Liverpool will hope that Bradley’s injury is not too severe — his manager Arne Slot certainly seemed concerned when speaking to Sky Sports and reflecting on the shove by Martinelli.
💬 “Not great that another injury has come up today. I hope for the best but fear the worst.
“If a player of ours is on the floor, people might know that 99 out of 100 times there is something wrong with the player.
“I think people could see this. So you don’t like to see a player being moved if he might have such a big injury.
“I didn’t like to see one of out players being moved if he had such a big injury, which we don’t know yet.”
Let's hear from Arne Slot
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The Liverpool manager has been speaking to Sky Sports. Here is what he had to say:
💬 “In the first half, they were the team that played most in our half. That led to a few moments with crosses but not too many big chances.
“The second half was different because we dominated ball possession.
“The only thing we missed from our team was for all the ball possession around the box you are hoping for even more chances.
“Against an Arsenal team with great momentum, to put in a performance like this is very positive.”
Arteta on the Martinelli shove
Mikel Arteta has given his take on that flashpoint at the end of the match between Martinelli and Bradley. Here is what he told Sky Sports:
💬 “Probably he doesn’t know. Knowing Gabi, there is no intention.
“I don’t know what has happened with Conor but obviously there was no intention from Gabi to do anything bad to him.”
Let's hear from Mikel Arteta
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The Arsenal boss has been reflecting on that result when speaking to Sky Sports. Here’s what he had to say:
💬 “We know that the margins are very small.
“In our domination, we managed to create some situations with our players nearly inside the six-yard box but we didn’t manage to find the pass to score the goal.
“The second half was more of a struggle and we were not as good with the ball. They had really good organisation, these games need some magic moments.
“At Anfield, (Dominik) Szoboszlai did it and won them the game. If you cannot win it, then you cannot lose it.”
Tight title race this season for once
A fun title race this season. Still wide open. And any of the three can still win it. Tough to call.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are now proving to be very difficult to beat.
Another quiet one for Gyokeres
How do Arsenal get the best out of their star man?
That is the big question facing Mikel Arteta.
Gabriel Jesus offered far more once he came on — an uptick in performance from Viktor Gyokeres is needed.
Presented without comment
Viktor Gyokeres failed to have a shot in either Premier League game against Liverpool this season (in 154 minutes).
Photo of the match: Plenty of shoving
This was not the first time there was a shoving match in this game — nor the last!
It pretty much tells the story of a high stakes, testy affair.
Pre-match fireworks
And those continued into the game!
Arteta asked for home fans to give everything to lift the side and they did their part.
Man of the match: Dominik Szoboszlai
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He held his own in the middle of the park when Arsenal so often overwhelm their opponents.
He picks up a deserved man of the match award.
Neither side truly looked like scoring
As you can see from our snazzy graphic above showing both teams’ expected goals (xG) total, it was cagey.
And then some.
Tonight's match was just the fifth Premier League game of the season to see less than 1.02 Expected Goals (xG), and includes both games between Arsenal and Liverpool.
Match dashboard: Stalemate in north London
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As you can see from The Athletic's match dashboard above, the two teams created less than one expected goal (xG) between them.
No shots on target for Liverpool, no threatening shots on target among four for Arsenal.
Possession pretty even (52 per cent for Liverpool, 48 for Arsenal), and though Arsenal's field tilt was 57 per cent, suggesting they had slightly the better of the general play, it was largely a stalemate.
Two teams cancelling each other out.
Let's hear from Dominik Szoboszlai
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The Liverpool midfielder had a strong game today and came close with a couple of free kicks. Here’s how he reflected on that match:
💬 “We showed again today why we became champions last season. This was a step forward after recent weeks. We showed against a team who is top of the table that we can compete.
“It’s always about fighting to be honest because in the Premier League you have to fight to get results. Today, everybody showed we are able to do it.
“From now on, nobody can say we are not. We have to keep on going and work as hard every week as we did today.”
Arsenal subs made an impact
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But it was too little, too late by the time Madueke and Eze came on to good effect.
They replaced two pretty effective players anyway in Saka and Odegaard but things had been pretty stale for a while for Arsenal in that second half.
Not a moment to be proud of
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Maybe the biggest talking point of that match is the shove from Martinelli at the end, which was not a moment to feel proud of his actions.
Every player is capable of letting their emotions spill over when things get competitive.
