Liverpool suffered their second defeat of the Premier League season, after losing 1-0 at home to Arsenal on Sunday evening. The win ends the Gunners’ 14-year wait for a win at Anfield.
Arsenal came out of the blocks strong and dominated the first 15 minutes, scoring the opening goal of the game after a careless Alisson pass to the defence. Declan Rice drove into the right channel and delivered a low cross to the far post, allowing Kai Havertz to tap home from close range.
Liverpool pushed hard for an equaliser, creating opportunities through Alexander Isak and seeing a curling Florian Wirtz free-kick strike the crossbar. Despite dominating possession and generating 19 attempts, the hosts were repeatedly denied by a disciplined defense from the Premier League champions.
“Overall, I think we have to blame especially the start of the game and until we conceded the goal,” admitted Andoni Iraola after the game. “I think the start hasn’t been at the level of the game, but from that 1-0, I think it’s 15 or 16 minutes, I’ve loved the reaction of the team. Even in the first half, I think we reacted really well and put Arsenal under big pressure.
“I think we’ve done enough to score but obviously we haven’t. But we had the crossbar [hit by Florian Wirtz], we had the header of [Alexis] Mac Allister that, for me, is a very clear chance. I think we had a clear penalty also for us and I think we’ve had a lot of situations inside the box – not even around the box, inside the box – that definitely we haven’t finished properly.”
Liverpool should have had a penalty on the 30th minute, when Alexander Isak looked set to latch onto a scoring opportunity inside the six-yard box. Replays showed Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber clearly pulling Isak back by his shirt, but referee Anthony Taylor waved play on and VAR opted not to overturn the on-field decision. Maybe he should have gone down and made a meal of it, but he shouldn;t have had to, especially as the ref had seen the incident.
“I think the Isak one is a clear penalty,” noted Iraola. “He is going to head the ball in front of the goal and they grab him where everyone sees the shirt.
“You don’t need a lot just to avoid Alex because the ball just goes in front of him and I don’t see the reason why. Probably because he doesn’t dive or he doesn’t go to the floor. It shouldn’t be a reason not to concede a penalty.”
The result sees Liverpool drop to fifth on 15 points, nine behind Arsenal at the top of the table.
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