Arsenal 0 – 0 Liverpool
Pre-Match
Liverpool go to the league leaders without a striker. Bold strategy, let’s see how it’ll work out for them.
First Half
It is absolutely lashing it down at the Emirates. And they say that we overwater the pitch! Hypocrites.
Things are pretty cagey in the opening 15 minutes, though I’m not sure Liverpool have touched the ball at all in their attacking third so far. Still, I suppose nothing happening is better than bad things happening, which is by far the most likely outcome today.
It didn’t take long to turn from cagey to Arsenal ratcheting up the pressure on Liverpool. The hosts are finding a lot of joy in Liverpool’s attacking third, and The Reds don’t seem to have much of an answer for it at the moment, other than to suffer.
Liverpool nearly get a cheap one after Raya gets caught out in no man’s land, but Bradley’s shot hits the crossbar, and Gakpo’s follow up shot gets blocked. Anyway, better from Liverpool.
The Reds survive a mini-flurry of chances at the end of the half, but manage to get into the locker room 0-0. Neither team created much, the xG is 0.30 to 0.14, but Arsenal were the more dangerous side, by far. There were quite a few crosses and lose balls in the box that could’ve been converted had the pass been better, or the bounce a little luckier (or unluckier, from a Liverpool perspective).
Second Half
Florian Wirtz is hacked down in the box, but both Taylor and VAR are not interested. To my eyes it was a few shades past “I’ve seen them given.” Props to Wirtz for doing the passive aggressive playing dead move after Gabriel tried to pick him up.
I’m hesitant to type this, but as we approach the 70 minute mark, Liverpool are actually playing pretty well in the second half, and seem to at least be finding ways to get in behind and pose a little bit of threat. Still not enough, mind, but The Reds are looking more dangerous as the match progresses.
Arsenal just had their first shot of the half, in stoppage time. No matter what, it’s a very good second half performance from The Reds.
Bradley goes off in stoppage time in a stretcher. Yikes. And the piece of shit Martinelli tried physically pushing him off the pitch.
Final Thoughts
It ends scoreless at the Emirates. At no point did Liverpool look like they were going to win it, but a point at Arsenal shouldn’t be taken for granted, and The Reds looked good in the second half. At least we don’t have to play these pricks in the league the rest of the season.
