For those of a certain vintage, Arsenal and Liverpool carries echoes of 1989, of the top two meeting and conjuring the most dramatic end to an English season, at least until Sergio Aguero intervened. It was a fixture that rarely pitted ninth against seventh.
Rewind little more than six months, though, and the context was very different. When Liverpool beat Arsenal 3-1 at Anfield, it was a meeting of two sides with 100 percent records and a reunion after August’s Community Shield. That penalty shootout triumph was Mikel Arteta’s third Wembley win in a matter of weeks. A precocious manager was making swift progress.
After Liverpool ended Arsenal’s immaculate start, a spiky Jurgen Klopp took issue on British television with Roy Keane, who had described his team as “sloppy.”
It is an understatement to say that much has changed since then. Keane’s more memorable verdict on Liverpool is that they are “bad champions.”
There are mitigating factors but that September win over Arsenal represented the last night when they had an aura of invincibility. Six days later, after a Carabao Cup exit on penalties to Arsenal, they lost 7-2 to Aston Villa.
In their next match, at Everton, they lost Virgil van Dijk and Thiago Alcantara, the defender for the season, the flagship signing for 10 weeks. It is a simplification to say it was all downhill thereafter – Liverpool were still top on New Year's Day – but their season was reshaped.
These are two teams who have had horrific runs. Before Christmas, Arsenal lost seven of 10 league games, taking five points from a possible 30. From the start of February, Liverpool lost six of seven league games. They have suffered eight league defeats already in 2021, as many as they had over the course of 2018, 2019 and 2020.
But Klopp pointed out recently that Liverpool still rank second only to Manchester City for expected goals and Arteta supported the German’s theory. “I've seen a lot of games and the stats will support that,” he said.
“They are, if not the best, the second-best team in every department that we coaches have to analyse. But then this is football, the ball has to be in that net and the final action has to provide a moment to win a match.”
That has been part of Liverpool’s problem: only four players – Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and the injured centre-backs Joel Matip and Van Dijk – have overperformed their expected goals; the rest, statistically, have been poor finishers.
Some sort of regression may have been expected after they won 35 of 36 Premier League games. Arteta was Pep Guardiola’s assistant for much of that time and said: “The competition that they were facing with Manchester City made both teams better. They have been pushing each other to a different level, one that we probably haven't seen in the Premier League. That's the level that we have to reach to compete with them. This season is so different, in particular they have had a lot of issues internally with big injuries. But they're still amazing with what they've done.”
Liverpool’s latest answer to those injuries has been to return Fabinho to midfield after an extended stint deputising for injured defenders. When the Brazilian and the sidelined Jordan Henderson are factored in, Ozan Kabak and Nat Phillips may be the sixth- and seventh-choice centre-backs but they have kept three clean sheets as a partnership.
Liverpool have looked better with Fabinho in his natural role. Arsenal can look different within the same game. “We have two faces,” an exasperated Arteta said of his schizophrenic side after the 3-3 draw at West Ham when a hideously bad start felt a consequence of attitude; other problems come from aberrations that occur rather too often for the Spaniard’s liking.
Arsenal remain prone to mistakes and Liverpool’s pressing game could equip them to capitalise on Saturday. “This type of teams are going to punish you for every error that you do,” said Arteta, who is waiting to see if Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka will be fit. “They're still able to create an individual action to score a goal. Nothing has to be given to them.” And, one way or another, Arsenal and Liverpool have been too generous to opponents too often this season.
