The starting lineups for today's match have been slightly changed. Arsenal have made a slight change to their lineup from their last match against Tottenham, only moving Kenyo Tomiyasu to left back to fill in for Zinchenko's injury absence. Tomiyasu, who has played at right back in the Europa League, looks likely to play on either flank this season, while Ben White has been in fine form recently and has taken his place at right back, a role he has been instrumental in Arsenal's winning streak.
Liverpool, on the other hand, made massive changes, with Jurgen Klopp changing to a 4231, the same formation as this week's Champions League. The reason behind this is that Liverpool are plagued by injuries, with Keita, Robertson, Jones, Chamberlain and Arthur all injured. Although the top three midfielders in Henderson, Thiago and Fabinho are back, there is no one on the bench to replace them in case of injury. This formation is designed to take care of both offense and defense with the double back of Henderson and Thiago, with Jota at the front, and the core of Liverpool's tactics is to keep delivering passes to Darwin Nunez and use his size and speed to break through the goal.
However, Liverpool's defense was in trouble from the start of the game, and only 58 seconds in, Arsenal counterattacked after blocking a Liverpool back-pass, Saka faked a break down the right and played a clever cross into the path of Ødegaard, who had the ball, with Jesus in front of him, Martinelli on the left, and Xhaka behind him, Arsenal had the advantage of numbers and position in this area. The ball was played through the middle between Arnold and Matip and Martinelli fired home from 8 yards out on the left, definitely the fastest goal of the game and perhaps the season.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Sports Vision
Liverpool then tried to attack as Arsenal turned to counter attack. Both teams had their strikers join in the midfield action, with Arsenal clearly focusing on Martinelli and Saka's counter-attacks, and Liverpool focusing on Darwin's shots, with Jota behind him to move freely. However, Liverpool failed to defend the key side, Salah was out of form and not used to the 4231 formation, and Arnold was in shock after conceding the first goal, he saw Martinelli's speed and excellent running position, he didn't dare to go up to the attacking side or he would lose the ball behind him again, Salah attempted to break through but was successfully blocked by Kenyo Tomiyasu, the Japanese's observation and positional sense is very high.
The key roles of right back Ben White and left back Kenyo Tomiyasu cannot be overlooked in Arsenal's current tactics. They will press forward into the midfield, pushing Xhaka and Thomas Partey forward to become the defensive backs pushing forward, with the wingbacks becoming a barrier behind the backs rather than an assist. On every attack, the left and right wingbacks would push up on one side and stay on the other, thus completing the highly coordinated team-wide passing and advancing that has led to the current success.
Liverpool is also aware of Arsenal's tactics, so in a counterattack in the 29th minute, the midfielder took the ball and immediately passed it to the right side of the front field, completely ignoring the attacking midfield, and then forced a pass into the middle of the field, and only at that point could they hit a little space before Arsenal's two side defenders were in place. Otherwise, both Liverpool sides were already locked down and that attack was barely cleared by Saliba.
On 33 minutes, a long pass from Liverpool backfield failed to be cleared by Gabriel, Luis Diaz immediately went up to the right to get the ball, Darwin crossed with him and rushed into the center of the field. Kenyo Tomiyasu, who had been keeping an eye on Salah, couldn't get back in time to defend, and Luis Diaz crossed the ball directly to Darwin, who scooted into the center of the field from 7 yards out.
In fact, Gabriel has been in poor form since the start of the season and for this goal he could have actually shanked a clearance at the end, but he chased it down to the end allowing Darwin to shovel in an easy shot. It's amazing that Arsenal keep winning games with their main center back in this condition, it shows that one defender's slump isn't enough to affect them as a whole.
After being leveled, Arsenal attacked again and Liverpool's defensive problems resurfaced. Arsenal pressed dramatically towards the end of the first half, with Martinelli and Ødegaard meandering into the center of the field and Jesus turning into a left winger, this was to give the midfield a numerical advantage. At this point, Liverpool's Luis Diaz was injured and replaced by Firmino, leaving Darwin isolated with one less ferocious ball grabber up front. Arsenal took advantage of the situation and kept pressing Liverpool. Finally, in the 49th minute of extra time, Arsenal launched a counterattack at the back, Jesus dodged Thiago's steal and passed to Martinelli, who took it all the way to a diagonal pass just outside the penalty area. Saliba, who was following in the center of the field, intentionally let the ball miss, and Saka followed up with a shot in front of the goal to take the lead once again.
