Premier League

LIVERPOOL 3 (Mane 28, Robertson 34, Jota 88)
ARSENAL 1 (Lacazette 25)

MIKEL Arteta did his best to pull the positives from Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat against Premier League champions Liverpool this evening (Monday).

The Gunners boss said his side “competed well” and “stayed in the game for almost the whole match” at Anfield.

On paper, the stats will show that the north Londoners took the lead midway through the first half courtesy of an opportunistic finish from Alexandre Lacazette.

And that the match wasn’t officially put to bed until the 88th minute when substitute Diogo Jota marked his Liverpool debut with a well-taken goal.

But in truth, far from being a close contest, Arsenal looked out of their depth for large swaths of the game, relying on luck more than well-thought out tactics against a far superior Liverpool side.

“It is a really tough place to come, they are a really good side,” said Arteta after the final whistle. “Having taken the lead, we should have held that situation a bit better. We conceded the equaliser too early.

“My players go to any ground and they want to win. They really believed we could come here and do it and for large periods of the game we were there.

“But the reality is they are superior to us in many aspects. You could see that in some phases.”

Arteta added: “This is the standard we have to reach. We are on a different journey. They have been together five years; we have had a few months.”

In the opening exchanges a Virgil van Dijk header had David Luiz scrambling to clear his lines, while there was a sigh of relief from the Arsenal fans watching at home when Sadio Mane’s sweeping shot was fired straight at Bernd Leno.

The woodwork also came to the Gunners’ rescue, denying Trent Alexander-Arnold the opening goal after his drive from the edge of the box deflected off Hector Bellerin.

And then, somehow, the visitors found themselves in front.

A swift counter-attack looked to have been squandered until Andrew Robertson made a mess of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s hopeful cross, presenting Lacazette with a chance. The French forward just about got enough on the ball to bundle it past Alisson from close-range.

Liverpool’s response was instant. Mohamed Salah drove into the area, held off the challenge of Kieran Tierney and got a shot away which Leno could only parry into the path of Mane, whose close-range tap-in made it 1-1.

Within nine minutes of taking the lead Arsenal found themselves 2-1 down when Alexander-Arnold’s cross allowed fellow full-back Robertson to slot home and atone for his earlier error.

Liverpool continued to press and probe. But for all of their dominance, the key moment of the match fell to Arsenal, and Lacazette.

Played in by substitute Dani Ceballos just after the hour mark, Lacazette raced through one-on-one with Alisson. Score, and Arteta’s tactic of defending deep and hoping to change the momentum of the game by snatching a goal on the counter-attack would suddenly look like a masterstroke.

However, the striker spurned the glorious chance to equalise, tamely shooting straight at the goalkeeper. He was substituted 15 minutes later, and covered his face with his shirt as he sat down on the bench.

Arteta was quick to offer Lacazette a comfort blanket when later reflecting on the opportunity that went begging. He said: “Obviously he had the best chance in the game to make it 2-2, and put us in a really strong position.

“But he had a great game. He put in another incredible performance and I’m pleased with him. I want to see my players upset and angry when we lose a game.”

Lacazette’s miss was compounded two-minutes from time when Jota neatly controlled the ball and volleyed home to earn Liverpool a deserved 3-1 victory.

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Keita (Milner, 79), Mane (Jota, 80), Salah, Firmino (Minamino 90+1)
Substitutes not used: Adrian, Williams, Jones, Origi

Arsenal: Leno, Holding, Luiz, Tierney, Bellerin, Elneny, Xhaka (Ceballos, 60), Maitland-Niles, Willian (Pepe, 68), Lacazette (Nketiah, 74), Aubameyang
Substitutes not used: Runarsson, Gabriel, Kolasinac, Saka