Liverpool faced off against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium earlier tonight as they focused on picking up maximum points on their travels. The Reds were solid in the first 45 minutes but failed to break the home team down as they went into the half-time interval with a goalless scoreline.
Diogo Jota finally broke the deadlock for the Merseyside outfit in the 54th minute when he scored with a solid strike from a tight angle. Just six minutes later, Roberto Firmino came off the bench to score Liverpool’s second goal with an excellent finish from point-blank range. Jurgen Klopp’s men ended up cruising to a solid 2-0 victory away from home and thus, closed the gap to Manchester City to just one point at the top of the Premier League table.
Let’s take a look at how each Liverpool player performed during the clash against the Gunners.
GK: Alisson Becker – 7.5/10
The Brazilian keeper made a world-class save to deny Arsenal the opening goal early in the second half. His ball distribution and handling were excellent as usual during the game.
RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold – 7/10
The English right-back was always looking to feed some decent balls to his teammates up top. However, he struggled to cope with Gabriel Martinelli’s pace at times out on the wide areas.
CB: Joel Matip – 8/10
Matip produced a dominant defensive display and performed well to keep the Gunners at bay during the 90 minutes.
CB: Virgil Van Dijk – 7.5/10
Van Dijk read the game well and produced a solid performance on the defensive end of the field.
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LB: Andrew Robertson – 8.5/10
The Liverpool left-back had to do a lot of defending, especially in the first half. He stood up to the test and was solid at the back. Furthermore, Robertson picked up a great assist for setting up Firmino’s goal.
CM: Jordan Henderson – 7/10
Henderson played a reserved role in midfield and tried his best to make life difficult for Arsenal at the centre of the park.
CM: Fabinho – 7.5/10
He broke down a lot of the home team’s counter-attacks and grew stronger as the game progressed in the second half.
CM: Thiago Alcantara – 7/10
The Spaniard passed the ball accurately for most of the game. However, he gifted Arsenal a golden chance to score the opener but got bailed out by Alisson’s outstanding save. Thiago redeemed himself soon after by setting up Jota’s goal with a great through pass in the 54th minute.
RW: Sadio Mane – 5/10
Mane gave away the ball far too often and had a goal chalked off because of off-side.
ST: Diogo Jota – 7/10
The Portuguese strike struggled to get into the game in the first half. However, he broke the deadlock with a great finish in the 54th minute by catching Aaron Ramsdale off-guard at his near post.
LW: Luis Diaz – 7/10
Diaz fought for the ball really well and had a few bright moments in the opponent’s half.
Substitutes:
ST: Roberto Firmino – 7.5/10
The Brazilian striker scored with a great finish from close range, only moments after coming off the bench.
RW: Mohamed Salah – 6.5/10
He squandered two good chances to find the back of the net.
CM: Curtis Jones – N/A
Jones hardly had any time to make an impact.
