3 positives & negatives as Arsenal stutter in Premier League title race

Positive #2: A quick start

Another positive from the draw was the incredibly quick start the Gunners made to the game. For the first opening 30 minutes or so, we dominated the match and always looked in control of the tie, in, our indeed out of, possession.

Truthfully, we seemed destined to take the lead and when Gabriel Jesus scored the second, Arteta would likely have been thrilled with his side’s performance. Of course, a match is decided by far more than just the opening stages, as we later found out, but the fact that we are able to dominate sides of Liverpool’s calibre away from home is a promising sign in such a young team.

Negative #2: Losing control of the match

As many have alluded to, the home crowd at Anfield can swallow up the opposition players at any given moment, especially when so many of our players are incredibly young. But, that does not make the fact that we lost control of the match in the closing stages of the first half any less frustrating.

One moment we were in the driving seat, and the next, we were on the back foot. The shift was almost immediate and the players were unable to stop it. The catalyst appeared to be Granit Xhaka’s skirmish with Trent Alexander-Arnold, although I am unwilling to place the blame solely on one player.

As the boss suggested after the game, we had opportunities after that incident to once again silence the home crowd but failed to do so.

"“We had a big chance after that. If we’d scored to make it 3-0, maybe the crowd doesn’t get too excited but after that, they scored a goal and that changes the momentum and the hope.”"

Ultimately, this experience will only help the younger players handle hostile environments better in the future and may well benefit the side in the long run.

Continued on the next slide…