Arsenal Analysed: How we dominated Liverpool

Sunday saw us produce a dominant display at home to the league leaders, responding to a first-half setback to earn an impressive 3-1 win against Liverpool.

To find out the keys to our success, Adrian Clarke has delved into the tactical and statistical side of the game to find the subtle reasons why we were able to deliver such an excellent performance.

An incredible work ethic

The foundation of this outstanding team performance was a desire to outwork and outmuscle Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

Our pressing from the front, triggered by Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli (backed up by everybody else) was at it's hostile best. Given precious little time to settle on the ball, Liverpool’s defensive players were consistently pressurised, especially during a tumultuous first period.

Mikel Arteta’s men regained possession inside the final third on eight occasions compared to the visitors’ one; and this is a stat that indicates how aggressive we were in our off the ball work.

We won 52.3% of duels and made 21 tackles to Liverpool’s 11.

As a team we also ran 116.8km, which was an astonishing 6.1km further than Jurgen Klopp’s table toppers, with skipper Odegaard leading by example.

Covering 12.75km himself, the Norwegian put in a monumental shift that was his personal best of the campaign, and the second highest individual figure overall.

Highest distances ran - 2023/24

A Jorginho masterclass

The manager made a key tactical change by adding Jorginho to the starting XI and it was a move which paid off handsomely.

Alongside the brilliant Declan Rice in a double pivot, the Italian was top class in and out of possession.

Bringing an air of calm serenity to the engine room, the 32-year-old made a string of incisive forward passes that led to quality chances.

Below are four examples of how he pierced Liverpool’s rearguard with a crisp forward pass.

Jorginho

No Arsenal player made more passes overall, or inside the opposition half and final third than Jorginho.

He also played his part defensively too, making a team-high four interceptions.

Arteta’s decision to start Jorginho in a bid to offer more control and experience was a great call.

A dominant box of four

During a largely superb first half performance the shape of the side was more akin to a 4-4-2, with Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard performing as a pair of ‘false strikers.’

Whenever we pressed high they would occupy a central defender each, and behind them Rice and Jorginho also pushed on man-to-man with the first line of Liverpool’s central midfielders.

As shown in the example below, this tactic made it incredibly hard for our opponents to play through the spine of the pitch.

And in moments where we had to sit off behind the ball and keep a solid shape, this box of four players (below) would retreat to ensure it was Arsenal who held the numerical advantage in that part of the pitch.

This quartet worked in unison with great intelligence throughout, and they were also the four players who ran the furthest on the day.

Two superb pieces of skill and determination from Kai Havertz drew a pair of yellow cards that saw Ibrahima Konate sent off.

Havertz’s positioning to the left of centre, and Odegaard mirroring that on the right, always asked positional questions of Liverpool’s centre backs, and at no stage did they look comfortable dealing with that.

Adopting twin false nines was a ploy that Liverpool found hard to cope with.

Havertz - left false nine

Odegaard - right false nine

Our magnificent opening goal highlighted the issues they had.

Early in the move Havertz dropped deep to knit a move together as we played through Liverpool’s press, bouncing a Jorginho pass back to Gabriel…

Havertz then continued his run from deep as play developed, arcing a sprint inside Konate, who was distracted by Martinelli out wide.

Then, as Odegaard - who had drawn Van Dijk towards him and out of position - slipped a wonderful through ball into the gap, Havertz was in the clear…

The German may have been denied in the 1v1, but Saka was thankfully on hand to score a priceless opening goal.

Loving it down the left

We were simply electric down the left-hand side.

Backed up well by left backs Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior in each half, we witnessed massive contributions from goalscorers Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.

The Brazilian, who made a game-high 26 sprints, may have profited from a terrible mistake by Virgil van Dijk and Alisson for his goal, but he earned that slice of fortune for closing both players down.

Martinelli was a menace throughout, and was unlucky not to get an assist when a stunning dribble from inside his own half and perfect cross, wasn’t converted early on by Saka.

Trossard’s injury-time goal was a gorgeous individual effort, bamboozling Harvey Elliott on the touchline before racing through to score from a tight angle.

A convincing display

Just like we did when beating Manchester City at home, Arteta’s players limited Liverpool to very few clear-cut opportunities.

Striking the right balance between front-footed attack and defensive security, the Gunners were worthy winners, with Klopp’s men registering just a single shot on target.

The match stats rightly outline our dominance.

It was not easy to come back from the crushing disappointment of gifting an equaliser to Liverpool just before half-time, but each player showed great courage and character to help the side prevail.

We saw heart, determination, and serious quality from everybody involved. This was an exemplary tactical performance.

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