PREMIER League, AUGUST 31 2025
Szoboszlai (83)
Dominik Szoboszlai’s stunning free-kick was enough to settle this early-season meeting between Liverpool and Arsenal. It was a meeting of the reigning champions against the runners-up of the past three campaigns. It was also a game between the only teams retaining a 100 per cent record, as the third match week of the Premier League season unfolded.
Given the lofty aspirations of both sides, unsurprisingly the game was closely fought, if somewhat lacking in entertainment. The lack of thrills will hardly have concerned Arne Slot, whose team went into the game on the back of criticism for conceding six goals in three competitive games so far this season. Arsenal, by contrast, had yet to concede before Szobozslai’s magic moment, which sent Liverpool top of the table.
How the managers saw it
“Normally Arsenal and us are able to create more chances during a game,” said Slot. “It tells you also something about the structure and the amount of discipline both teams have without the ball. Then you need a moment of magic, which we got from Dominik, and that resulted in us winning a game that normally would have ended in a draw.”
“We didn’t do our game plan to frustrate them, we did it to win it,” said Mikel Arteta. “We elevated the game and the dominance to a point that they had to raise it. They did, especially from the 60th to the 78th minute, when then you could see that there were no margins in the game. When that happens, the game is going to be decided in two ways. One, with an individual error, and two, with a magic moment. Szoboszlai created a moment that was incredible, that has won the game, and that was the difference, nothing else.”
Below, our UEFA-licensed coaches have analysed the key tactical points from the game at Anfield…
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SHOTS / ON TARGET
10/1
54%
POSSESSION
46%
20
ATTACKS INTO AREA
19
0.64
EXPECTED GOALS (XG)
0.71
Lacking options between the lines
With the ball, both teams converted to a back three during their sustained spells of possession. Without the ball, both teams utilised compact blocks to protect the middle of the pitch. Against Arsenal’s 4-4-2 block, Liverpool’s switch to a back three involved makeshift right-back Szoboszlai moving higher. But their midfield three were often the wrong side of Arsenal’s second line (below) in the first half, in the sense that it limited Liverpool’s ability to penetrate the away side’s block. This was especially the case when a Liverpool midfielder dropped into their back line, moving further away from the spaces between Arsenal’s lines.
With Liverpool’s midfield three operating in front of Arsenal’s second line, they struggled to connect with their forwards – even when there were big spaces between Arsenal’s two units of four (below). Liverpool’s full-backs rarely pushed forward to force their wingers to receive inside, nor did they rotate inwards in attack to exploit significant pockets of space that were sometimes available. As a result, Liverpool had virtually no touches inside Arsenal’s penalty area in the first half.
Arsenal had similar issues. With their back-three build, Riccardo Calafiori moved inside from left-back, but with two Arsenal midfielders dropping back they often had too many players in front of Liverpool’s first line of pressure (below). Up against the home side’s 4-2-3-1 block, Arsenal lacked teammates between the lines to play forward to with purpose. Instead, they looked for direct balls to Noni Madueke to attack Milos Kerkez 1v1, which resulted in little of note.
Although Arsenal had longer spells of possession than Liverpool in the first half, their inability to occupy or attack the spaces between the lines meant they had little threat on goal. Liverpool’s double pivots often had no one to mark or cover, and could screen potential passes into Viktor Gyökeres. Declan Rice and Martín Zubimendi continued dropping towards the ball, well before Liverpool’s first line (below), making sideways and backwards passes as a deeper unit, but without penetration.
Liverpool find a way to break lines
For longer periods in the second half, Liverpool placed their midfield three higher – at a minimum, beyond Arsenal’s first-line pair. Liverpool were then better able to utilise their 3v2 overload in central midfield against Arsenal’s 4-4-2 block. Whenever Arsenal’s central midfield two locked on to Liverpool’s two closest to the ball, the home side’s third midfielder could be found running forward (below). From here they found better access into the spaces between the lines. They were then able to pass into the feet of the front line – Cody Gakpo in particular, cutting inside from the left. Mo Salah also received more passes, albeit up against a consistently strong Calafiori.
Although it was an outstanding long-range free-kick from Szoboszlai that won Liverpool the match, the move leading up to the foul illustrated their improvement at breaking lines. With more midfielders higher and operating on the shoulders of Arsenal’s two central midfielders, penetrative Liverpool passes found them on the half-turn. Sometimes Liverpool exploited gaps between Arsenal’s wide midfielder and central midfielder by playing inside-channel passes. In the lead-up to the goal, however, it was the central gap between Rice and Zubimendi that was too big. Virgil van Dijk took advantage with a pass through the centre into the feet of substitute Curtis Jones (on for Mac Allister), who was on the turn to play forward. With Zubimendi the wrong side, he ended up fouling Jones for the free-kick that Szoboszlai punished.
On such a fine margin was the game decided. The comfort for Arteta and his team will be that there is a much more football to be played this season. With the quality of their squad and the level of their play, Arsenal will hope to be on the right side of the result much more often than not. The same, however, can be said of Liverpool.
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