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Half time: Arsenal 2-1 LiverpoolNo Saliba, no Calafiori, no Odegaard – but Arsenal have Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice and they inspired a defiant first-half performance. Saka scored a brilliant early goal; then, after Virgil van Dijk headed Liverpool level, Rice slowly took control of the midfield battle. Not content with that, he set up Mikel Merino’s first goal for Arsenal with an undefendable free-kick.
Liverpool had a good spell at 1-1 but have looked quite flat in attack. If it stays like this, Cody Gakpo and/or Dominik Szoboszlai will be on sooner rather than later.
45+4 min Alexander-Arnold’s excellent cross is met by Mac Allister, whose flicked header from 10 yards is held to his right by Raya. A difficult chance.
45+1 min There are four minutes of added time. Merino eventually headed in from six yards, which makes you wonder whether Kelleher could have come in. But Rice’s cross was perfectly struck and always curling away from Kelleher, who was like a batsman being done in the flight by Noman Ali.
GOAL GIVEN! Van Dijk’s trailing leg was playing Merino onside.
45 min They’re still checking it.
44 min There’s a VAR check for offside…
Merino owes a big thank you to Declan Rice, who curled a devastating free-kick into the corridor of uncertainty from a narrow position on the right. It was met by Merino, six yards out at the far post, and he powered a header past Kelleher.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool (Merino 43)Mikel Merino gets his first goal for Arsenal!
Mikel Merino makes it 2-1 to Arsenal! Photograph: Alex Burstow/Arsenal FC/Getty Images41 min Arsenal are all over Liverpool at the moment. Trossard’s cross from the left is headed away well by Van Dijk but Rice ensures Liverpool can’t get out by winning the ball back.
41 min Underrated.
10 – Bukayo Saka has been directly involved in 10 goals in eight appearances in the Premier League this season (3 goals, 7 assists); the fewest games by an Arsenal player to reach 10+ in a single campaign since Cesc Fàbregas in 2009-10 (6 games). Talisman. pic.twitter.com/Dp8QbniLqS
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 27, 2024 39 min Arsenal certainly have the right to feel aggrieved when Nunez gets away with flattening Saka just outside the penalty area on the right. That was a clear foul.
38 min This is an excellent spell for Arsenal, their best of the half. I think Diaz has just kicked the ball away again without being penalised. Thoughts with Twitter cranks at this difficult time.
37 min A flat, driven cross from the left is missed by Van Dijk and hits the unsighted Havertz at the far post. Had he controlled it he’d have had a clear chance, though he saw it very late.
35 min Martinelli lifts a shot over the bar from the edge of the area. It came at the end of a good move that included a brilliant piece of control from Merino, who was in mid-air when he pulled down Rice’s crossfield pass. It was almost a mirror image of Dennis Bergkamp’s first touch against Argentina in 1998.