Arsenal Vs Liverpool: Recap, Highlights And Analysis

Arsenal travelled to Anfield to face Liverpool for the Saturday evening kick-off. Here is the full recap, all the highlights and analysis from the 3-1 loss.

Well, that was bloody awful. Poor team selection, poor tactics and poor execution. Arsenal were horrible, Arsene Wenger should shoulder much of the blame and Alexis Sanchez must be happy that he won’t be in North London for much longer.

Related Story: Arsene Wenger's Best Starting XI

The first-half started in predictably horrible fashion for the Gunners. Wenger decided to sit deep and allow Liverpool to boss possession but, he forgot that his players have no clue how to defend. The first goal was the epitome of Arsenal’s defensive deficiencies throughout the past decade.

A long ball forward eventually fell to the feet of Saido Mane out wide. Nacho Monreal is caught far too narrow while both Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin are too high up the pitch. A low cross finds it way all the way to the feet of Roberto Firmino and, with excellent coolness at the far post, takes a touch and fires into the roof of the net to put Liverpool a goal to the good.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 observations from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park

The remainder of the half continued in the same manner. Arsenal were utterly abject. I’m not sure I can describe how bad they were. Coquelin was slow and ponderous on the ball before losing it, Xhaka was clueless, Iwobi seemingly forgot how to kick a ball while Welbeck and Giroud had no service whatsoever to work with. The only player who showed any semblance of intensity was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was playing out wide, a position that he has shown is not his best in recent weeks.

The second goal came and it was nothing more than Liverpool deserved. Good work from James Milner down the left eventually saw Georginio Wijnaldum in far too much space in the penalty area, having evaded the attentions of Granit Xhaka as if the Swiss man was doing his best impression of Stevie Wonder. Wijnaldum played a neat square pass to Saido Mane, who was in far too much space with Nacho Monreal for some absurd reason tucked in behind Laurent Koscielny. Mane took his time and rifled a shot past Petr Cech before Monreal could get across to block the shot.

It was a defensive shambles, a midfield shambles and a striking shambles. I cannot put into words how terrible that first-half performance was from Arsenal. And it all came with Alexis Sanchez sat smiling on the bench. Who could possibly blame him?

Alexis Sanchez duly came on and, to the shock of absolutely no one, changed the game. He was direct when on the ball, driving at the Liverpool defence, creating chances for his teammates and causing problems in the final third.

Arsenal duly got the goal that their second half display deserved through a lovely Danny Welbeck dink. Sanchez drove at Joel Matip before sliding a cute little ball through to Welbeck, and with Simon Mignolet bearing down him, the England forward clipped a left-footed shot up and over his body and into the gaping goal.

The second half continued in extremely open fashion. Divock Origi headed against the post, Mustafi headed wide from a free kick and Lucas Perez had a shot well blocked. However, it was Liverpool who had the better of the chances and were deserving of the win come full-time.

The final goal of the game came through the brilliance of Adam Lallana. Xhaka was utterly embarrassed by the Liverpool man of the match, as he spun in around in circles, before releasing Divock Origi down the right-hand side. He played a lovely square pass into the feet of Georginio Wijnaldum who duly slotted past Cech in emphatic style.

Next: Arsenal: 30 Greatest Players In History

Wenger has some major questions to answer, particularly regarding the odd decision to drop Sanchez and the abject first-half display. It was utterly woeful from the Gunners and while they were better in the second half, they were wholly undeserving of anything more than an utter thrashing.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/sayfudiin/status/838091942416134144