Liverpool make a big impression and don’t give a damn about Arsenal

Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 8:20 PM• Jeroen van Poppel

Liverpool settled with Arsenal on Saturday night with great conviction. Jürgen Klopp’s men played like a perfectly oiled machine, especially after the opening goal in the thirtieth minute. In the end, Arsenal had to concede four goals: 4-0. Liverpool regain second place in the Premier League, although Manchester City can still take over that Sunday. Arsenal, which had won three in a row before this, is stuck in fifth place.

In injury-plagued Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk started as usual in the center back next to Joël Matip. Konstantinos Tsimikas joined the team as left back for the injured Andy Robertson. At Arsenal, Thomas Partey returned from a groin injury, which was at the cost of a starting spot for Ainsley Maitland-Niles. The match took half an hour at Anfield to really ignite.

The starting signal for this seemed to be given by both managers. Mikel Arteta got into a fight with Jürgen Klopp on the sidelines, after which the coaches were punished with a yellow card. The first real chance came just before that for Liverpool. Thiago Alcántara hit Aaron Ramsdale with a volley, after which Sadio Mané just couldn’t get the ball in while lying. Ramsdale then had his hands full and made a good save on a tap from Mohamed Salah and a hard left shot from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Six minutes before half time, the Arsenal goalkeeper had to answer a header by Mane, who scored from an Alexander-Arnold free kick: 1-0. Seven minutes into the second half, Arsenal led the way in the 2-0 themselves. Nuno Tavares played the ball extremely risky to the center of his defence, where Diogo intercepted Jota. The Portuguese remained icy calm and cut out White and Ramsdale one after the other, before sliding the ball into the empty goal.

Liverpool kept up the pressure on Arsenal and pushed for more goals. Ramsdale kept the Londoners going somewhat by stopping Jota right in front of him, but was left with no chance fifteen minutes before the end. Mané broke through on the left wing and put wide on Salah, who simply tapped in: 3-0. Things got worse for Arsenal when Alexander-Arnold crossed the backline two minutes later. The cross from the right-back of Liverpool was walked in by Takumi Minamino, who was only on the field for one minute: 4-0. In the final phase, nineteen-year-old Tyler Morton made his debut for Liverpool.