Steve Northover

It's testament to Liverpool’s fall off this season to just how unlikely it seemed they would get a positive result going into their away trip to the Emirates Stadium. 

Liverpool arrived in London without a recognised striker, with both Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak ruled out, whilst Mohamed Salah remains with Egypt in the AFCON The Red’s frontone looked thoroughly ‘makeshift’, with Jeremie Frimpong remaining on the right wing and Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz used interchangeably between the left wing and striker position. 

Indeed, Liverpool struggled to make an impact in the first forty-five, with the forwards largely feeding off scraps and easily snuffed out counterattacks. However,  Arsenal had the lion’s share of the possession but were unable to break down Liverpool's back line.  So with a point being more valuable for Liverpool than Arsenal, it was probably the Reds who went into halftime happier.  So much so that Liverpool entered the second half with new zeal.

With the reds playing further up the pitch, allowing Wirtz, who by this point had made the centre forward position his own, was able to pressurise the Arsenal defenders on a much more regular basis.  This culminated in a “seen them given” penalty appeal when the young German danced and weaved through the opposition backline, before being tripped in the penalty area, only for any shouts for a penalty to be shot down by VAR. 

Arsenal grew in stature as the second half drew on, but it felt like roles reversed with Liverpool now the team creating the chances, whilst Arsenal were left feeding off scraps. Even when Mikel Arteta replaced his entire front row for the second match in a row, their strikers seemed unable to make an impact on an ever tightening match.  As the match wore on however, both sides appeared to tire somewhat.

With neither team able to push for a winner in open play, it seemed like Dominik Szoboszlai’s freekick, which clipped the crossbar in the 81st minute, was the closest chance of the match. The end of the match was marred by an incident where Gabriel Martinelli threw a ball and then attempted to push a very obviously injured Connor Bradley off of the pitch, resulting a small fracas ending with Martinelli and Ibrahim Konate being given yellow cards  although expect respective action likely against the Arsenal forward.

Not a Classic, but a Point is a Point

Prior to kickoff, the ‘expert’ view was that Arsenal would simply be too good for an ever faltering Liverpool.  But the fact is that Liverpool are now ten games unbeaten with nine in the league and are very much in the driving seat for the last Champions League places and unlike their opponents, the reds are missing a number of very important players in let positions. 

Kudos to the defence, much maligned defence this season, who were able to hold off the league's second most potent attack.  Meanwhile, after his slow start, Florian Wirtz is really starting to show the guile and tenacity that had made his name in Germany.  With Ekitike likely to be back for Liverpool's next league match against Burnley on the 17th, Liverpool should have something resembling a ‘traditional’ attacking lineup. 

Finally, Liverpool are far from their best and are very unlikely to reach the full heights of last season but this performance against Arsenal, as it was against Real Madrid and Inter Milan, shows that there is still much to be excited about in this Liverpool side, and perhaps this season should be seen as a ‘write off’ for the rewards that are yet to come.