Who was Liverpool’s best player against Arsenal?
If pristine football can be compared to exquisite theatre, this was undeniable pantomime.
The first half opened with Liverpool controlling much of the play. Whilst forays downfield initially proved to be unfruitful, they received their first slice of luck of the evening as Mohamed Salah’s cross deflected into the air, allowing Philippe Coutinho to flick the ball over Petr Cech with his head.
Despite spurning chances to conclude the first 45 minutes, Liverpool came out of the blocks faster in the second half as well. Arsenal’s defenders were drawn in on the right-hand side, allowing Salah space to gut the middle of the Arsenal frontiers, his left-footed effort ultimately deflecting past Cech.
At this point, Liverpool imploded before our very eyes. A quickfire response to the Salah goal saw Alexis Sanchez thump home a header from close range, and moments later Liverpool’s advantage would be history. Granit Xhaka’s long-range strike being comprehensively fluffed by Simon Mignolet.
Still rattled, interplay on the edge of the Liverpool area saw Mesut Özil released to stroke home Arsenal’s third.
Not to be outdone by Mignolet, Cech choked on an admittedly considerably more difficult attempt from the foot of Roberto Firmino, and Liverpool drew level at 3-3.
The game ended with something of an anticlimax, given what had preceded. In conclusion, this was a match between two teams boasting a combination of talent, and glaring weaknesses. We saw a little bit of everything.
You ultimately voted for .
MF: Philippe Coutinho
RB: Joe Gomez
LW: Sadio Mane
CB: Dejan Lovren
MF: Emre Can
MF: (SUB) James Milner
LB: Andrew Robertson
GK: Simon Migonlet
RW: Mohamed Salah
CB: Ragnar Klavan
CF: Roberto Firmino
Leaderboard
RW: Mohamed Salah | 76% |
MF: Philippe Coutinho | 75% |
CF: Roberto Firmino | 67% |
CB: Ragnar Klavan | 47% |
MF: (SUB) James Milner | 41% |
LW: Sadio Mane | 29% |
MF: Emre Can | 26% |
CB: Dejan Lovren | 24% |
LB: Andrew Robertson | 21% |
RB: Joe Gomez | 10% |
GK: Simon Migonlet | 9% |