Liverpool and Arsenal promise more intrigue with thrilling draw

Who is happier with this moment: Liverpool or Arsenal? Incorrect: The correct answer is Manchester City.

This was an opportunity for one side or the other to assert some early dominance in the title race, and for a long time it looked as if Arsenal were on course to seize the initiative and all but erase the four-point gap that had opened up between second and third.

The Gunners looked younger, fresher and more energetic than Liverpool head into the break – only for their efforts to snatch three points to ultimately fail. Liverpool, for their part, will be disappointed that they had to come from behind twice, but are glad they were able to do so.

Some games are interesting for their tactical nuances and subtleties, but here two sides lined up in something close to a mirror image made the game much more enjoyable: we were going to force two identical teams to fight each other just to see which one was the best in football.

The most significant tactical mind game was carried out by Mikel Arteta in the days leading up to the game as he kept Bukayo Saka’s injury status under wraps only to reveal it to devastating effect from the start.

For the second Sunday in a row, Andy Robertson tripped over his own feet, landed on his face and spun around with such fury that you wondered if he was desperately trying to create a small localized tornado that would pull Saka back to him.

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Saka skinned Robertson en route to opening the scoring from Ben White’s superb overhead ball – Robertson was not helped at all by Virgil van Dijk’s extremely casual approach to returning and covering this particular occasion – before the Arsenal winger smashed the ball home with unstoppable force. in the near upper corner.

Despite this obvious weakness in Liverpool’s formation, the game was fairly even for the first 25 minutes or so and die-hard Flow of the Game fans couldn’t object to Van Dijk nodding in a header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s set-piece. This was facilitated by Luis Diaz’s header across the penalty area.

But the rest of the half belonged firmly to Arsenal, whose quality forced Liverpool to become increasingly assertive and erratic in a desperate attempt to stem the hosts’ onslaught.

It didn’t work: all it did was give Arsenal a number of chances to demonstrate their considerable ability at set-pieces. Mikel Merino was denied by Declan Rice’s brilliantly executed cross from the right just after Van Dijk’s equalizer and cheerfully shouted for a penalty after firing wide, not realizing it was his own teammate Gabriel who had inadvertently set him up trip. up.

But unnoticed by his team-mates or defenders, the midfielder made no mistake as he delivered an almost identical cross late in the first half, sending a confident header past a helpless Caoimhin Kelleher to ensure Arsenal’s lead was reflected on the scoreboard at 2-1. lead.

That’s when the tactical battle began. Arteta seemed to ask his side for more patience, more conservatism and a willingness to see the result through; sure, score the third if you can, but above all, don’t miss a beat. Liverpool, naturally, went a different route. An amusingly open first half gave way to a more tense and suffocating second, with Liverpool pushing forward with more and more urgency as Arsenal tried to suppress and control the game.

And unlike Manchester CityArsenal did a very good job until they didn’t. In a bizarrely similar move to Previous Chelsea vs Newcastle first match, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s ball behind Darwin Nunez’s defense was surprisingly successful and the Uruguayan quickly entered the area before passing the ball to the relatively calm Mo Salah for a simple strike.

The 2:2 scoreline disappointed Arsenal much more than Liverpool; to the hosts to start the game and score with renewed vigor. They did it properly, and Arsenal had some controversy with the refereeing this season: a very soft foul for an aerial challenge on Dominik Szoboszlai, which wasn’t even claimed by the Liverpool player.

However, everyone on the ground except Peter Drury heard the referee’s whistle before Kai Havertz hit the post with a loose ball, rendering Gabriel Jesus’ finish moot; Most of Liverpool’s defense had already stopped playing.

What did we learn from this game? To be honest… not much about either team or what it will mean for the Premier League title challenge. But at this stage of the season we don’t need definitive answers; It’s better to save the intrigue for another day.

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