A frenetic, classic type of battle ensued at Anfield and ended in disappointment for the Reds, who saw their former selves at Arsenal.
Liverpool 0:1 Arsenal
Premier League (9) | Enfield
November 1, 2026
Purpose: Havertz 16′
Inadequate and spineless officiating, unbecoming of a top Premier League clash
This is the cream of the crop for English football, the two most recent winners of the toughest league in all of sport. And the officiating was an inexcusable, inconsistent mess.
Moreover, it happens very often. The Premier League insists it is so concerned with building its brand and raising its status that it seems to forget the pressing issues on the pitch.
“Product”, as it is nauseatingly referred to by the suits in charge, should reign supreme. But the same “product” here was full of cowardly bureaucracy, strange implementation of ineffective rulings, and was different from each other.
It was laughable that Alexander Isak’s pulled shirt was not looked at by VAR, an exhibition – an example of how technology and those who operate it are so out of sync.
Milos Kerkez would later be sent off for a full minute after taking a blow to the head, a rule implemented to avoid wasting time. Liverpool then had to regroup on the counter, with one of the main wides just watching.
In the climax of the match, Viktor Gyokeres made an apparent interception of Dominik Szoboszlai on the edge of the penalty area. The Arsenal man has all the grace and spatial awareness of a tugboat, but referee Andy Madley clearly decided he would be momentarily blindsided and not give anything away.
A new ref-cam first-person view highlighted what a ridiculous decision this was. Just one of many. The Premier League needs to do much, much better, or what’s the point of anyone bothering about any of this?
Liverpool have taken a look at their past at Arsenal
This Arsenal game plan is straight out of the old Liverpool playbook. Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool did such a solid job of squeezing what they needed out of a fixture. Not exactly pretty, but it rarely matters.
It’s not a direct comparison, Klopp’s version of Liverpool’s peak would have beaten this Arsenal side, but Mikel Arteta has picked up valuable pointers from his former rival in the dugout.
We’ve seen it all too often, Liverpool going the hard way and slicing to get a hit-and-run goal on the counter, only to then close up shop and close all gaps. Players like James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho came into their own here. They could make the games ugly and get three points.
Arsenal managed to do so regardless of Liverpool coming back into the fixture strongly. Liverpool started to look better in all aspects, but the most striking was the shots on target. The Reds looked for value for money to get back on the court, but found none.
It’s never easy to win at Anfield and that’s how Arsenal wanted it to go.
Alexander Isak needs to find some needle and get a bad edge
As Jamie Carragher rightly points out, Isak should not be doing a giant song and dance about the crucial shirt pulling by Jurrien Timber inside the six yard box. VAR should be right there, but the VAR we’ve established for so long is not fit for purpose.
So make a scene. Big scene. Issac, make a fuss, leave the judge no choice, but now something big has happened. It feels weird that a world-class striker doesn’t want to do that, to be honest.
Think of all the big, ruthless strikers. Almost all of them had a bit of evil, or at least something nasty in common. That needle, that natural aggression is waiting to pounce on any injustice.
Does Erling Haaland turn his nose up at the Timbers like Isak before quietly spending the rest of his day? Absolutely not. Isak may feel that this element of play is not in his nature, but unfortunately, it should be. Get over it.
Elite strikers never take no for an answer. That doesn’t mean he has to be a bona fide maniac like Luis Suarez or Diego Costa, just a bit of bite in the mirror image of Fernando Torres. Isak needs to have his say.
The rate of withdrawal of Nyoni has changed
Young Nyoni was certainly up there with Jeremy Jacquet as Liverpool’s breakout superstar of the season, but he took time to settle.
Understandably, he is 19 years old and is being given a start against the reigning champions. That’s a lot of pressure and he looked more composed later on as the game went on.
But the opening stages let Arsenal in and ultimately cost Liverpool the match. Nyoni’s early ankle rub on Kai Havertz seemed to get to him a bit. The players were moving very quickly around him and the teenager knew that he could have been red and was very lucky not to have been booked.
This left him somewhat restless and disjointed, and Arsenal took full advantage. Liverpool spent the opening 15 minutes surrendering the midfield battle and you can’t do that against this team.
However, he came on and his final withdrawal saw him lose momentum due to Liverpool’s absence or changes made by Iraola.
Andoni Iraola is showing Liverpool 2.0 and the signs are still promising
Before kick-off, Sky Sports’ Patrick Davison asked whether Iraola would again make Arsenal miserable, given that they had such a joy with his former club Bournemouth against them.
The Liverpool boss accepted the compliment, but rightly set the record straight quickly, stating that he is now in charge of a very different team. Iraola said he could take some winning ways from Bournemouth, but it would never be a direct copy and paste.
And we saw it here. Liverpool looked slow with their thoughts at times, despite many attempts to move the ball quickly. However, there were other signs that this team was still developing and progressing in its approach, most notably the high line of the back two.
Virgil van Dijk and Jacquet sat relentlessly in the center circle in Liverpool’s possession, mainly towards half-time when Liverpool really got a firm grip on the game again.
I felt very Iraola, the glow of Bournemouth. The tall sitting of the two imposing defenders helped the ball move wide and down the channels at speed. The introduction of Victor Munoz at the back has reinforced how much the manager has benefited from raw pace in all positions on the wing.
This suggests that Ronald Araujo is unlikely to stick around for the long-term future, but these little quirks of Liverpool are building now and give a flavor of how the team will perform consistently going forward.