3 positives & negatives from Arsenal's 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Liverpool

Arsenal fell to their third successive defeat, their worst run since April 2022, after two late goals ensured a 2-0 win and qualification into the FA Cup fourth round for Liverpool.

Despite dominating the first half, Arsenal saw countless big chances squandered as they failed to find an opening against a Liverpool team that looked a shadow of the side who beat Newcastle 4-2 on New Year's Day.

Martin Odegaard came closest for Mikel Arteta's side in the opening 45 minutes as he saw an effort blaze against the crossbar in the 11th minute, before the ball was eventually cleared away after a series of follow-up chances failed to find the back of the net.

The second half saw much of the same from the hosts but Liverpool came out with a point to prove and looked far more threatening in attack than they had in the first half - which was causing the Gunners some problems.

Although Arsenal continued to dominate the game for much of the second half, it was Liverpool who took the lead in the 80th minute after Jakub Kiwior headed the ball into his own net following a well-placed Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick.

Despite continuing to push for an equaliser late in the game, Arsenal's fate was sealed in the 95th minute as a Liverpool counter-attack culminated in a thunderous strike from Luis Diaz rocketing past Aaron Ramsdale to double the visitors' lead in the game.

3 positives & negatives from Arsenal's 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Liverpool

While it was an incredibly disappointing and frustrating game, there were also some positives to be observed. That said, here are the positives and negatives of Arsenal's 2-0 defeat at home to Liverpool.

Positive #1: Gabriel Martinelli looked very sharp

Despite only playing for just over 30 minutes, Gabriel Martinelli looked incredibly sharp during his limited time on the pitch - which comes as a real breath of fresh air given his admittedly sub-par performances in recent games.

We perhaps need to take his impact with a pinch of salt, given that coming on against tiring defenders is a lot easier than at the start of a game, but his ability to consistently beat defenders and cut into the box before crossing or passing the ball across the penalty area was sublime.

While the Brazilian was ultimately unable to influence the outcome of the game, his excellent cameo will be something that fans will hope he can carry into games after the forthcoming winter break.

Negative #1: Far too many wasted chances... again

We saw once again exactly why Arsenal desperately need to sign a striker, with the Gunners failing to score despite creating an xG (expected goals) of 1.89 - with several very notable chances throughout the game.

The team have scored just one goal in their last three games despite having created 6.47xG.

It felt as though Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka were particularly profligate in the game, with the former seemingly unwilling to shoot at times and taking far too long to progress the ball in otherwise very promising situations.

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