Arsenal’s 100% Premier League start came to an end at Anfield as Liverpool snatched a late 1-0 win thanks to a stunning free-kick from Dominik Szoboszlai.
In what was largely an even contest, the Reds secured victory with less than ten minutes to go, ending Arsenal’s hopes of a first win at Anfield since 2012 when Mikel Arteta was still playing for the club.
Strong first half but no breakthrough
The Gunners made a bright start despite suffering an early setback. William Saliba was forced off after only five minutes with a leg injury and replaced by Cristhian Mosquera. The young defender slotted in well and even went close to scoring with a header from a Declan Rice corner on 18 minutes.
Arsenal looked sharp on the counter. Gabriel Martinelli couldn’t convert a promising break, while Noni Madueke – making his first start in place of the injured Bukayo Saka – caused constant problems down the right. His half volley from a corner was brilliantly denied by Alisson after 23 minutes. Riccardo Calafiori also went close twice just before the break.
Liverpool, by contrast, created little. Cody Gakpo fired wide early on, while David Raya gifted Virgil van Dijk a golden chance with a misplaced pass, only for the Dutchman to fail to hit the target. The champions looked far from their best, and Arsenal went in frustrated not to be ahead.
Szoboszlai delivers the killer blow
The second half saw momentum shift. Around the hour mark Florian Wirtz thought he had opened the scoring, only for Gakpo to be flagged offside in the build-up. Gakpo then tested Raya again, while Mohamed Salah began to grow into the game with efforts blocked by Calafiori and Rice.
Mikel Arteta introduced Martin Odegaard and £60 million signing Eberechi Eze, who came on for his debut and almost won a penalty after a tussle with Joe Gomez. Madueke also went close again when he dribbled past van Dijk, but Alisson was equal to his effort.
With the game seemingly heading for a stalemate, Liverpool struck. On 82 minutes Szoboszlai curled a free-kick from 25 yards past Raya, clipping the post on its way in. Arsenal pushed hard in the closing stages and thought they had a late penalty when the ball struck Szoboszlai in stoppage time, but VAR waved it away.
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville summed it up afterwards, saying: “Liverpool have edge to win big matches, Arsenal don’t” – a verdict that will sting supporters after such a promising first-half display.
What are your thoughts on the game?
Liam Harding
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Reminded me of the Man City game a few seasons back ,to afraid to win the game so set up not to lose (and we lost the league because of it ) Rodri’s words .
Awful game from both teams and a pretty dreadful advert for the prem overall watching some of the other teams over the weekend ,Man City look shot ,Utd all over the place ,spuds being the spuds .
It’s not going to take much to win this season ,Liverpool have to be favourites even though they were just as bad as us .
Bright spark was Noni .
Raya was Raya once again ,looks so uneasy playing out from the back .
Gykokes looked awful same as Martinelli,so many things need working on but you would expect that to have happened in preseason .
Not impressed one bit TBF
Not a lot has changed DK but in reality a lot has changed. Arteta probably has too much choice now. When was the last time we played 3 defensive midfielders? Does Arteta know his best team now, does anyone? Early days but i am not holding my breath for a new era starting this season.
Reggie mate .
When I saw that starting lineup it was obvious what the play was …… go for those offensive set pieces .
Gykokes had 2 touches in the first 30 mins I think I read .
Apparently though arm chair fans don’t have a clue .
Reggie,
Hopefully at the end of this season, we can start the rebuild. Because the club haven’t really backed Arteta have they. 🤣😂👍
Don’t worry Dan Kit,
I’m sure David will put all our minds at rest. After all, he is the voice of reason. 😂🤣👍
A number of things here:
– Martinelli should never start another game ever again for us
– 4 CBs and 3DMs smh Arteta
– Merino had no business starting this game
– Saliba’s injury is 100% Arteta’s fault. He was injured during warm up but Arteta went ahead and started him. You could even see that immediately he went down Mosquera was instructed to change up even before the physios could get to Saliba to determine anything. Arteta knew his decision to start the injured Saliba backfired
– A striker has never been our problem, tactics are.
– Too cautious from Arteta and lacking spine
– There should an immediate investigation into the cause of our injuries. These many injuries this early on indicate that the problem is internal. Is it training methods? Or an incapable medical team?
– The owners, board and Berta have all played their part. There are no excuses now, not even injuries can be used as an excuse. If Arteta fails to win the league or a major trophy with this squad then he should be fired.
You don’t go away to Anfield every week of a season, a title winning season isn’t all about that one fixture, so important not to over react. 😌
Looking at the bigger picture there should be plenty of positivity where we are as a club this evening.
Tactically, I think we are stronger with Rice helping out deeper and Zoob in front of him. I now view Zoob as more of a Rodri or Wurz than a holding midfielder or anchor role.
Bravery that wins you games actually comes from players taking opponents on – from that point of view Maddy was a plus point today. Nelli hasn’t really had the courage to roast his man since he went out with that bad hamstring. Califiori rampaging overlapping wingback has unbalanced our play for both the last two matches, as he is too often the touchline winger. It didn’t feel like Saliba was missing, I guess is credit for Mosky and Timber.
I guess defence of Arteta is our new found status in world football is owed to Arteta – pulling a club up by the bootstraps from doldrums we were in does take years and many summer windows. And a lot of players only chose us because of Arteta – outside Arsenal Chat Forums Arteta is viewed as an exciting young and tactically gifted manager. I guess inside Arsenal chat forums is an impatience for even more that is out of step with football reality. We don’t seem to have the weakness in depth to torpedo our season this time round – that’s one football reality we know so well. Another one would be to ask how many Champions Leagues have we won, how many finals have we been in? History doesn’t grow on trees. Arteta has hauled us up by the boot straps, built this platform, seems to me he deserves chance to play with it the next couple of seasons.
There’s a reason why people at the top stay top and those below stay below, one of the major reasons for that is their ruthless mindset and ability to take risks and make decisive decisions.
I am not over reacting, this loss is on Arteta. Arteta took us this far, fine no problem about that, but that doesn’t mean I should overlook glaring deficiencies. Mind you this is not even the 10th time we’ll be seeing this. This is who he is over the years. He has spent about a billion. At what point do you say enough is enough? His decisions lost us the game today because Liverpool were bad and there for the taking. I’ll say this again, if Arteta doesn’t win anything this season the he should be fired, no excuses
100%
Sometimes I wonder if some fans are actually fans of Arsenal football club or fans of Arteta. There’s absolutely nothing wrong in demanding trophies and better performances. He has been supported, trusted and backed. Now is the time to deliver.
Problem is, have we got the right man to deliver?
Personally I don’t think we have the man to deliver. But I’ll give him till the end of this season and he has my support from now till then. If he fails to deliver then he should be sacked
You can’t claim you are hungrier than other fans, because criticism of your posts is that your points are not grounded in a reality others can see but you can’t. Firstly you say “people at the top stay top and those below stay below, one of the major reasons for that is their ruthless mindset and ability to take risks and make decisive decisions.” Was that the match you saw? Liverpool won it being braver, ruthless risk takers – really? Liverpool won it by being very talented, and scrapping really well in front their home fans.
Secondly, Liverpools title last season was built upon the incredible form Mo Salah maintained – indeed most title winning seasons everywhere in history are built upon great players doing great things. Which leads us, thirdly, into the reality check for you – why do you expect Arsenal to run away with it? Outside of Saka, where’s our truly world class differential, our Salah, Rodri, Haaland, that is the difference between winning things and not winning? Reality is this Arsenal squad are not a million miles clear of everyone else in PL and CL to make winning them a shoe in – it’s bizarre that you think they are. It’s a damn competitive league, more so the randomness of the cups like CL – the recent great Man City side Won 1 champions league, the great Man Utd sides under Sir Alex 2 Champions League – why on earth do you think this Arsenal squad can go into it this season and so easily pluck one off a tree?
“ outside Arsenal Chat Forums Arteta is viewed as an exciting young and tactically gifted manager”
Not sure what non Arsenal chat forums you’ve read …but I can ensure you that’s not what’s being spoken 😂
Opposition fans used to respect us ,not now that’s for sure ,only one clown to blame for that .
I’m not sure too what non Arsenal chat forums is being talked about here lol
The poster is pointing out that there is a narrow band of silly so-called Arsenal fans who pile into certain echo chambers to espouse their ridiculous negativity.
This game was decided by one great moment. This happens, especially when the best sides are up against one another. In many such cases there is always a good chance that top teams will cancel each other out but a single moment can be decisive.
Unfortunately, we now have the same muppets spitting out their dummies because Arsenal lost a game by a very narrow margin.
There are still many games to be played so there is plenty of time for Arsenal to make up the deficit.
Is that all you have got to say? Where are all the excuses?
100%, though I’d not let this turn us against each other. To expect to go to Anfield and get 3points is pretty wild and kinda entitled. Yes we’ve brought in some great transfers, but does that make us suddenly leap frog Liverpool who won the league easily last season and have added some really top tier players, with Isak and Guehi still likely.
Honestly, this over-reacting stems from the likes of simpletons Keane, Neville and Carragher. Straight away they were saying how we got it all wrong… like you say, one kick decided a very close and cautious game (understandable tactics given its early in the season). We have by far the best record against top 6 opposition, this was our first loss in around 2years. Had the exact same game occurred but we won via the free-kick, everyone would be bouncing around.
The whole ‘Arteta has to win the league’ mentality is abysmal. For those who think that way, please let me know who the amazing coach is we bring in to suddenly finish the job?
Their great goal came from a “set piece” as well MM, something that the football fraternity, including some of our own fans, have criticised The Arsenal for!!
Two very good teams with just a fag paper between them.
Ken you know what the critism is, is is not the set pieces, its the reliance on them. Many games, if we do not score from open play, we dont score. Lets be real. We rely on them, we even try to play for corners, to get them. What about our general play? Its not upto scrratch going forward. THE STATS WILL SHOW YOU THAT. The real ones🤣🤣
I’ll take it on the chin Reggie, as I made the mistake 😂
If Jon Fox or Phil were here, they’d call me senile!!
Now, how many of the six goals we’ve scored this season have been from set pieces and, as I don’t trust myself with stats anymore, can you work out how many we scored from set pieces last season?
Then we can decide quite how reliant we are on set pieces.
Ken, our attacking is not good enough, it is not a secret, every ex pundit and Arsenal player are saying the same. Its a little embarrassing, the way we attack.
Yes of course Arsenal fans who have contrary opinions to you are “silly so-called Arsenal fans’” and “muppets spitting out their dummies”.
Just thought you might want to have a look above at the admin comment that appears on every article:
“So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.”
I suppose it’s there for classy posters like yourself
That is aimed at who sushi?
🤔 mmm I wonder if his name begins with D. Not you Derek 🤣🤣
Reggie,
I knew it wasn’t me, as you’d have said BIG D. 🤣😂👍
Don’t bother with him. Most likely he is Arteta’s PR bot.
@ David.
I agree with you.
And where is that going to get you?😂
The same place if he’d agreed with you Reggie 😂Now, about those stats 😎
😂😂😂😂
7 defensive 3 attacking players started courtesy of Arteta Bin Laden. What a brilliant tactics to use against a poor Liverpool side
The title challenge does not end with this match loss, it actually ended when when we ended when we did not change the manager.this loss is on Mikel, every game leads to an injury. Every game is setnot to lose rather than to win. Starting with 3 DMs would be a dull game. Keeping Trossad and extending his contract has deprived the team of a LW wide player.the Euphoria of the Leeds game was short lived. Remeber weput 1 past Man UTD, Grimsby and Burnley put 2 past them, something for Mikel to ponder about his midfield. Give Mikel the pool team and he will take them from winners to wannabes
Horrid display of football but not surprised. Knew by the lineup the aim was to take a draw to preserve this managers ego of not losing against the top 4 or 6. All that money spent to play like stoke city is disgraceful! Only positive to take from that rubbish today was Mosquera, he looked good.
Haha phase 118 😂
we missed Saka …MO and Eze not match fit….Saliba injuried after five minutes….It’s like liverpool losese M.Salah….. Ekitiké is not match fit along Gakpo…..they lose Konaté after five minutes…..They would be very weakened……Dont overreact
😂
Pires,
You say don’t over react. Your post is full of excuses.
Eze not match fit?. He played in all of Palace’s fixtures this season.
It is timid, boring futbol played with the slightest of margins.
Better play more attacking in the next few games or pool will be looking in the rear view mirror and be on their merry way to more silverware.
Martinelli and Merino had no reason to start the match over Eze and Nwaneri.
Saliba felt something during warm up so he shouldn’t have started him to worsen the injury.
Gyokeres.
Eze. Nwaneri. Madueke.
Rice. Zubimendi.
Calafiori. Gabriel. Mosquera. Timber.
Raya.
This team should have started and we would have been more creative and maybe got a goal or two in the first half when we were dominant.
Don’t agree with Nwaneri
Was poor last season in run in
I don’t think MA knows the job of a 9. I don’t think there is something called defensive striker.
Defensive everywhere…winger, AM…it’s just crazy. Injuries will continue to pile up, plus less productivity going forward.
We need to do better….some players need more freedom.
Well, after all of the huffing and puffing during the transfer window,
I believe today’s game has highlighted once again that we have only one “Top Class” player in Saka, and only one true game manager in Odegaard.
We have brought in lots of really good back up players, but no one of Saka’s class.
I think we really needed to concentrate on a Rodrygo type player.
We need someone else who will require the opposition to double team them.
We have lots of very good worker bees, but when Saka is missing, we lack that something special,
that “je ne sais quoi”
If Liverpool get ISAK, I think they have stolen a march on us
Arteta the final piece of the puzzle to fix… Lets see till december.
For Arsenal new signings it was baptism with fire. zubimendi today saw how the epl looks like. he was too tired in the 2nd half which prompted him to make that foul. madueke can’t handle the wrath of kerkez. gyo afraid of fouls always trying to be smart. today we sorely missed Havertz and saka. eze was a sleepwalker toward goal without reading his environs. mosquera was obsessed with not making mistakes, not adventurous enough to utilising his height. this night truly separates reene slegers from arteta.
Pool granted us the first half to see if we’ve grown up to beat them, we didn’t utiliize the allotted time so they became too serious from the first minute of the second half. in the first half Arsenal should have scored goal/s. then in the second half arteta’s cowardice ushered in inviting pool to score. Martinelli couldn’t beat the makeshift full back szbo but rather allowed szbo to score against us. double jeopardy!
In the last 3 have we’ve only conceded 1 goal and that was a “moment of magic”. Are players need time to bed in a get used to one another. We look solid at the back. The game did look like it was there for the taking and going forward that’s where the mentality has to step up. That said, you can see we’re not playing out best football either. Give the attacking players time to gel and let’s see what comes to fruition. Remember 1 defeat against the so called big 6 in 23 games isn’t bad.
The setup with Merino set a tone of “playing not to lose,” something we see too often from Artera.
He is reactive rather than active, and we saw that with the subs. Should have switched out Martinelli and Merino at halftime.
Disappointed we played scared with 3 DM’s and no creativity, especially with the depth we have.
Playing off the back foot has to change. Liverpool finds a way, while we fail to.
Take a look at the type of football Declan Rice playing…
The game against leeds last weekend.
While we could have scored more goals, Rice keeps pointing to take the ball backward rather than forward. Against liverpool, he kept doing that until Arsenal was losing.
Suddenly he realizes, it is time to push the ball forward.
David Raya played the ball forward more tha a midfielder whose role was to take the game in the opponent’s half.
Arteta, should stop thinking little of himself and take the risk needed.
We played better with no striker last season than we have done in this few three games.
At the end of the day it was a world class free kick that separated the two teams.
I’m disappointed with the result as I truly think we had a really good chance against this Liverpool side. Neither of the teams looked good.
I don’t blame the players on the pitch as I think they are all talented enough to get the win. Saying that, I would have preferred Odegaard to start and Eze to come on earlier.
The backwards/sidewards passing has to stop. There are no points for keeping the ball in your own half. We definitely need to be braver and take more chances. We are really good at getting the ball back off opponents, so why are we so afraid to give over possession while trying to create chances.
We now need to change the tactics to suit the players instead of the other way round.
Not the result we wanted but tbf we didn’t do enough to get anything better from this game.
On a plus, Madueke and Mosquera did well, considering.
Same old Arteta, played it too cautious and got done by a wonder goal, should have been brave and had a right go at Liverpool but he can’t change his style, too defensive and cautious, won’t win anything playing football like that, Liverpool were there for the taking, they were bang average and still found a way to grind out a result.