How Liverpool defeated Arsenal by eventually showing more ambition in attack

Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Arsenal, a contest between last season’s top two — and, judging from Manchester City’s poor start to the campaign, probably this season’s top two as well — was a classic of the genre.

Not ‘classic’ because it was a memorable encounter, but ‘classic’ because matches between the two title contenders are often like this: tight, cagey and disappointingly defensive. Those titanic encounters between Pep Guardiola’s City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, which seemed to regularly finish 2-2, were the exception to the rule.

For long periods, Arsenal and Liverpool seemed to be playing out a dull goalless draw. It was a track stand of a football match, ahead of 35 further Premier League fixtures. But, put simply, the game was eventually won by the side that did more to win it. Fortune favours the brave.

It’s strange to be talking about Arne Slot’s Liverpool in such a fashion. This time last season, the discussion was all about how Slot had brought a more sensible, measured approach to Liverpool after they’d fallen short in Klopp’s final campaign by being too open.

But in the first two games of this season, Liverpool have returned to the brilliantly erratic side of old: twice losing 2-0 leads before winning 4-2 and 3-2 against Bournemouth and Newcastle respectively. A similarly gung-ho approach was unlikely against Arsenal, of course, and Liverpool started cautiously.

Not as cautiously as Arsenal, however. It must be acknowledged that Mikel Arteta was without arguably his three key attacking players in Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz. Eberechi Eze has only just arrived, and William Saliba’s early injury meant 21-year-old Cristhian Mosquera was thrown into action 10 minutes in.

Arteta would clearly have been content with a draw. His midfield trio of Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino, despite the nationality of the latter two — and that of their manager — was unlikely to produce much tiki-taka.

And the overwhelming feature of the first half was the determination of both teams to drop a midfielder between the centre-backs, in response to the opposition pressing in a 4-4-2 shape. This isn’t a new feature of football — it was popularised 15 years ago or so — but it’s something rarely witnessed in recent years, with teams preferring to move one full-back inside to form a back three, with the other full-back pushing forward and the midfield staying intact.

But here, Rice dropped in for Arsenal…

… and so did Zubimendi…

… as did Gravenberch for Liverpool.

And while there’s nothing wrong with this approach, both sides essentially played in front of one another.

But Liverpool were more positive in the second half, primarily in terms of the positioning of their midfielders. Here’s one example. When Mohamed Salah plays the ball backwards to Dominik Szoboszlai, both central midfielders — Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister — are behind him.

But as Szoboszlai receives the ball, both are making forward runs. Now, you don’t really want both your midfielders making the exact same run, and Szoboszlai ended up going backwards anyway. But it showed Liverpool’s positivity, and it still turned into a good move.

Now, the ball is with the centre-backs, and after a first half where one of the central midfielders would be on top of the centre-backs, Liverpool have all three central midfielders — Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Florian Wirtz — offering the option for a forward pass.

This allows Liverpool to play the best passing combination of the match, with all three of those players combining in midfield…

… and eventually the ball comes to Gravenberch, not positioned between his own centre-backs like in the first half, but instead between the opposition lines. His attempt from this zone was ambitious, but Liverpool had shown the game’s brightest moment.

Ten minutes later, there’s another ambitious run from a midfielder into a position between the lines. Granted, Szoboszlai was actually playing as a makeshift right-back — and playing that role very well. But this was another brave run into an attacking position.

And it was matched by an excellent forward pass from Virgil van Dijk…

… which allowed Szoboszlai to receive the ball between the lines.

As the move rolls on, the ball eventually comes to Mac Allister, who has no fewer than six forward passing options. He finds Wirtz…

… who had probably the best effort at goal of the first hour. David Raya saved, and Liverpool bundled home the rebound, but it was ruled offside.

And while Arsenal increased their attacking threat with the introduction of Odegaard and Eze, it shouldn’t be overlooked that Slot introduced Curtis Jones for Mac Allister. You can argue this is a like-for-like change, but Jones showed more willingness to make driving midfield runs and put himself between the lines.

Here’s a decisive example, with Szoboszlai temporarily becoming a midfielder, allowing Jones to move higher and receive another good forward pass from Van Dijk.

Again, Liverpool had a player popping up between the lines…

… and this forced Zubimendi to bundle him over.

From the resulting free kick, Szoboszlai’s brilliant, dipping, curling free kick won the game.

We might not know the full significance of that goal for another nine months. As it happens, the direct head-to-head clashes between the eventual top two usually matter less than we think.

But this was nevertheless a seismic day in the title race — even before Liverpool confirmed the signing of Alexander Isak.