Arsenal came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 vs West Ham United right before the international break and many thought this confidence will help them keep Liverpool at bay as well.
But instead, the Gunners were completely outplayed on Saturday at home as Liverpool picked up a comfortable 3-0 win in the Premier League, thereby keeping Mikel Arteta’s side on the ninth spot.
A goal from Mo Salah and a brace from the in-form Diogo Jota ensured that Liverpool did not stumble again and to be fair, Arsenal did not even come close to competing with the Anfield outfit.
Liverpool took control of the match from the very first minute and apart from a few attacks here and there, the Arsenal players looked absolutely clueless as to what they should be doing. And according to their manager, a combination of mental fatigue and poor execution is something that helped Liverpool.
The manager said in his post-match press conference: “Liverpool completely deserved to win the game, probably with a bigger margin. They were much better than us in every single department and we were extremely poor today.
“Basically when you don’t do any of the basics right against this level of opponent, you don’t even have a chance to compete. That’s exactly what happened today.
“It’s true that in the second half we struggled after we conceded the second goal. But I think the confidence went down as well and we were very poor in a lot of departments. When that happens, it can look like we were tired, but it was more a mental issue and an issue with how we started the game, as well as how we approached it.
“We didn’t win enough duels or enough second balls and that’s a starting point. We gave so many easy balls away again, which against this opponent you get punished. They were much better than us.”
Arsenal and Liverpool both have played a string of games in the past couple of months so exhaustion is quite acceptable. But in the end, the visiting side’s quality proved just too much for the Gunners to handle. The loss means Arsenal remain on the ninth spot in the table and if Aston Villa can win their two games in hand then they will fall further down.
To be fair, the North London side did not have much riding on this match since they are not expected to get back into the top-four but a 3-0 loss will not be a particularly great confidence booster before their Europa League game vs Slavia Prague.
Slavia Prague have in fine form in Europe this season and Arsenal will need to get their tails up as soon as possible. Or else they will have to play in the Europa League next season as well.
