Liverpool (1) 1 Arsenal (1) 1

Premier League

Anfield Stadium, Anfield Road, Anfield, Liverpool L4 0TH

Saturday, 23rd December 2023. Kick-off time: 5.30pm

(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Cédric Soares, Leandro Trossard, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny

Scorers: Gabriel (4 mins)

Yellow Cards: Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Eddie Nketiah, Ben White

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 49%

Referee: Chris Kavanagh

Assistant Referees: Simon Bennett, Dan Robathan

Fourth Official: Craig Pawson

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR David Coote; AVAR Lee Betts

Attendance: c.54,000

For today’s important top-of-the-table clash at Anfield, our midfielder Mohamed Elneny is close to recovering from a hamstring problem, and is fit enough to claim a place on the substitute’s bench tonight, as is Jorginho, who has also now recovered from injury. However, Thomas Partey, Jurrien Timber, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Fábio Vieira all remain long-term injury absentees. Of course, whoever wins this match will be definitely top of the Premiership table for Christmas Day, but a humble draw will suffice for the status quo to remain.

We kicked off proceedings in this hothouse atmosphere, and immediately we took up the challenge and the pace of the game very well indeed. Bukayo Saka dropped a shoulder on Virgil van Dijk and fired a low cross into the Liverpool penalty area. Alisson parried the ball to Brazil team-mate Gabriel Jesus on the edge of the penalty area, but this effort was blocked and went behind for a corner, which went straight into the hands of Alisson, via the head of Kai Havertz. After just four minutes, following a Martin Ødegaard free-kick, Gabriel got in front of Cody Gakpo to head the ball into the back of the net at the Kop end, of all places! There were appeals for offside from the Liverpool players, but after an extensive VAR check, the goal stood. The goal certainly fired us up, and chances for us started to come more frequently. The home side started to get rattled after the ball was allowed to go out for a goal kick by Gabriel, who was taken to task by Trent Alexander-Arnold. We seemed to be very composed, and after Gabriel Jesus whacked a ball over the bar, our captain also had a great chance to score, but the ball went annoyingly wide of Alisson’s goal. Shortly afterwards, Gabriel Martinelli easily turned Trent Alexander-Arnold deep in the Liverpool half and then carried the ballat least forty yards before he was stopped by a lunging Ibrahima Konate. Just before the half-hour mark, Mohamed Salah sidestepped Oleksandr Zinchenko and blasted a left-footed shot past David Raya for the Liverpool equaliser. The goal inspired the home side and there was an unusual incident when Bukayo Saka clattered into Kostas Tsimikas and the Liverpool left-back crashed into Jürgen Klopp; the manager was okay, but the player took no more part in the game as he was substituted with a possible broken collar bone. A little while later, Bukayo Saka was the first player to receive a yellow card tonight as he tripped Curtis Jones, and suddenly, the match became an end-to-end affair. Just before the half-time break, Gabriel Jesus slotted a beautiful ball inside the left-back Joe Gomez to Bukayo Saka who was through on a one-on-one with Alisson, but he was unable to get a shot away, but it fell perfectly for Gabriel Martinelli, who disappointingly hit the ball wide of Alisson’s goal. In the four minutes injury time period, there was a silly tussle between Kai Havertz and Trent Alexander-Arnold which led to a booking for our man, which means that he will now miss our next match, which is a London derby against West Ham on 28th December at the Emirates; shortly afterwards, referee Chris Kavanagh blew the whistle for half-time.

The home side started the second half, and both sides were fiercely competitive from the start. Declan Rice got booked for a clumsy tackle, and Martin Ødegaard was caught dawdling on the ball and Liverpool capitalised on the mistake, and got the ball to Mohamed Salah but his effort was blocked and goalie David Raya easily collected it. The game became real end-to-end stuff and we were lucky not to concede a goal when a Joe Gomez effort went just inches wide of the mark. Liverpool had us pinned back in our own half, and we had to think of a way to bring the match to them. In the meantime, Liverpool, who were playing towards the Kop end this half, which fired them up and therefore the chances were becoming very few and far between for us. After some period of backwards and forwards play, both sides made substitutions, and after sixty-six minutes, Leandro Trossard replaced Gabriel Martinelli in order to try and get a goal. Leandro Trossard made a superb run deep into the Liverpool half after receiving a great ball from Bukayo Saka, but he was boxed in by several Liverpool defenders. We got caught badly on the break, and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s effort bounced off the crossbar with only David Raya to beat, which let us off rather nicely, it has to be said. Our goalie parried an awkward shot from Joe Gomez, which led to two Liverpool corners, both of which were dealt with successfuly by our defenders. Gabriel Jesus was replaced by Eddie Nketiah with fourteen minutes of the match remaining, and just after a strong shot by Oleksandr Zinchenko which was blocked, a Declan Rice effort was similarly dealt with by the Liverpool defence. Our appeals for a penalty when Kai Havertz went down in the home side’s penalty area was denied by the VAR team, and there then followed a period of pressure from our team, but the Liverpool defence stayed firm. Eddie Nketiah received a yellow card for an unfortuate challenge, and after a tackle by Bukayo Saka (which was an unfortunate slip by our man) in which the referee sensibly ignored the crowd’s demands for a red card, Ben White received a yellow card for stopping a counter-attack with a hand ball. The match went into five minutes of injury time, during which no more goals were scored by either side, so a point apiece became the order of the day.

As expected, it was a tough encounter against a top rival who has the same ambitions as ourselves. It was always going to be difficult, but we were solid, kept our composure and did extremely well tonight. Declan Rice, William Saliba and Gabriel were immense, as was Bukayo Saka of course, and there were times that we looked like we could have taken all three points at Anfield, especially in the first half, but it was not to be. We’ll take the point, but now it makes the match against West Ham United in five days’ time at the Emirates a “must win”. Well done, chaps, Happy Christmas everyone!

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: West Ham United at the Emirates on Thursday, 28th December at 8.15pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon