Arsenal GUN Liverpool thanks to errors by Alisson and Virgil van Dijk
- Arsenal come from goal down to beat Champions Liverpool
- Sadio Mane opened scoring for Liverpool, before error by van Djik gifted Arsenal’s equalizer
- Another error by keeper Alisson gifted Arsenal the winner
- Mental Health and Psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic
Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 thanks to two errors by van Djik and Alisson.
It was supposed to be a routine win for Liverpool away at Emirates Stadium.
On paper, the squads were hardly anywhere close. When the Arsenal squad was unveiled minutes before the match, several names were missing.
Club top-scorer Pierre Emerick Aubameyang found himself on the bench. Alongside Dani Ceballos who has been playing with confidence controlling the midfield. Replacing them were young forward Reiss Nelson and Lucas Torreira – both who have not started a game since the restart.
One thing was clear, ‘novice’ Manager Mikel Arteta had one eye on the FA Cup Semi-Final clash against Manchester City on the weekend, and this Premier League clash was ‘not much’ to think about. Or so it seemed.
Liverpool began in their characteristic fashion – pressing hard from the front with Robert Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah leading the attack against a three-man Arsenal defence lead by the ‘ever-reliable’ David Luiz, Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring in the 20th minute, receiving a hard-pass from Andy Robertson.
The look on the Arsenal players was reminiscent of one seen many a times. It was to going to be a long night. Or so it seemed.
Managing the flow of the match with passes back and forth, Ballon d’Or nominee Virgil van Djik passed back to Alisson under the pressure of young Nelson. The ball would land to Alexandre Lacazette, who skipped past a rushing Alisson and bury the ball in the net.
That would put a smile to all Arsenal faithfuls. A review by VAR showed that the pressure by Nelson would not have swayed the ‘complete defender’ van Djik.
Minutes to end of first half, Alisson Becker pulled a page from the howler’s book and made a miss pass that landed to Lacazette, who squared the ball to Nelson in the penalty area, who composed himself and placed the ball in the back of the net.
Jurgen Klopp could only shake his head in disbelief.
Second half came and the Gunners knew they had a task at hand. Protect a lead against the Champions who attacked again and again and again.
When Paul Tierney blew the whistle at full time, only one team was smiling.
Arsenal had beat Champions Liverpool.
