Liverpool eased off to a 3-1 win over an underwhelming Arsenal side at the Anfield Stadium. Liverpool took the lead in the 9th minute itself when Roberto Firmino blasted the ball past Cech. Liverpool then doubled their lead via Mane in the 40th minute and went into the halftime with a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Arsenal started the second half brightly and they finally managed to pull one back when substitute Alexis Sanchez put Danny Welbeck through and the 26-year-old slotted calmly past Simon Mignolet. Arsenal endeavoured to level the scores but Liverpool eventually managed to put another one past Cech through Wijnaldum in the dying minutes of the game.
The Best & The Worst Arsenal Players Rated From Their 3-1 Loss Vs Liverpool
Petr Cech: 7/10
Petr Cech made two very good saves and couldn’t really have done much about the three goals.
Nacho Monreal: 7/10
Monreal did really well in the first half but Sadio Mane and Nathaniel Clyne both got the better of Monreal as the left-back struggled to keep up with their pace.
Laurent Koscielny: 7/10
Despite defending in numbers, Arsenal weren’t able to neutralise Liverpool’s attack and Koscielny, although culpable wasn’t the one whom you’d directly point your finger at for the goals conceded.
Shkodran Mustafi: 7.5/10
Mustafi made some good clearances running towards the goal and his distribution was also quite decent. He often failed to sense the move until it was quite obvious.
Hector Bellerin: 6.5/10
Bellerin was culpable for not doing better to stop Liverpool’s two goals. He did make some excellent runs in the second half but they ultimately yielded no end-product.
Francis Coquelin: 5.5/10
Coquelin was quite rash and Lallana particularly made life hard for him. Also, he couldn’t help Arsenal retain the ball for a longer duration.
Granit Xhaka: 7/10
Despite getting dominated by the Liverpool’s midfield, Granit Xhaka’s distribution and some of his cross-field balls were excellent.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 6/10
Chamberlain made a few good runs down the right channel and put some good crosses initially in the first half.
Danny Welbeck: 7.5/10
Welbeck ran his heart out and worked really hard to get the ball. His finish for the first goal was excellent.
Alex Iwobi: 5/10
Iwobi gave the ball away too often as he tried to do too much by dribbling past defenders.
Olivier Giroud: 6.5/10
Giroud did well considering he virtually had no good deliveries and played with an injury.
Substitutes
Alexis Sanchez: 8.5/10
Sanchez breathed life into Arsenal and also gave the assist for Welbeck’s goal. His introduction added a much-needed spark to Arsenal’s play but unfortunately, that didn’t prove to be enough.
Theo Walcott: 5/10
Walcott didn’t do much but tracked back.
Lucas Perez: 5/10
Perez tried to get involved but was unable to do so with Liverpool defending in numbers.
