The Reds continue their success in the capital with another away victory against struggling Arsenal. Liverpool have won four consecutive away games without conceding a single goal in a single season.

Liverpool continue to pile the pressure for top four as they seal another victory.

It took a little while for Liverpool to find the cutting edge in the final third, but the introduction of Diogo Jota turned another nervy game into a more routine win.

The Portuguese attacker once again coming clutch for Liverpool when needed and he did not not waste much time,  pouncing on a header just three minutes after his introduction to the game.

Mohammed Salah also scored his 150th goal for Liverpool. Diogo Jota also scored a second in the 82nd minute to wrap up all three points for the champions.

 

  • Story Of The Match

After a busy international break for both teams there were quite a few changes due injuries and fitness.

Mikel Arteta had to make a few changes to his side as illness for their captain Granit Xhaxa. Also injuries to Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe made them unavaliable for the game.

Jurgen Klopp made two changes to the side who beat Wolves before the International break. Roberto Firmino came back from a 3 week absence with a knee injury as he replaced Diogo Jota. 

 Gini Wijnaldum was also benched for the game at the Emirates because of his international commitments with Nertherlands. 

During the first half Liverpool were very much the dominant side having majority of the possession and the Gunners were unable to sustain any real attacking threat. 

The hosts barely had a meaningful touch in the first half and created little of note on the counter-attack, The reds were continously trying to break the deadlock but they could not have the cutting edge to break the deadlock.

Half an hour into the game Trent Alexander Arnold whipped the ball six yard box which landed to James Milner outside the box and took a powerful shot which whiskered just wide of Leno goal. The Gunners were very compact, left little space between the lines.

Another oppurtunity came for the visitors to get the opener during the first half. When barring a misplaced header from Thomas Partey and an error from Dani Ceballos which allowed Liverpool to break with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane combined and Firmino had a shot from distance and was inches from curling it past Bernd Leno into the bottom corner of the net.

They were the only clear cut chances the reds created during the first 45 minutes in the capital. Arsenal largely limited their opponents to shots from distance.

Mikel Arteta saw Kieran Tierney limp off with knee trouble in first-half stoppage time 

During the second half of the match Liverpool kept probing and working in tight spaces around the penalty area but still were finding it difficult to get any piece of luck to put the ball in the back of the net. 

The second half started in much the same manner and, for a while at least, it looked like Arsenal might just hold on for the most one-sided draw of the season.

On the hour mark both managers decided to switch it up.  in an attempt to give Arsenal a chance to get up the pitch, Mikel Arteta made his first change, bringing off Dani Ceballos for Mohamed Elneny. Jurgen Klopp responded immediately, bringing off Andy Robertson for Diogo Jota and James Milner deputising into the left-back position.

The contrast in the effectiveness of the two substitutions could not have been more benefical for the visitors rather than the hosts. Liverpool suddenly had another striker on the pitch as Sadio Mane,Mohammed Salah and Roberto Firmino all remained on the pitch. 

it had a huge difference because within a few minutes, Trent Alexander whipped the ball into the box and it was met by Diogo Jota who pounced first in the box to get Liverpool on their way to another win in the capital. 

This was a great moment for the young England right back who proved his doubters wrong after a impressive performance against the Gunners after he was omitted from Three Lions squad.

Jurgen Klopp on Sky Sports:

"Trent Alexander-Arnold showed his class, again. I don't want to make another discussion about Trent or stuff like that. I said it was Gareth [Southgate's] decision.

As well as switching personnel to great effect, Liverpool also varied their passing. Where, in the first half, they had tried to build patiently from the back, they ended up passing sideways and backwards finding different routes through Ozan Kabak, Nat Phillips, Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara.

The introduction of Diogo Jota allowed Roberto Firmino to drop deeper and be a creative attacking midfielder. 

Liverpool’s second came from a brilliant pass from Fabinho, who dinked the ball into the space behind Gabriel Magalhaes and watched as Mohamed Salah did the rest like he has all season for Liverpool.

That is now Mohammed Salah 150th appearance in the Premier League as a Liverpool player with his 93rd goal in that sequence which is remarkable.

Towards the end of the 90 minutes Liverpool were not done scoring. Salah almost scored again after near-identical service from Roberto Firmino which sent him one-on-one, but he was flagged offside. 

Liverpool third goal of the night was a brilliant counter pressing goal. Arsenal defender Gabriel presented them with their third and final goal  which scored by a clinical Diogo Jota.

At the very end, the champions nearly made it four a long kick from Alisson found Salah who narrowly failed to play in Mané for a tap in.

 

  • Takeaways

Fabinho- Another exceptional performance from the brazillian. He was the engine from front to back as he stopped Arsenal from building any momentum in the middle of the park and dominating the centre of the pitch alongside Thiago in a double pivot. 

Fabinho- continued his run of games in midfield, He was the engine in midfield. His ability to control a game from his holding spot, as well as chip in on the offensive side, was absolutely brilliant. He provided the ball that Mohamed Salah managed to win for the second goal

Fabinho allows the players behind them to feel confident as he works hard and spots danger. He also imposed himself with some solid tackles and interceptions, 

Diogo Jota- At the moment the Portuguese international is possibly playing his best football at the moment for club and country. Diogo Jota is only the second player in Liverpool's history to score as a substitute both home and away against the same side in a single league season, after Christian Benteke against Chelsea in 2015-16.

Trent Alexander-Arnold- The young PFA player of the year answered a few doubters last night. After being snubbed for an England call up, the right back provided some spectacular service into the box, delivering the assist for the first goal. He also defended well, keeping the Arsenal attack with the likes of Lacazette and Arsenal ace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang which were kept quiet down his side.

The Champions took advantage of Chelsea slip up from earlier in the day who had a suprising defeat against West Brom as the race for top four heats up. 

Jürgen Klopp’s team have enjoyed themselves in London this season and the trend continued with a fifth win in six visits to go with the draw at Fulham.

Liverpool have a Champions League quarter-final first leg at Real Madrid on Tuesday so this will be a huge result for the reds ahead of a tough challenging week.