Alex Keble analyses Arsenal's statement 3-1 win over Premier League leaders Liverpool as they close the gap on the top to two points.
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It’s hard to recall a Premier League season with as many narrative twists and turns at the top.
A few weeks ago Arsenal’s title challenge looked all but over following another disappointing winter run. Four days ago Liverpool’s breathtaking victory over Chelsea told us Jurgen Klopp’s resignation would spark a long winning streak.
It turns out neither was true.
Arsenal’s 3-1 victory at Emirates Stadium has moved Mikel Arteta’s side to within two points of the top. The top three are bunched together again.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Man City
MCI
|
38 | +62 | 91 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
38 | +62 | 89 |
| 3 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
38 | +45 | 82 |
As for Liverpool, they cannot have had a stranger week in their Premier League history.
Klopp’s shock announcement led to a coming-of-age performance of "Liverpool 2.0" in midweek, only for a clumsy mix-up between Virgil van Dijk and Alisson to undo all that good work.
By the end of the match, Liverpool looked a little ropey, a red card to Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz at right-back symbolic of a tepid performance.
Here’s how Arteta won the tactical battle against Klopp to re-enter the title race.
Arsenal midblock blunts misconfigured Liverpool midfield
Arsenal were by far the better side in the first 45 minutes thanks to Arteta’s use of a midblock 4-4-2 to stunt Liverpool’s progression, as the BBC graphic below shows.
It was also as a result of Klopp’s misconfiguration of his own midfield, having Joe Gomez invert into central midfield alongside Alexis Mac Allister, with Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones sitting much higher up the pitch.
All too often they were disconnected, with those large distances made worse by the way Arsenal man-marked all four of them.
This was a constant theme of the first half, when Liverpool just couldn’t get out of second gear and Arsenal, from that deeper position, moved forward at speed when the ball was won back.
At half-time, Klopp moved Jones deeper and instructed Gomez to stay wide, and although initially this seemed to solve things - Jones carried the ball forward and released Diaz into the final third within moments of kick-off – Klopp’s substitutions then unsettled Liverpool again.
Szoboszlai absence and Havertz as false nine favour Arsenal
The other reason for Arsenal’s strong showing, and Liverpool’s relative passivity, was how Arteta used Kai Havertz as a "false nine" to further overwhelm through the centre of the pitch.
By dropping Havertz alongside Martin Odegaard, Mac Allister effectively had two players to mark, which meant there was often a progressive passing option to get Arsenal through the thirds – the very thing Liverpool lacked.
The best example of this happening was Arsenal’s opener, when Odegaard, seen in the centre-circle in the image below, went untracked in the middle because Mac Allister was distracted by Havertz (both circled).
This goal also captured Liverpool’s pressing issues. Unlike against Chelsea in midweek Liverpool were often too slow to react, pressing with less intensity and therefore allowing Arsenal to dictate things.
It is no coincidence that so many Arsenal moves, including the build-up to the first goal, came down Liverpool’s right-centre, where Klopp missed his best presser, Dominik Szoboszlai.
Credit, too, goes to Jorginho for an excellent performance in midfield. He made more tackles and interceptions, with six, than anyone else, and had the most touches, with seven, of any Arsenal player.
Klopp’s tactical switches don’t pay off
Liverpool got very lucky with the equaliser, and Klopp knew it. After the break he made plenty of changes, dropping Jones deeper but also quickly bringing on three substitutes.
It didn’t work, and in fact just as Jones was starting to find his feet in the match Klopp’s triple change appeared to unsettle Liverpool’s rhythm.
Andrew Robertson’s lack of match fitness showed as he played a cautious game at left-back; Trent Alexander-Arnold’s creativity was sorely missing; and deploying Darwin Nunez as the No 9 severed Liverpool’s midfield from their front line.
Of course, had it not been for an absurd mistake between Van Dijk and Alisson, there is a good chance Liverpool would have held out for at least a point, and therefore it is perhaps unfair to criticise those changes too much.
But it was a stop-start half up until Arsenal’s second goal, and the bitty, stretched-out feel of the Liverpool performance had something to do with a triple substitution so early in the match.
Salah’s absence conspicuous as Arteta’s low block completes the job
Once Arsenal were 2-1 up, they successfully shut the match down by dropping considerably deeper, safe in the knowledge that a Liverpool team without an injured Mohamed Salah would struggle to create chances up against a packed penalty area.
This was the first time Salah’s absence has been felt by the league leaders, and in those final 20 minutes a key issue was an apparent lack of bravery in possession.
Liverpool were often making the safe choice, not trusting themselves to thread passes into congested areas or to risk a turnover.
Klopp summarised the issue succinctly in his post-match interview with Sky Sports: “I think we didn’t play enough football”.
Jürgen Klopp press conference: Arsenal 3-1 Liverpool
But Arteta deserves praise for the set-up in those final 20 minutes, which helped his team in attack as well as defence.
From such a low position, and encouraging Liverpool forward (Klopp’s side held 72 per cent possession after the second Arsenal goal), Arsenal’s counter-attacks became increasingly dangerous.
It led directly to their third goal, which was scored by breaking beyond Liverpool’s makeshift right-back Diaz – who was only in that position because Klopp had been lured into an all-attacking formation.
For all Liverpool’s minor mistakes, then, it was a tactical victory in two parts for Arteta and Arsenal. All of a sudden, they look as likely as Liverpool to push Manchester City all the way.
