Electric Arsenal return to the top as Liverpool’s dismal run continues

Are Arsenal the real deal? Are Liverpool in decline or just in a temporary slump? Although the 3-2 score indicates a tight encounter, the game was controlled by Arteta’s men, with their performance encapsulated by the energy of their young Brazilian forward, Gabriel Martinelli.

After an electric start, Martinelli found the back of the net after just 58 seconds, but Liverpool grew into the game, with Darwin Nunez grabbing a deserved equaliser after 34 minutes. However, the magic of Martinelli and poor defending from England international Trent Alexander-Arnold allowed Bukayo Saka in at the back post to give Arsenal the lead on the stroke of half-time.

Martinelli and Arsenal dominated the second half, but were pegged back by Liverpool substitute Roberto Firmino after 53 minutes. Arsenal continued to probe and earned a contentious penalty with 15 minutes to play, which was successfully converted by Saka to secure his brace.

Despite Liverpool having time to respond, a front three of Elliot, Nunez and Henderson never looked like troubling an Arsenal side which, despite their dominance on the day, had shown they were not immune to errors, with mistakes from both Gabriel and William Saliba capitalised upon for the Liverpool goals.

With eight wins and just one loss (away at Old Trafford) so far in the league, Arsenal top the table, but have yet to attract serious media attention for being potential title challengers. Surely after winning a North London derby, then beating Liverpool in successive weekends, though, there should be a change in the narrative.

In both games they took the lead, before conceding, then going on to win, revealing a resilience within this side that was not there when they self-destructed last season, crushing their top four hopes. There is a belief within this side that simply was not there last season.

The Arsenal attack has attracted the most attention this season. The direct, hard-working wingers of Martinelli and Saka, supplied by the intricate passing of Martin Odegaard, with summer signing Gabriel Jesus linking the forward line has drawn the plaudits.

The title is surely almost out of reach now for Liverpool

This youthful forward line play with energy reminiscent of the early days of Klopp’s Liverpool teams, with Granit Xhaka emerging as a surprising leader for those young players. Behind Xhaka, Saliba has drawn significant praise, along with Ben White in his new role at right-back.

This Arsenal side will suffer slumps in form, but they appear to be showing resilience and energy that makes it difficult to refute them being the closest challengers to Manchester City this season.

As for Liverpool, they find themselves in 10^th place, with just two wins from their opening eight league games. For a team that came within two matches of an unprecedented quadruple last season, even this early into the season, this collapse is dramatic.

Losing Mane in the summer has left Liverpool short in attack: with the stuttering form of Mo Salah; injuries to Diogo Jota; all while Darwin Nunez adjusts to the league. Liverpool have still managed to score the third most goals in the league, although nine of those came at home to Bournemouth.

The Liverpool defence and more specifically the form of both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk has received the most criticism. Alexander-Arnold has been widely accused of being too passive in his defending, something which was clearly exposed by the direct play of both Martinelli at the weekend and Brighton’s Leandro Trossard the weekend before.

Alexander-Arnold has been forced to do more defending, as Liverpool have lost their control of games. He is an elite attacking full-back, but his defensive work and, more specifically, his aggression and awareness when defending continue to be exposed.

Van Dijk has been widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs in the world since joining Liverpool in 2018 but appears to now be in his first real loss of form since joining the club. The main criticism of van Dijk has been the lack of intensity with which he has been defending, leading opposition forwards to no longer regard him as the impassable colossus they once did.

This Liverpool side have too much quality to not bounce back, while Alexander-Arnold and van Dijk possess too much ability to not improve on their performances. However, such a slow start to the season has left them 14 points behind league leaders Arsenal. The title is surely almost out of reach now for Liverpool.

Arsenal are on the way up, with hopes of a title push. Meanwhile, Liverpool need to quickly recover some form or will find themselves out of the top-four race before the World Cup break.