MATCH REPORT: Liverpool 2 – 2 Arsenal

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Liverpool (1) 2 Arsenal (2) 2

Premier League

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

Sunday, 9th April 2023. Kick-off time: 4.30pm

(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Kieran Tierney, Emile Smith-Rowe, Jakob Kiwior, Leandro Trossard, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fabio Vieira, Reiss Nelson, Matt Turner, Reuell Walters.

Scorers: Gabriel Martinelli (8 mins), Gabriel Jesus (28 mins)

Yellow Cards: Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale, Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 41% 

Referee: Paul Tierney

Assistant Referees: Constantine Hatzidakis, Scott Ledger

Fourth Official: Craig Pawson

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Chris Kavanagh; AVAR Adam Nunnanfield

Attendance: circa 54,000

We are back again at Anfield, the place of one of our most famous victories back in 1989, of course. This time, although it is not a decider as such, it is still a most important date in our fixtures calendar, and a victory today will be a huge boost on our final run-in to claim the Premiership title at the end of May. As is the case with our encounters over the years, no quarter will be given nor taken, and we are under no illusions that it will be an extremely tough ninety minutes here on Merseyside this Easter Sunday afternoon.

We started the match quickly and with a good attitude too, as we took the game to the home side in the opening exchanges here at Anfield. Despite some early pressure from Liverpool, it was us who took the lead after just eighttminutes, when Bukayo Saka hit a ball into space and found Martin Ødegaard, who slipped it through the middle and as it bounced off Virgil van Dijk, it fell into the path of Gabriel Martinelli, who merely poked the ball past the Liver pool goalie. A great start! The goal certainly gave us the confidence that we needed, as we came at them again, looking for another goal; just four minutes later, Oleksandr Zinchenko took a shot that was heading for the far corner of the net, but Alisson pushed it away for a corner. Gabriel Jesus then switched the ball across to Bukayo Saka in a clever movement; he slipped in a cross to the back post and Gabriel Jesus, following his run, sliced the ball over the crossbar from an extremely tight angle indeed. The home side tried to catch us on the break, but as Mo Salah cut in in from the right, he played the ball straight to Rob Holding, who neutralised the danger. Liverpool started to take the game to us, as they had a good chance to equalise from the right foot of Andy Robertson, but thankfully, he whacked it wide of Aaron Ramsdale’s goal. Ben White received the first yellow card of the day, when he tackled Diogo Jota rather clumsily, and a couple of minutes later, Gabriel Jesus grabbed our second goal of the game, when Gabriel Martinelli curled the ball in perfectly for him, beating Andy Robertson to it, heading in our second goal of the game, and before even so much as half an hour of the match has passed! We look confident, and a couple of minutes after the second goal, Virgil van Dijk was easily beaten by Gabriel Jesus and he cynically brought him down, earning himself a justified yellow card. The home side then got a little close to scoring when a Mo Salah effort went wide of Aaron Ramsdale’s goal, and then Gabriel Jesus went down from a challenge from Diogo Jota near the corner and we were awarded a free-kick, which went nowhere. Cleverly, Ben White correctly read a weak pass from Andy Robertson to earn possession back for Arsenal in Liverpool’s half, and we came forward again, hunting for a precious third goal before half time. However, it was the home side that got a goal through Mo Salah from close range. This gave the home side confidence, and as the match edged towards half time, it was Liverpool who looked on the ascendancy now. During injury time, the home side got a free-kick when Mo Salah was fouled, but thankfully, Jordan Henderson fired it over the bar, so we went into the break leading Liverpool by two goals to one.

We tried to catch them cold at the beginning of the second half, with a superb shot by Oleksandr Zinchenko, in which his left footed shot from outside the penalty area was blocked, and then the home side applied a lot of pressure on us in order to try to score. Less than ten minutes after the restart, Rob Holding brought down Diogo Jota in our penalty area and thus a penalty was awarded to the home side, during which Aaron Ramsdale was booked. Our hearts were in our mouths, but fortunately Mo Salah took a poor penalty and missed the target completely. However, this miss merely served to fire up Liverpool more and they continued to pressurise us in order to search for an equaliser. There was a delay when Gabriel was attended to by our medical staff over an injury, and when play was resumed, both sides tried exceptionlly hard to break each other’s defences down, but nobody was budging at all. With sixteen minutes of the match remaining. Bukayo Saka slotted the ball to Martin Ødegaard, whose left-footed shot from outside the penalty area was saved by Alisson as the ball was heading for the bottom left corner of the net. Mikel Arteta made a double subsitution with ten minutes of the game remaining with Leandro Trossard and Jakub Kiwior replacing Gabriel Jesus and Martin Ødegaard (who passed the captain’s armband to Granit Xhaka). The home side sensed that the match was in its final stages, and during this short period of immense pressure, Bukayo Saka received a yellow card for a clumsy foul. In the eighty-fifth minute, Bukayo Saka put an excellent cross into the Liverpool penalty area, and Gabriel Magalhães met it; it was a superb header from the centre of the penalty area, which was saved in the centre of the goal by Alisson. However, just two minutes later, Liverpool grabbed an equaliser when Roberto Firmino’s header finally beat Aaron Ramsdale from close range. Almost immediately, Kieran Tierney replaced Oleksandr Zinchenko, and a little time later, Gabriel Martinelli passed the ball to Kieran Tierney, whose left-footed shot flashed by Alisson’s right-hand post. So close. Although both sides had their chances to grab a late winner, the score remained the same with honours even.

Overall, we did enough to come away with the full three points, particularly after the first half performance, in which the home side were completely outplayed. In the second half, Aaron Ramsdale was truly magnificent between the sticks, keeping out shot after shot, frustrating the Liverpool strikers throughout. Even in injury time, when he surely kept the best for last with a flying fingertip save from Salah’s deflected curling effort, before somehow keeping out Ibrahima Konate’s attempt to bundle home the winner from practically on the goal-line with only seconds of the match remaining. This draw at Anfield this afternoon leaves us six points ahead of Manchester City, who have a game in hand over us at this stage of the season. We surely cannot afford any more slip ups, and although we came away with a point today, it truly could have been a lot worse. Keep going, chaps.

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 London Stadium on Sunday, 16th April at 2.00pm(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

FA Youth Cup Final to “be scheduled before Saturday 29 April”

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Rumours are circulating that our home game against Chelsea will be moved due to a clash at the Emirates with the FA Youth Cup.

Nothing is concrete yet, and I would be very surprised if a Premier League game is moved for a Youth Cup game.

The rules of the FA Youth Cup is that “the Final is to be scheduled before Saturday 29 April.” The below is taken directly from the FA website:

Anyone involved in lower league or non-league football will know you usually have a deadline to schedule cup games, rather than an exact date they need to be held on. The FA Youth Cup is similar.

To highlight it, the 4 quarter finals took place on the 22 & 23 February, 2 March and 7 March.

Clubs can hold them “within a time frame” to enable them to use their main stadium for the gasme; usually scheduling the game for a weekday evening shortly before or after an away game.

So whilst Wikipedia might say the final is on the 29 April, the FA have yet to announce the actual date of the final.

REDAction bring up the Coronation as one of the reasons why. I am not sure how moving a game closer to the Coronation helps out with policing.

The Coronation of King Charles III is scheduled for 6 May, with street parties set to be held in celebration on 7 May. Moving the Arsenal v Chelsea game to the 2 May will distrupt the Mets preperations rather than help.

The “all police leave being taking the weekend before” only makes sense if every game in London and beyond was cancelled. But it is not.

On the Saturday, Crystal Palace travel to West Ham, Nottingham Forest to Brentford, and Chelsea to Arsenal. On the Sunday it is Fulham v Manchester City.

Also, we have spoken to a police officer who has informed us that whilst police leave can be cancelled, the OB can not then dictate that it must be taken on certain weekends. Leave scheduled for the weekend of 6 May would not automatically be shifted back a weekend.

If the game is moved from the Saturday to accomodate the FA Youth Cup, Islington will still need a fairly large police presence. I imagine it will be a 60,000 sell out, especially with West Ham not having a home game that weekend.

So “police leave” as a reason for moving the Premier League game makes zero sense.

It is interesting that Sky have moved the WBA v Norwich game from 3pm to 5:30pm on the same day as we were due to play Chelsea, almost as if they have a TV slot to now fill.

The women’s team play at the Emirates on 1 May in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. I can not see Arsenal being happy with a game taken place on the Emirates pitch on Saturday 29, Monday 1 and Tuesday 2, especially with the last game being the mens team. The most important side.

What will more likely happen is the FA Youth Cup final will be announced for Thursday 27 April.

That Thursday, Arsenal are not playing, West Ham are not playing, and the stadium is free to be used. Then the Chelsea game will go ahead as expected at 17:30 on Saturday 29. Finally the womens game will be on Monday 1 May.

If the game is getting move, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, then it will be fans who lose out. Norwich fans travelling to Birmingham lose out. And those with booked trains and hotels for Arsenal and Chelsea will lose out.

On today’s game, I have remained fairly consistent this season. Manchester City are favourites for the title.

Even with us 8 points clear, I still have them down as favourites.

And even though the media and opposing fans are now going with “greatest capitulation if Arsenal do not win it from here” narrative, I still have Manchester City as favoruites.

8 points might be a huge gap, but it is not a chasm.

Manchester City have a game in hand – at home against West Ham. You have to assume they will win that. We also have to go to City away.

In our last 15 meetings with City, we have lost 14. Winning once. We have also gone 14 games without beating them in the league. And the last time we beat them in Manchester was in 2015.

Arsenal winning in Manchester will be a surprise. So suddenly that 8 point gap is only actually two.

And with trips to Liverpool and Newcastle still to come, Arsenal have a tougher run in than Man City. And that is why despite an 8 point lead, I do not recognise us as favourites, and have not yet begun to dream of lifing the title in May.

Win today, and that potentially changes.

Our two point leads (lets call it 2 rather than 8), means we can probably afford to lose once more outside of Manchester City. Looking at the fixtures ahead, that defeat could happen at Anfield or St James Park.

Worse case scenario is we lose both those games, ans against City, and they win the league by a couple of points.

Victory today will mean that we could probably afford to lose against City, and against Newcastle, and lift the title. Unless Man City win all remaining 11 games (which I would not put it beyond them to do).

Lose today, and all the pressure is on that Newcastle game.

I probably fear the Newcastle game more than the Liverpool one. There is a reason they are 3rd in the league. And last season st James Park was where our top 4 dreams died.

We are a very different side than then. We capitulated that day. Bottled it. Ran out of steam. But Newcastle are also a different side. And it will not be easy for us.

If we win today, it potentially changes everything. Especially for City fans who will have this down as a defeat.

Beat Liverpool and I might just start dreaming…

Keenos

6 into 5 doesn’t go for Mikel Arteta

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The big talking point ahead of Liverpool tomorrow is who should start up top against Liverpool.

The form of Leandro Trossard has given Mikel Arteta a selection headache, leading to many calling for him to start. So who should be in the front 5 at Anfield.

Leandro Trossard

Last weekend, we beat Leeds United 4-1 with Bukayo Saka on the bench through illness. Trossard played wide right in his absence adding to his 7 assists since joining towards the end of January.

Trossard has already played at Anfield this season, playing in behind Danny Welbeck, his movement and ability to find space caused havoc. The result was a Trossard hat-trick.

The Belgium’s versatility means means he is a multi-position option for Arteta.

Already for Arsenal he has played left and right wing, contributing from both sides of the pitch. He also replaced Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah when both were injured.

Trossard can also play inside, behind a striker, as he did at Anfield for Brighton to devastating effect. The headache for Arteta is: If Trossard starts, who missed out?

Gabriel Jesus

After missing 3 months with injury, Gabriel Jesus made his first start since November against Leeds, and grabbed himself two-goals.

Arteta has bought him back in the team slowly, and continued to protect himJesus by taking him after 60 minutes against Leeds. That denied Jesus the chance to get a hattrick, but was the correct decision.

The game was done, there was no need for Jesus to be on the pitch, and taking him off showed we had one eye on this weekend and beyond. Short term pain (for Jesus) for long term gain (for Arsenal).

Jesus showed against Leeds that he has lost none of his sharpness and hip swivels since injured.

His movement and exploitation of space could prove deadly at Anfield. And his tendancy to drift left alongside Gabriel Martinelli will overload Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Trossard has similar traits in that when he plays down the middle, he does not stay there. But Jesus is a natural striker. Jesus starts.

Bukayo Saka

Liverpool is our biggest game of the season. We need to win 8 from 9 which means we can afford to lose one game. Most of us have that defeat pencilled in for Manchester City. That means it is essential we beat Liverpool.

You do not go into your biggest game of the season and leave your best player on the bench.

Despite his good performance against Leeds, there can be no one making a case for Bukayo Saka to be left out.

Saka is arguably the best right winger in the world right now. He scores, he assists, he drives the team forward. He has to start. Bukayo starts.

Gabriel Martinelli

If you asked Trossard his most natural position, he would probably say left wing. And you can picture Trossard playing there at Anfield.

He can go inside, he can go outside, he will give Trent nightmares. The Englishman will not be able to cope with him.

But Martinelli is our most in-form player right now, with 6 goals in his last 7 league games. And when we played Liverpool at home, he scored and assisted. Alexander-Arnold was taken off “injured” at half time.

Trossard or Martinelli looks to be the battle. And I expect if both do not start, one will come in for the other at some point during the game. They form a devastating axis.

For me, Martinelli edges it due to his raw pace.

I imagine early on during the game, we might have to absorb some pressure and look to hit Liverpool on the counter. Martinelli showed against Manchester United at Old Trafford (with the goal that was wrongly disallowed) that he is a huge threat on the counter.

Trossard, meanwhile, excels in tighter spaces. He will be more useful if Liverpool are ahead and decide to defend deep. He could unpick that lock. Martinelli starts.

Martin Odegaard

Trossard’s hattrick earlier this season came whilst playing in an attacking two behind the striker. But he played on the left hand side of that two.

Whilst I can see him coming in for Odegaard, it is not a change you will be looking to make against Liverpool. Odegaard starts.

Granit Xhaka

This could be an interesting contest.

As mentioned, Trossard’s hattrick earlier this season came whilst playing in an attacking two behind the striker. Trossard playing left of that two.

Can I see a line-up where we play Martinelli out wide with Trossard in behind him and Jesus up top? It is certainly an option.

That would really overload Trent at right back, with the 3 of them rotating through the attacking positions. Liverpool defenders would be pulled apart and not know who to pick up.

But what is the case for Xhaka to start?

Firstly, his left foot provides a nice balance to Martinelli and Jesus’s right.

If Martinelli pulls Trent out of position, he needs someone to run into the space left behind and drive in a quick, hard cross. With Oleksandr Zinchenko not boming forward, that task has been left to Xhaka this season.

I have lost count how often Martinelli get on the ball, drags a right back towards him, then Xhaka runs inside to receive an easy pass and then proceeds to drive the ball across the face of the goal from inside the box.

Manchester City scored a similar goal last weekend, when Jack Grealish pulled Trent out of position. Kevin de Bruyne filled that space with an inside to out run, played the ball first time left footed back to Grealish who made it 4-1. you can see Arsenal trying to replicate that goal.

Trossard can play that ball, and his left peg is certainly not just for standing on. But Xhaka plays it a bit more naturally.

We also have to take in Xhaka’s infleunce at defending corners.

At 6’0″, Xhaka is the 6th tallest outfield player in our squad. With Takehiro Tomiyasu, Jakub Kiwior and William Saliba unlikely to start, Xhaka is usually our 3rd tallest outfield player – Gabriel Magalhães, Rob Holding and Thomas Partey the only ones who stand above him.

Meanwhile, only Fabio Vieira is shorter than Trossard. Leandro is just 5’7″.

Only Tottenham, Brentford and Arsenal have scored more goals from set pieces than Liverpool this season, with nearly 25% of their goals coming from corners and free kicks.

Whilst Trent is horrendous defensively, his delivery into the box from corners and freekicks justifies him being on the pitch. That means that whilst we are talking about the front 5, we also need to take into account who can also contribute at corners.

If van Dijk, Gakpo, Konate, Nunez, Fabinho and Henderson all start, Liverpool will have 6 outfield players who are 6’0″ or more. We are likely to start 5 (Gabriel, Holding, Partey, Xhaka, White).

Those 5 will be important whether we mark zonally or man to man. But you take Xhaka away from Trossard and it leaves us with just 4 big men.

If Xhaka does not play, the 5th tallest will then be Martinelli at just 5’8″.

I can potentially see Trossard coming on for Xhaka if we are chasing the game. Sacrificing the extra defender at corners for more creativity up top. But certainly to start the game you have to go for Xhaka. Xhaka starts.

Trossard might feel aggrieved if he starts on the bench tomorrow. But that is part of playing for a top club. You can not start every game.

Jesus, Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard and Xhaka is our best front 5, and they all must start in our biggest game of the season.

Trossard will get game time off the bench, and having someone of his versatility is a huge asset to bring on.

You can see him coming on for Jesus if the Brazilian can not play the full 90. Likewise Trossard will replace Martinelli if the other-Gabi is struggling to take advantage of Trent being useless. And the Trossard for Xhaka sub could be one we see if we are 1-nil down after 65 minutes.

It is a headache for Arteta, but it is one of those headaches you need to have if you want to be Champions. And we win tomorrow, it might be time to dream….

Keenos