Will Arsenal regret not taking the chance to extend the gap or is any point a good point?

Arsenal were able to watch Manchester City throw their lead away against Brighton and not respond. This meant that the Gunners sat 5 points in the clear, but with a chance to open up an 8 point gap. Arsenal have been in excellent form and were seeking to make use of important absences for Liverpool. Mo Salah, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike all missing. Mikel Arteta had a full roster to choose from, except Riccardo Calafiori, Kai Havertz and Cristhian Mosquera.

First + Second Half

I’m not going to bother with separate sections for each half as not enough happened in the game to warrant it. It was game of two halves, without the excitement. Arsenal held control in the first half, whereas Liverpool dominated the second. No matter what either team tried, it wasn’t coming off. Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard both found space behind the Liverpool defence, but no one on the end of their cutbacks. Connor Bradley hit the bar from about 30 yards out, after a mishap between David Raya and William Saliba. Arsenal had nearly moments in the first half, but didn’t really test Alisson. Liverpool had nearly moments in the second half, but didn’t test Raya. That was kind of it really. That was the game. It was an awful watch, but Liverpool won’t mind that at all. It was certainly a point gained for them.

Statistics

I’m surprised I can fill this section out, but Arsenal had 9 shots with 4 on target. This generated an xG of 0.57. 1 big chance was created within that. Liverpool had 8 shots with 0 on target. This only generated an xG of 0.31. No big chances were created by Liverpool.

Martinelli

I fear I must address this as it’s largely dominated the post match analysis of the game. He shouldn’t have done what he did, simple as that. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a red card was brandished, but I also don’t think retrospective action should be taken. It’s a teachable moment for him. Even if you think a player is faking an injury, don’t lay a hand on him. I think he needs to be dealt with internally and make sure an apology reaches Bradley, which it has. Connor doesn’t seem like the kind of person that would want Martinelli to face the reaction he’s been getting. I think what’s annoying me is the rival fans using that moment to point score. They don’t truly care about the incident, they just want an excuse to tear apart Arsenal as a football club. You can hate Arsenal, that’s fine, but don’t pretend to care about Connor Bradley. I’ve not seen one fan ask how serious the injury actually is. Martinelli’s actions were abhorrent, but the reaction from rivals over the world has been just as bad.

Player Ratings

Raya – 7 – Didn’t have a lot to do and we didn’t actually see much of his distribution. Almost caught out after a mix up with Saliba, but nothing happened. Did what he needed to do.

Timber – 7 – It’s almost a given that his defensive work is fine, but his attacking shift was disappointing. He found some really good space and had some nice touches. But, when the final ball needed to be perfect, it was far from it.

Saliba – 7 (MOTM) – Apart from the Raya mixup, he was fairly solid. He was probably the most direct passer in the team. His ability to receive the ball in midfield and find a good avenue to pass down was exceptional. It was a feature of his game that we needed to exploit more and we didn’t.

Gabriel – 7 – Almost won it at the end, but couldn’t quite get the connection. He was solid at the back and helped keep Liverpool at bay when they took control in the 2nd half.

Hincapie – 7 – Not often I’ll do this, but his rating went up after he came off. This was down to how poorly Myles Lewis-Skelly dealt with Jeremie Frimpong. Hincapie locked him up quite easily, not giving him much of a sniff and we didn’t appreciate that until he went off. Hopefully not a serious injury.

Zubimendi – 6 – He controlled the game well in the first half, but the second half was a collective disaster that he just happened to be part of. Could’ve grabbed a goal if his first touch was better after Trossard’s pass.

Rice – 6 – Not at his dominating best unfortunately. He had moments of real class, but was lacklustre for a majority of the game. But, again, the team performance held him back.

Odegaard – 5 – He led our press extremely well in the first half and was one of the key reasons why we were able to sustain our attacks. However, the second half was complete dross. He was passive and ended up becoming a passenger. He’s our captain and he should’ve instilled calm into our play, but instead became a part of the problem.

Saka – 6 – He had a brilliant opening 20 minutes and really had Milos Kerkez run ragged. But, as the game went on, Kerkez locked him out. He was soft in his duels and ended up causing more problems than ending them.

Gyokeres – 4 – His hold up play wasn’t terrible and showed one moment of real invention, but he was just so ineffective. He doesn’t position himself to shoot and doesn’t anticipate balls into the box at all. It felt like we may as well have had no one there at times. But, he goes off and suddenly we don’t have an outlet chasing every loose ball.

Trossard – 7 – Not everything came off for him, but he at least tries. He should’ve had an assist, unfortunately Zubimendi’s touch let him down. He battles hard on the wing and he shouldn’t have come off for Martinelli.

Substitutes

Lewis-Skelly – 5 – Losing Hincapie to injury was frustrating enough, but to have Lewis-Skelly come on and not be able to handle Frimpong, was even more frustrating. The Liverpool wide man was given very little joy while up against Hincapie, but had three clear runs in behind Lewis-Skelly. His ball retention wasn’t very good either, aside from one moment of quality.

Martinelli – 6 – He was okay, just let the emotions get to him with his final actions. He wasn’t scared to try and beat Bradley and was successful a couple of times. A couple of half chances late on were a result of his work.

Jesus – 5 – Poor cameo from him. Couldn’t hold the ball up and had a very loose first touch. He was easily dealt with by Konate and Van Dijk. I’ve said, since he returned from injury, that he needs to be played off the left.

Madueke – 6 – He tried to take the game to Kerkez, but wasn’t given the service to make it happen. He did get one go at it and managed to get a ball into the box, yet again, no one on the end of it. Encouraging signs.

Eze – 4 – Hardly had a touch of the ball. Effectively anonymous.

Summary

It was an awful performance and Arteta needs to lay into the guys. They were so scared of making a mistake, they forgot to play football. In those moments you need fearless players and we don’t have many of them. However, as much as Liverpool were missing three top players, they still had their first choice defence and midfield out there. This has kind of been lost in the narrative. They set themselves up to be hard to beat and you can’t blame them. The situation, for us, is better than what it was a few games ago. We yo-yoed with City a few times throughout December, but now the title is firmly back in our hands. City visit Old Trafford next weekend after an away trip to Newcastle in the week, for the EFL Cup semi final. We go to Nottingham Forest, who will be tough, but certainly beatable. Of course we have an away game to Chelsea in the week. Next up though, Portsmouth away in the FA Cup.

Predicted Lineup

We need to heavily rotate for Portsmouth. I don’t want to see Zubimendi, Rice, Saliba and Gabriel anywhere near this game, even as substitutes. Josh Nichols, Marli Salmon and Andre Harriman-Annous are what we could use from the academy. They all have first team appearances. We could have Mosquera, Havertz and Calafiori back in the squad. However, we don’t need to rush them. There’s still a lot of quality in that team. Merino, Nwaneri, Eze, Madueke, Norgaard, White and Lewis-Skelly are all first team regulars. Let’s get back to winning ways, we can’t underestimate Portsmouth.