Draws between Arsenal and Liverpool (0-0) to explain that something is happening in the north of London and it is not the typical ditty, the one in which the Gunner team lowers the soufflé when the January slope arrives, after starting the season like an exhalation to come face to face with reality, that their game is more beautiful than efficient. Although during two decades under Wenger they achieved League and Cup doubles (1998 and 2002), in addition to the 2004 Premier League without conceding a single defeat and their only Champions League final in 2006 against Barça, Arsenal was not able to fully shake off the nickname of second-stringer, always and Liverpool. With the arrival of City to the elite, the situation worsened, accentuated in the last three years, closing the league in the second step. So for decades, the game was convincing until the ball ruled the hierarchy, with Arsenal behind and without a title since 2005, far from the era of Boring-Boring Arsenal after Herbert Chapman in the 1930s, when they won in a stingy way. But he won.
0
David Raya, Gabriel Magalhães, Jurriën Timber, Piero Hincapié (Myles Lewis-Skelly, min. 56), William Saliba, Martin Ødegaard (Eberechi Eze, min. 77), Declan Rice, Martín Zubimendi, Viktor Gyökeres (Gabriel Jesus, min. 63), Leandro Trossard (Gabriel Martinelli, min. 63) y Bukayo Saka (Noni Madueke, min. 77)
0
Ibrahma Conate, Milos Frimpong, and Florian Wirtz.
Referee Anthony Taylor
yellow cards
Trossard (min. 11), Arteta (min. 82), Alexis MacAllister (min. 89), Martinelli (min. 92), Ibrahima Konate (min. 92)
Arsenal fans, as Nick Hornby explained in Fever in the Stands, love to show off their team in good times and bad. Although now, and also the mantra of the reluctant second man, the hum dissolves with the passage of time, a beautiful and almost always efficient football team, to the point that the Premier is no longer an ephemeral desire but a stubbornness, even after drawing with Liverpool. Arsenal are asking for this league – who knows if the Champions League, where they have accumulated as many wins as duels – and Emery’s Aston Villa, six points behind.
It was raining fiercely at the Emirates and the slippery mat invited inaccuracies, physical football rather than technical football, the race over the pass. Until Arsenal lowered the ball to the rhythm of Odegaard and Zubimendi. But depth was lacking. No intention and that was enough to lock up Liverpool, a sign that the big team, the defender of the title, is no longer so big, perhaps because they have gotten the hang of it or because – now in the African Cup – they are a difficult slab to digest. Although the Reds were defending so far back, when they recovered the ball it was very long for them to reach the rival area, sterile runs, txirimiri football. But a bad pass from Saliba, which caught Raya halfway out, ended in a clearance at the feet of Bradley, and from there to the crossbar. It was scary that nothing changed: one played very well and the other defended better.
Arsenal offered a range of offensive resources such as Timber’s arrivals from behind and inside, Saka and Trossard’s zigzags on the sides, plus triangulations in the rival field… Everything except connecting with Gyökeres, the presumed final point of the team. After the first act ended with two timid shots from Arsenal (one from a distance from Saka and another from Rice), the game changed direction, with Liverpool more aggressive, with forward pressure and control of the ball, as if it wanted to put fear into Arsenal’s body, already with the fly behind its ear. But Szoboszlai’s aim and Frimpong’s feet missed. And a tie that encouraged Liverpool – capable of being the first to score at the Emirates this season – and that did not prevent Arsenal from continuing to claim the Premier League 22 years later.
