Liverpool played hosts to Arsenal at Anfield earlier this evening looking to continue their unbeaten run in the Premier League this season. The Reds made a nervy start to the game which gave Arsenal enough invitation to score an early goal through Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the 11th minute.
However, the Reds responded brilliantly through Roberto Firmino’s two quick-fire goals before Sadio Mane smashed in Liverpool’s third in the 32nd minute. Mohamed Salah capped off an excellent first half with another goal from the penalty spot to put Liverpool in a commanding position at half-time.
The second half was more of the same with the home side dominating possession. Firmino completed his hattrick from the penalty spot to hand his team a dominant 5-1 win on the day.
Let’s take a look at how each Liverpool player fared during the match against the Gunners.
GK: Alisson Becker – 8/10
The Brazilian keeper distributed the ball with ease and grace to set up some glorious attacks for his side. He conceded an early goal which extinguished his chances of a clean sheet.
RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold – 7/10
Another strong performance from the young English full-back! He was a good outlet for the home team and defended resolutely in his own half.
CB: Virgil Van Dijk – 8/10
The Dutch defender won most of his aerial duels during the match and commanded his defence well to restrict Arsenal to just one goal.
CB: Dejan Lovren – 7.5/10
The Croatian defender kept things tight at the back and didn’t give Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a sniff at goal.
LB: Andrew Robertson – 6/10
The Reds left-back did not track back in the lead up to Maitland-Niles’s goal. However, he recovered from his mistake to put in an excellent performance throughout the rest of the game.
CM: Georginio Wijnaldum – 8.5/10
The Dutch midfielder worked tirelessly at the middle of the park and hardly gave away possession. He also created some fantastic chances going forward.
CM: Fabinho – 6.5/10
The Brazilian made a tense start to the game and was guilty of misplacing some of his passes early on. However, to his credit, he did the dirty defensive work and covered a lot of ground in the second half.
CAM: Xherdan Shaqiri – 7.5/10
The Swiss international floated in and around the Arsenal penalty box and linked up with Salah and Firmino quite effectively to cause a lot of problems for the Gunners defence.
RM: Mohamed Salah – 8/10
It was an unselfish performance from the Egyptian forward! He still managed to come away with a goal and an assist from the game which will please Jurgen Klopp a lot.
ST: Roberto Firmino – 10/10
The Brazilian forward singlehandedly completed the comeback for the Reds after Arsenal managed to score early on. He completed his hattrick in the second half which was a fitting end to his best performance of the campaign.
LM: Sadio Mane – 8/10
The Senegalese international caused a lot of headaches for the Gunners defence in the first half. He found the back of the net once but could have scored a few more in the second half.
Substitutes:
CM: Jordan Henderson – 7/10
The Liverpool captain kept possession well in midfield and played some neat passes in the Arsenal half.
CAM: Adam Lallana – 6.5/10
It was a nice, little cameo from Lallana. He was full of running after coming off from the bench.
LB: Nathaniel Clyne – N/A
He did not have enough time to make an impact in the game.
