Arsenal is making me look REALLY bad. Arsenal have won yet again as they have knocked off the struggling Liverpool 3-2 to stay atop of the Premier League and their title rival, Manchester City.
Yeah, I know I said that I didn’t think Arsenal were true title contenders a few weeks ago, and I still don’t, but they are making me regret my doubts as of now, aren’t they? Mikael Arteta has overcome all of his haters and doubts, to which there was many a few months ago, and has transformed this Arsenal team into his image.
Gone are the days of the Gunners lying down and giving up in the face of tough, Top-6 opposition, or floundering against weaker, bottom half teams. This Arsenal team are finally legit Top-4 contenders, and maybe even title challengers.
And they proved it in the opening minute of the game as they had a beautiful, Arsene Wenger-esque passing movement that shredded through the Liverpool defense and was finished by Gabriel Martinelli to give the Gunners a 1-0 lead.
I hadn’t even sat down to watch the game yet and already Arsenal was making me look like a fool as they utterly embarrassed Liverpool’s once-great defense.
Yes, the passing movement was fantastic, but what has happened to this Liverpool team? What has happened to Trent Alexander-Arnold? Sure, he was never great defensively, but he wasn’t this bad. Championship fullbacks would honestly have defended this Arsenal goal better, which is telling in its own right.
Though, as Liverpool have done these past eight years under Jurgen Klopp, they fought back and began digging themselves out of the whole they found themselves in. After a near own-goal from William Saliba, who was again great today, Darwin Nunez netted in a much-need goal (for both Liverpool and him). Off a hopefully log pass from TAA, Luis Diaz nodded the ball past Sailba and ran into the Arsenal box on a 2 vs. 1 with Nunez.
All he had to do was beat Saliba’s outstretched leg with the cross, which he did, for Nunez to tap the ball home and tie the game at 1. Even though Liverpool’s offense has been very shacky this season, Luis Diaz has performed well in every game I’ve seen him play this season. It’s too bad he went out of this game injured.
After the goal, it was Liverpool who controlled the game and most of the ball, which was a common thread for the full 90 minutes. In fact, Liverpool ended up finishing the game with 57% possession, 482 passes (104 more than Arsenal), and were more accurate with their passes (81% vs. 78%), even though they ended up losing this game.
Nonetheless, Arsenal went back in front with a great counter attacking goal just as the first half was expiring. Going from their own box to the Liverpool box in under 20 seconds, Gabriel Martinelli drove at the Liverpool defenders, enticed Jordan Henderson and TAA onto him, and then crossed the ball across the face of goal to a wide-open Saka, who finished it into an empty net. This was just another example of Liverpool’s defensive woes.
There was no need for both Henderson and TAA to close in on Martinelli as that allowed Gabriel (the center half) and Saka to separate from the crowd and sneak unmarked onto the backpost.
And Liverpool’s woes just kept getting worse as Arsenal were all over them to start the second half, with Martin Odegaard nearly scoring a third goal that would have put the Gunners 3-1 up. But, as they did after the first goal, Liverpool responded through Robert Firmino, who struck a well-placed shot past Aaron Ramsdale to punish Arsenal for their earlier missed chances.
As I’ve said, this is exactly the type of goal that has me worried and doubtful about the Gunners as title contenders. Even though they got lucky with a win today, Martin Odegaard’s miss and Firmino’s punishing goal is the type of situation that will keep them from winning the title. It only takes one bad performance and another bad shooting day for Arsenal to drop points and fall behind Manchester City in the title race.
Anyway, the reason they were “lucky” was that they got a jammy penalty from a Thiago challenge on Gabriel Jesus. Both players were going for the ball in the box, but Jesus got to it first as Thiago grazed his shin guard with his boot. It was never a penalty, but Michael Oliver (the ref) strangely thought differently and Bukayo Saka stepped up to bury the penalty home to give Arsenal the lead and the 3-2 win over the Reds.
Well, well, well, Arsenal. You guys have made it your mission to prove me wrong about your title aspirations, right? You guys are now on top of the league with 8 wins, only 1 loss, and 24 points from a possible 27. It’s really incredible how much of a turnaround the Gunners this season has been from the misery and disappointment that ended their last campaign.
As for Liverpool, their title race is OVER. With only 10 points from a possible 27, they are now 14 points behind Arsenal and 13 behind Manchester City with even bigger gaps to come. Their defense looked awful again, they were overrun in the middle of the field, and their offense was quite (aside from Diaz and Firmino).
Where is Mo Salah? Is he still on this team? And what about Diogo Jota, Harvey Elliott, Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Virgil Van Dijk, and Joel Matip? These title and Champions league winners who nearly completed the Quadruple last season are missing as those players on the field today couldn’t possible have been them.
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