Another 40 minutes of Liverpool in their groove at 2-2 would have been horrendous. It was tough enough as it was.
They got on top and pretty much stayed there. Ramsdale made a save from Salah. We almost fashioned a third when Martinelli broke and the ball to Saka at the back post almost made it, but a combination of Robertson and Alisson smothered the danger. The thing is though, despite the dominance, Liverpool weren’t really creating chances. As Lewis points out, they didn’t have a single effort between the 57th and 81st minutes.
Know that whole second half felt like an onslaught – it started and ended as one – but Liverpool hadn't had a shot for 22 minutes leading up to the Ødegaard/Kiwior sub. pic.twitter.com/14knDrBDZg
— Lewis (@LGAmbrose) April 9, 2023
Mikel Arteta has not got a long wrong this season, but I think he made a misstep with his subs yesterday. I know it’s easy to say with the benefit of hindsight, especially in light of their equaliser, but I thought Kieran Tierney for Zinchenko should have happened sooner, and the decision to take off Martin Odegaard for Jakub Kiwior is one I think he would rethink if he had the ability to do it again.
I completely understand the desire to try and defend a lead, and if it was a case of adding Rob Holding to William Saliba and Gabriel, then I think you could feel relatively confident. This wasn’t that though. Kiwior has barely any Premier League experience having just signed in January, and I’m not sure throwing him into the heat of battle at an Anfield turned up to 11 is the right way to give him that.
His first involvement was to completely come out of his zone to try and win the ball, but he missed it completely. From there Darwin Nunez got through on goal and only for the heroics of Aaron Ramsdale it would have been level a bit earlier than it eventually was. Which isn’t to be hugely critical of Kiwior, by the way, I think this is much more about what the change did to our shape and how Liverpool then exploited it. From no attempts, they ended up with five in the final few minutes, but had Gabriel’s header from a corner been either side of Alisson, I don’t think Liverpool would have come back from 3-1 down.
Their goal: Zinchenko looked distraught on the bench after he’d been nutmegged by Trent, the delivery was excellent, and a fresh Firmino rose higher than a tired Ben White who looked shattered as the ball hit the back of the net. You could say that only one team was going to win it, and certainly Liverpool had the chances, but Martinelli will have bad dreams about the pass he made in this situation, just not finding the right weight and angle to give Saka the chance to win it.
That moment came just seconds after Ramsdale made what I think is one of the best saves I’ve ever seen. The one where he tipped it behind after Salah’s shot had deflected off Gabriel is a 10 out of 10 stop, no question, but the next one was better again. From the resulting corner, we got it half clear, Liverpool played it back in, Nunez headed down for Konate who bundled it towards goal, but there was the Arsenal goalkeeper scrambling across to get his body in the way. An incredible piece of goalkeeping, and in the context of this season, it might just be a moment that saved a point that could be absolutely crucial for the ultimate destination of the title.
Afterwards, the Arsenal keeper said:
They’re a top side, the crowd get right behind them. It might be two points dropped but we could have dropped all of them.
We had some good chances when we came to Anfield, but we had to survive as well. So, I think right now it’ll be mixed emotions, but over the next few days it’ll definitely be a very good point.
Mixed emotions is perfect. When you’re 2-0 up away from home and playing so well, to not win the game is obviously disappointing – particularly when you concede such a late equaliser. You also have to acknowledge that when you’re under that kind of intense pressure and your goalkeeper makes not one, not two, but at least three top class saves and the home side miss a penalty, a point is not the worst outcome in the world.
Clearly there were things we could have done better, and there were moments – like the late opportunity – that might have swung it our way. Sometimes though, you have to step back and remember that football can defy all logic. For all the work on tactics and organisation and game-plans, there is an inherent unpredictability about 22 men running around at top speed, and I think we saw some of that yesterday too.
I’m gutted we didn’t win, but relieved we didn’t lose. And I think that tells you the story of this extraordinary afternoon at Anfield.
—
We’ll discuss this game in more detail on the Arsecast Extra this morning. Keep an eye on Twitter for the call for questions, and we’ll have the podcast for you before lunchtime.
Lots to talk about in the Arses today, have at it!
