ANFIELD — One of the themes of a season played in front of empty seats has been the erosion of home advantage.
Logically, no club should have been affected by this more than Liverpool. The last Premier League manager to take three points from Anfield was Sam Allardyce, who was in charge of Crystal Palace. That was three-and-a-half years ago.
Now, there would be no Kop to suck the ball in. The Main Stand would not shake with emotion as it did before the Champions League semi-final with Chelsea. On Merseyside the odds would be more even.
Arsenal were not humbled as they have been on some recent journeys to Anfield but they were comfortably beaten. Liverpool’s grip on home advantage and the Premier League will not be easily loosened.
The advances Mikel Arteta has made are considerable. An FA Cup has been won; the shadow of Arsène Wenger has been lifted from the Emirates Stadium more quickly than the ghost of Sir Alex Ferguson was exorcised from Old Trafford.
However, Arsenal’s next five away games take them to the blue and the red halves of Manchester, to Leeds, Tottenham and to Carlo Ancelotti’s reinvigorated Everton. Only then will we know.
Since their last win here in September 2012, Arsenal had conceded 30 goals in eight matches at Anfield and when Diogo Jota drove home Liverpool’s third just before the end, the average was more or less maintained.
Had Jota scored in front of a full Kop and perhaps had he cost less than £41m from Wolverhampton Wanderers, it would be tempting to call it a fairy-tale home debut. It was still a lovely beginning.
Given their recent history here, it was screamingly obvious to say that this time Arsenal had to be resilient and disciplined if they were to survive. They were not and they did not.
Arteta employed three centre-halves which would give him an extra man in midfield but carried the risk that his defence would be outflanked by Trent Alexander-Arnold from the right and Andy Robertson from the left. The risk came to pass.
In an attempt to counter Robertson and Sadio Mané overlapping, Hector Bellerin found himself pushed deeper to become a conventional full back. It was a defence that looked as if it were held together with sticking plaster.
Liverpool pushed and probed ceaselessly. Sometimes, they were frustrated. On another night, the elbow thrust into Kieran Tierney’s face might have earned Mané something other than a yellow card.
At times, Arsenal just clung on. David Luiz headed away a chance before it could be devoured by Roberto Firmino. Mané and Georgino Wijnaldum shot straight at Bernd Leno, while Alexander-Arnold’s drive deflected off Bellerin and on to the crossbar. A goal was coming.
It came at the other net as Arsenal scored with virtually their first touch in the Liverpool area. The breakaway was not immediately threatening but in attempting to cut out Ainsley Maitland-Niles’s cross, Robertson steered it straight into the path of Alexandre Lacazette, who scuffed his shot but still scored. On an ordinary night Anfield would have fallen silent through shock. Now in a season where silence is everywhere, one could hear Robertson swear loudly.
To make their luck count, Arsenal needed to keep Liverpool at bay until the interval. They held out for two-and-a-half minutes.
The opening exchanges of the season have been scarred by frankly atrocious decisions by officials armed with monitors, but here referee Craig Pawson, trusting his instincts rather than a television screen, ignored some cumbersome attempts by Luiz and Granit Xhaka to drag down Naby Keita. He played the advantage which Liverpool seized when Leno could only palm Mo Salah’s shot onto Mané’s boots. Robertson went over to offer congratulations laced with relief. A few minutes later and Robertson himself would score.
It was a goal fashioned by Jürgen Klopp’s overlapping full-backs, who were two players Arsenal seldom came to terms with. Alexander-Arnold’s cross from the right went straight to Robertson on the left and the Renfrewshire boy’s quick feet and eye for goal did the rest.
The combination of Liverpool’s grip on Arsenal both now and in the past, and a half-time lead ought to have settled matters. However, Mané squandered an opportunity to extend the lead and Lacazette had two chances to level. However, he appeared intimidated by Alisson who simply stood his ground, like a father on Formby beach inviting his son to shoot at him. Lacazette produced the shots of a not-particularly-confident eight-year-old.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3jd3fSb
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