Match date: 21 December 2014

Liverpool put in a good performance against Manchester United in their last Premier League match, as well as a good performance against Bournemouth in which they strung together 51 (or 52) passes together before their opening goal.

Arsenal won their last match out against Newcastle, coming off a loss against Stoke, which saw Arsenal fans make their displeasure known to Arsenal boss, Wenger.

Rodgers continued with a 3-4-3 and selected the same starting XI he put out against Bournemouth, aside from the inclusion of Sakho, who replaced Lovren at half time in the midweek fixture.

Wenger made just one change to the side that beat Newcastle 4-1, with Calum Chambers selected at right back ahead of Hector Bellerin.

Arsenal Sit, Liverpool Press

Liverpool were able to dominate large portions of this match due to a few different reasons. The movement of the front three was excellent and opened up space for Liverpool to play. At about half way through the first half, Liverpool had 80% of the ball, but a large part of this was that Arsenal were defending in a low block and looked to play on the break through Alexis Sanchez, Welbeck, and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Arsenal struggled with their low block defending, which will be written about later, but what it did for Liverpool was allowed them to pin Arsenal inside their own half with good pressing. Liverpool were able to win the ball back quickly and put Arsenal back under pressure.

Last week in Liverpool’s match against Manchester United, the front three of Lallana, Coutinho, and Sterling looked to press, and at times did so effective, forcing Manchester United into a number of errors at the back and making it difficult for them to connect with the midfield. Perhaps a majority of the, however, the front three’s attempts were let down by the huge gap between them and Gerrard and Allen in midfield. Against, Arsenal, this gap was much smaller and at times nonexistent. Because Arsenal sat so deep, with Oxlade-Chamberlain and Cazorla very close to Flamini, it allowed Gerrard and Lucas to play further up the pitch. Therefore, they were able to mark the Arsenal midfielders when they won the ball and support the pressing of the front three, forcing Arsenal into mistakes and into hitting hopeful balls upfield towards Giroud. Below is a good example of Liverpool’s press, with Gerrard and Lucas in support.

Liverpool’s constant pressure allowed them to win the ball back a number of times high up the pitch, which includes forcing Arsenal into an error that led to Coutinho’s opening goal.

Arsenal Concede Space, Coutinho and Lallana

With Arsenal sitting rather deep, it allowed Liverpool to put high pressure on the Gunners when they won the ball back, as mentioned above. What it also did, however, was create a huge gap between the likes of Giroud and Welbeck and the midfield trio of Flamini, Cazorla, and Oxlade-Chamberlain. This allowed Steven Gerrard and Lucas to get on the ball in that space fairly frequently and they were able to pick their heads up with limited pressure and look for forward options, which they were, overall, successful at picking out. Below is a good example of the huge gap and space that the Liverpool duo had to play into. Note that there are no players in the space; no Liverpool players checking into in, no Arsenal midfielders attempting to squeeze the match, but there is Coutinho, in the bottom left of the screen capture, with limited pressure.

At times, both Gerrard and Lucas made poor decisions on the ball despite the time and space. Lucas was guilty of trying to dribble forward rather than play a simple pass, while Gerrard was guilty of trying to play long diagonals into the wide areas. At times, notably for Arsenal’s second goal, Gerrard looked to play a long ball into a situation where the Liverpool recipient was up against two Arsenal players. In that situation, Gibbs intercepted Gerrard’s pass, and Arsenal were able to counter down the left, with Henderson caught out of position.

What was interesting about Arsenal conceding this space, was the amount of times that Coutinho and Lallana were able to receive the ball between the lines, in the zones on either side of Flamini. While Arsenal conceded the space highlighted above, one would think that Cazorla and Oxlade-Chamberlain would be able to fill these spaces, but it was not the case due to the excellent movement of Coutinho and Lallana. Both Liverpool players, who drifted around the pitch throughout the match, were able to find space between the lines on numerous occasions. The above screen capture is a good example of Coutinho finding space and below is a good example of Lallana doing so. It also shows a good example of Lucas’ good passing on the day; splitting two Arsenal midfielders and playing into Lallana’s feet.

Both were able to make things happen consistently when they got on the ball. Aside from his goal, Coutinho found space numerous times on the edge of Arsenal’s penalty area and had two excellent chances for goals that he fluffed. His ability to get by players on the ball was the best on the pitch and opened up space for his teammates. Lallana was just as crafty on the ball and created numerous chances for Liverpool, including the ball for Skrtel’s equaliser. Their vision was supported by the excellent movement of Sterling up front.

Arsenal Efficient, Allow Liverpool Control at 2-1

Liverpool put on a dominate performance in the first half and were 1-0 up in stoppage time, but Gerrard conceded a poor free kick and Arsenal were able to equalise as a result. It highlighted a consistent problem for Liverpool and a recent show of efficiency from Arsenal. Against Newcastle, Arsenal had four shots on goal and scored all four. The Liverpool match was similar, three shots on goal, two goals scored.

Arsenal were able to capitalise on mistakes by Liverpool. The first goal was the combination of poor clearances by Liverpool, a good header by Flamini, and good anticipation by Debuchy. The second goal was the result of a poor decision by Gerrard, Arsenal’s quick counter attack, a good pass by Giroud, and a return ball by Cazorla.

When Arsenal were 2-1 up, they looked to drop even deeper. It was interesting that, even with the amount of pressure that Liverpool were putting on them, they did not look they were going to either get on the ball and try to control the match or press to get a third to kill the game off. Instead, they allowed Liverpool to have the ball and sat back in their low block, which does not suit Arsenal.

Even Wenger’s substitutions were defensive. Coquelin was brought on for Giroud first and sat next to Flamini to try to break up play. Campbell was brought on next for Oxlade-Chamberlain, but his only touch on the ball was on the kickoff after Skrtel’s equaliser. Wenger’s final change was Monreal for Sanchez.

Conclusion

Based on the performance, Liverpool probably should have come away with three points. Arsenal allowed the most shots in a match since Opta began recording Premier League statistics in 2003, with 27. Had the likes of Lucas and Coutinho need more efficient in front of goal, Liverpool could have won the match.

Even when Liverpool went down to 10 men after Borini was cautioned for a second time (Liverpool supporters will argue that Flamini should have been sent off for a second yellow earlier in the match), Liverpool still kept the ball in Arsenal’s half and found their equaliser. This was the plan for Arsenal, however, made evident by Wenger’s substitutions.

Both sides have easier matches on Boxing Day, with Liverpool facing Burnley and Arsenal playing Queens Park Rangers.