Arsenal have ended 14 years of hurt at Anfield, but they spent most of the afternoon trapped in their own half, and we think Myles Lewis-Skelly is the answer to the problem Mikel Arteta let slip afterwards.
Arteta bit back when it was put to him that the 1-0 win over Liverpool hadn’t been fluid. He said: “Very fluid at times. We generated six or seven big chances but we couldn’t break out. When you misplace a pass or clearance these guys are running at you.”
Read that last part again. Nobody at N5 is handing back three points that put Arsenal top with 24 from nine games, and results are what count. But a win this ugly shouldn’t stop anyone asking why the ball kept coming straight back at David Raya’s goal, or who can stop it happening in Prague on Wednesday.
Why couldn’t Arsenal get out at Anfield?
Because they couldn’t keep the ball once they’d won it. Arsenal actually started better, taking the first four shots of the game inside 25 minutes, with Kai Havertz scoring on 16. Then it flipped. Liverpool took the next eight attempts before half-time and had 28 touches in the Arsenal box in that first half.
| Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal | Liverpool | Arsenal |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 56% | 44% |
| Shots | 17 | 10 |
| Corners | 7 | 4 |
| Fouls committed | 18 | 10 |
Some of that was the plan. Arsenal were always going to take punches at Anfield, and sitting in a compact block is how they kept out a front line that cost a fortune. Ezri Konsa, Jurrien Timber and Gabriel were excellent, and Declan Rice got better as the game went on.
The bit that wasn’t the plan came after each clearance. Too many touches or not enough, passes underhit or overhit, and another wave coming. There were also a few moments when Raya, Gabriel, Konsa and Rice all seemed to be going for the same high ball with nobody calling it. Better finishing from Liverpool and those are the moments we’d be talking about today.
Where did the ball keep going?
Back to Liverpool, mostly through the middle. Martin Odegaard and Bruno Guimaraes both played their part in the goal, Odegaard cutting out the loose ball and Bruno moving it on to Noni Madueke. Outside that move, though, we wanted more from both of them in simply keeping possession when the side needed a breather.
Up front, Havertz had Virgil van Dijk for company and his goal will rightly be the headline. A bit more holding it up and drawing fouls would have helped the players behind him get their breath back. Liverpool did give away 18 fouls, so there were stoppages, just not enough to change the pattern.
What changed when Lewis-Skelly came on?
Arsenal finally had someone built for that job. Just after Andoni Iraola sent on Dominik Szoboszlai for Trey Nyoni, Arteta took off Bruno on 62 minutes and put the 20-year-old in midfield next to Rice. Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi, the midfielder with a Real Madrid move on his mind, were both on that bench too, so it was a real choice.
Lewis-Skelly gives you something different in a game like this. He can take the ball with a man on his back, ride the first challenge, win a foul or carry it ten yards, and that alone takes the sting out of a stadium. Liverpool did little of note in the second half, and while that wasn’t all down to one substitute, the side looked more comfortable.
It wasn’t a perfect cameo. He was booked within ten minutes, on 72, and he won’t want to make a habit of that. But we’d still rather have a young midfielder picking up a yellow for competing than another clearance coming straight back.
Should Lewis-Skelly start in Prague?
Yes, and we’d have had him starting at Anfield. He isn’t some untried kid who needs protecting. He came through Hale End as a midfielder, Arteta used him as a holding midfielder over the summer and said: “I think he had a really consistent pre-season.” He started all of Arsenal’s first four league games, the first English teenager to do that since Tony Adams and David Rocastle in 1986-87, and he started a Champions League final at 19 years and 246 days.
He was also Arteta’s pick ahead of Riccardo Calafiori at left-back in the 2-0 win over Everton, so he covers two positions if Calafiori, only just over a knock himself, needs a rest. With Bukayo Saka and William Saliba both still out, there’s plenty of value in a player who does two jobs.
The timing suits as well. Slavia Prague are on Wednesday, Hull City come to the Emirates on Saturday, and then Bruno heads to Singapore with Brazil. Giving him a night off in the Czech Republic costs little, and it would show whether Lewis-Skelly can do over 90 minutes what he did for the last half hour on Merseyside.
Verdict: Lewis-Skelly is the release valve Arsenal need
Winning ugly is a skill, and Sunday proved Arsenal have it, even at the hardest ground they visit. We’d take the same result and the same performance every week if it were on offer, because it wouldn’t matter how many passes you’d misplaced come May.
It won’t be on offer every week, though. Arteta knows it, even if he wasn’t about to say so after the game. “We couldn’t break out” is a line about a side short of a player who can get them up the pitch when the legs have gone. Arsenal have one, and on Wednesday he should start.
