Neither side looked like scoring at the Emirates on Thursday night, with Arsenal frustrated in large part by the different approach Liverpool took out of possession.
It was a relatively quiet evening for David Raya and Alisson Becker.
Liverpool admittedly found little joy in the final third, but with their three best attackers unavailable, they are allowed some leeway.
The Premier League leaders, on the other hand, were at full strength but couldn’t manage more than a couple of popped shots that caused Alisson no problems.
That might be down to how Arne Slot set his team up to frustrate Mikel Arteta’s side and keep them guessing.
Who was your Man of the Match during Liverpool’s battling draw with Arsenal?
Much better from the Reds today!
Arne Slot won the tactical battle against Mikel Arteta with defensive setup
A 0-0 draw is a result that reflects better on Liverpool than it does on Arsenal.
Ahead of the game, fans were predicting a heavy Liverpool loss, seeing the task of going to the Gunners’ home turf as a step too far for this group.
They proved the doubters wrong, keeping Arsenal scoreless with an aggressive man-to-man approach and unpredictability in their defensive structure.
Gary Neville dissected the performance for Sky Sports, where he remarked: ““I thought Liverpool’s back line looked like it was strewn across the back. You couldn’t even tell who the back four were. There were like six in there at times.
“And then the midfield, normally you see a line of four and a two or a five and a one or a three and a three. There wasn’t. It was just like they were everywhere, but they were man marking, they were packing the midfield and keeping it quite narrow.”
Arsenal weren’t given a second to breathe on the ball, and it clearly disrupted their play.
When they did have possession in Liverpool’s half, the compact nature of their block made life for the opposition attackers extremely difficult.
Liverpool’s performance against Arsenal was more reminiscent of Slot’s title-winning side, with a number of players stepping up and exerting pressure to win the ball back quickly. They looked far superior, physically.
What was different about Liverpool’s midfield vs Arsenal?
The most passes from a visiting team at the Emirates in five seasons 😮
A blueprint for Slot and Liverpool
This won’t be the last time this season that Liverpool head into an away trip as underdogs.
Providing they can reach the knockout stages of the Champions League, there should be more games in which this more defensive-minded approach can pay off.
Despite an unbeaten run now stretched to ten games, Liverpool haven’t looked back to their best yet.
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If we can get more solid away performances like the one against Arsenal — with our best attackers back in the side — it gives encouragement for those all-important European fixtures in March, April, and maybe even May.
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