JOTA IS NOD’S AS GUNNERS
DIOGO JOTA came off the bench to score twice and Mo Salah also got on the scoresheet to give Liverpool’s hopes of a Champions League finish a major shot in the arm. While left-back Trent Alexanderarnold restated his case for a Euro place this summer by delivering a timely reminder of his capabilities to England boss Gareth Southgate after he was omitted from the
Three Lions squad for the World Cup qualifiers against San Marino, Albania and Poland.
It was a decision that surprised his Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. But rather than shrinking he put in an excellent performance here and Liverpool’s win, a big one after Chelsea were beaten earlier in the day, owed as much to him as it did to sparkling supersub Jota.
Several times he put in the sort of dangerous crosses from the right he is known for and it was the one that picked out Jota for his headed goal to break the deadlock, within four minutes of his arrival as a 60th-minute substitute, that finally gave Liverpool the breakthrough they had long deserved.
Arsenal were outplayed throughout, unable to cope with Liverpool’s pressing, and soon after the first came the second when Salah shrugged off Gabriel and raced clear before nutmegging Bernd Leno in the home goal.
By that time Mikel Arteta’s Gunners were looking completely ragged and when Jota (right) fired in his second, and Liverpool’s third, after 82 minutes the home side were well and truly humbled.
Liverpool were dominant throughout and ought to have been ahead by half-time but James Milner and Fabinho both dragged efforts wide.
Sadio Mane’s header, after good work in the build-up from Salah and Alexander-arnold , lacked power and was easy for Leno.
The next chance fell to Roberto Firmino, back in the mix after a knee injury ruled him out of the three previous games, but his effort from 20 yards was always curling away from goal.
The best chance of the lot fell to Milner just after the half-hour mark following more good work down the right from Alexander-arnold.
But despite being in plenty of space just inside the area he curled his effort wide when he should have done better. It was much more positive from Klopp’s men, who had been left reeling by eight Premier League defeats in 13 games in 2021 going into the international break.
Not that it is a great measure these days, but they looked streets ahead of their hosts, who spent much of the first half chasing shadows and clearly missed Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, who were missing with hamstring and hip injuries.
They were without David Luiz, too, thanks to a knee problem, although Rob Holding did well alongside Gabriel in the heart of defence, and Granit Xhaka’s absence through injury saw Dani Ceballos start.
How those on show for the
Gunners struggled with Liverpool’s front-foot play and, the odd pass from Martin Odegaard aside, the visitors’ defence rarely looked like being tested.
Arsenal’s best opportunity, if you could call it that, fell to Nicolas Pepe but he was always stretching backwards to get his head on the ball and his effort was easy for Alisson to gather.what a wretched night for Arsenal.