Liverpool vs Arsenal: Brief look at how Liverpool exploited Arsenal.

This Saturday Liverpool's victory saw the reds go top of the league after 3 games, two points clear of their title rivals City. The 3-1 victory was a real statement of intent for the reds aspirations for the coming season, especially with the flattering scoreline on Arsenals behalf, who could of been easily turned over 4/5-0 if the reds were in more of an goal thirsty mood.

Key Areas:

Full backs - The fullbacks of Liverpool were aided before the game even started with the way arsenal decided to lineup against the reds, playing a diamond and leaving acres of space for the fullbacks to bomb forward and provide crosses and key passes for Liverpool's deadly front three. Time after time we would see Robertson or Trent sprinting forward with the ball with nothing but green in front of them, Arsenals lack of wingers left their midfield having to fill in covering both the centre and the flanks, scrambling across the pitch to try and falter the reds bombard of attacks down both flanks, this lead to their midfield players slowing in the later stages of the game, opening up the centre for the front three to come inside and cause even more problems. Further problems came from Arsenals lack of wingers, as it left Liverpool's defence with a constant outlet for their two centre backs to pass from defence into the wing areas where Trent & Robertson spent the majority of time. Even though neither fullback provided an assist from open play they caused arsenals defence a number of problems, in which they came to regret when Trent's corner was headed in by Matip in the 40th minute.

Fabihno - The man was a colossal in this game, breaking down play, intercepting and giving the reds a foothold in the midfield, this was perhaps his best game for the reds. It was epitomised in the first 20 seconds of the first half, intercepting the ball after an early press from his teammates. We also see a side to Fabinho that we aren't used to seeing in the first 2 minutes, picking up the ball and gliding past two arsenal players before being fouled and winning his team a free kick inside arsenals half. His main strength is his presence and strength and he showed that with abundance in this game, but also his intelligence in reading the game, making 2/3 tackles, 6 ball recoveries, it is exactly what you want from a "destroyer" Central defensive midfielder. Fabinho also had an 93% passing accuracy, 4 key passes, 27/32 final third passes and 1 assist, which shows us he hasnt just got the defensive side to his game, he can transition from defence to attack and give Liverpool another outlet from midfield. This game for me epitomised everything the reds love about the Brazilian and has put him among some of the best CDM's around the world and a sure starter for the reds throughout the season.

Pressing inside arsenal half - The first half was when we saw this at it's peak, especially in the first few minutes, the Liverpool players were relentless, hunting in packs until they won the ball back. However, they were aided by Arsenals tactic of playing out of the back, the entirety of the game, even when it was obvious that it simply wasn't working and was causing Arsenal all kinds of problems. Problems of their own making when coming up against the best pressing team in the world arguably, it was an ill-though tactic in my opinion and played straight into Liverpool's hands.

Clinical - This was a key aspect of the game and one that could of changed the whole complexity of the game. Arsenal had the biggest chance of the first half before Matip's goal, when Pepe skipped past Robertson and was through on goal, only Adrian to beat but he didn't catch it quite right and put it straight at the keeper. Pepe scores that chance and its a completely different game, Liverpool are on the back-foot and have to go searching for goals rather than patiently chipping away at Arsenals defence in search of a goal. Another time Arsenal's finishing let them down was in the second half Aubameyang was through on goal, tighter angle than Pepe's chance and could of been marginally offside but, the Gabonese striker was too slow to get the shot off and Matip intercepted him before he could. Both these chances could of pushed the game into their favour, go 1-0 up or pull it back to 2-1 and its game on. Now Liverpool on the other hand took their chances when it came, Matip with header and Salah's brace of a penalty and a brilliant solo goal to wrap up the game, this clarified the enormous gap between these two clubs and gave us one factor of why one club is chasing the title and the other going for top 4. Even though Arsenal did score, it was in the 85th minute, the game was already done and Liverpool had taken their foot of the gas.

Quick point on the penalty, it was a certain penalty with Luiz clearly pulling salah's shirt back in the box, but it gives us another reason for Arsenals defeat at Anfield, self made errors that cost them the game. Along with the penalty, Arsenal over and over again gave away the ball in their half, falling victim to Liverpool's high press. It was like none of them had ever seen Liverpool play at Anfield, they were very naive in their tactics and ultimately lost them the game.

Anfield has always been a hard day out for any side in the Premier league, Arsenal in particular but Arsenal were their own worst nightmare with individual errors costing them ultimately.