VAN DIJK AND ALISSON GO FROM CHAMPS TO CHUMPS
Howlers from star Liverpool duo end Klopp’s dream of record points tally
Jurgen Klopp always insisted he did not think, or care, about records. It is just as well then because, last night, quite a significant one slipped from liverpool’s grasp.
Manchester City’s 100 points in a single season, 2017-18. It will stand now. Following this, their third defeat of the season, the most liverpool can now attain is 99.
It’s still incredible, of course. It’s still the second greatest total in history, and still the quickest the title has ever been won. even so, there will be a tinge of disappointment for those fans who were hoping their team might erase pep guardiola’s men from the record books entirely.
At one stage, that looked almost inevitable. not so long ago, it was thought liverpool might overtake Arsenal’s Invincibles, too.
It just shows how hard this competition is; how hard it is to go a season unbeaten, even with more than a few draws; how hard it is to reach treble figures. perhaps liverpool were just too good, their supremacy too apparent from way out. on average, premier league champions accrue 0.5 points per game fewer once the deed is done — and liverpool had further to travel with their feet up than any team in history.
That is what will be read into last night’s reverse, both Arsenal goals coming from liverpool defensive errors, and the home side barely creating a chance that was not gifted to them.
Yet that is not the whole story. Mikel Arteta left out many of his first-choice players — in particular striker pierre-emerick Aubameyang — no doubt to focus on Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City.
He was rewarded with a gutsy display of admirable determination, not least in the second-half when liverpool dominated the ball in search of an equaliser. For long periods, the champions recorded possession statistics above 80 per cent, but Arsenal’s backline stayed strong.
Sure, there were close shaves, not least a momentous scramble in the 49th minute that saw David luiz bravely thwart Trent Alexander-Arnold and then Mo Salah. Just five minutes later the pair combined again — AlexanderArnold finding Salah, who attempted a brilliant up and down chip from close range which goalkeeper emiliano Martinez kept out with a fingertip save.
Takumi Minamino, on as a substitute for roberto Firmino, came close with a low shot after 63 minutes and delivered a busy performance, including an impassioned penalty appeal soon after, claiming he had been hampered in the area by Kieran Tierney.
The pressure was at times relentless. Sadio Mane struck a cross which deserved a better finish from Salah, and Virgil van Dijk headed wide from an Andrew robertson cross. The left back then put Mane through but he shot wide from liverpool’s 20th attempt of the game.
Yet Arsenal held firm — and it’s not often we’ve been able to say that of late. liverpool may end the season stuck on 99; it is testament to this team that they’ll probably be disappointed with that.
It was a very strange first half. liverpool completely on top and leading — that wasn’t the strange part — before conceding two goals down to mistakes by arguably their most reliable players this season.
Van Dijk and Alisson. The league’s outstanding defender, and a candidate for Footballer of the Year, and its best goalkeeper. Both guilty of calamitous errors, 12 minutes apart.
Would it have happened had the title rested on this match? We can never know — but it didn’t happen too often when it was still being contested. Both men have turned in near flawless seasons to here.
The first 30 minutes? Well, that went pretty much as expected. Arteta’s team could barely get out of their half and liverpool’s goal was a matter of when, not if.
It looked as if it would come after 12 minutes initially, when Martinez dawdled too long with the ball at his feet, before clipping the outstretched leg of Firmino as he tried to launch it clear. The ball ricocheted and struck a post before spinning clear — a lucky escape.
It was Martinez’s boot that began the move that ended in liverpool’s goal, however, the ball swerving away to the right before being collected in front of Klopp on the touchline for a typically swift counter-attack.
Firmino ended up driving the move, finding robertson on the overlap. So well- drilled is this liverpool team that he didn’t need to look up, his cross falling perfectly for Mane, who finished it from close range.
And that looked to be that. Arsenal had shown no sign of matching the champions and when, after 32 minutes, Alexandre lacazette was caught more than a metre offside, it seemed to sum up the sloppiness that is so often the product of a weakened side.
Scratch that, then, because within the same minute he had put Arsenal level. A Van Dijk mistake is as priceless as a Van Dyck masterpiece and this one was a real piece of art. From the restart, liverpool’s defensive rock received the ball and was instantly hustled by reiss nelson, 20 years old but without 20 appearances in the premier league yet.
Van Dijk was rattled and served up a panicked and weak emergency escape pass to Alisson. It fell short, allowing lacazette to intercept. He took the ball around the goalkeeper and finished into an empty goal. Somehow, having created nothing of their own, Arsenal were level.
The second goal was of liverpool’s hapless creation, too. Alisson attempted a pass to robertson on the left which was again underhit and stolen by lacazette, who must have been wondering how many goals he might have scored with this kind of service.
He cut it inside to nelson, who displayed a calm that belied his years, as good as picking his spot
through a reasonably crowded area. It nestled in the far corner, Alisson unable to correct his mistake.
Arteta would have twirled a moustache fiendishly if he, or any Arsenal strategist, had played any part in this remarkable fightback.