Arsenal are top of the Premier League and the long wait for a win at Anfield is over, and no Gunner alive cares how it happened. Good for them. But the stat everyone keeps repeating, that Liverpool didn't manage a single shot on target, deserves a harder look before it becomes gospel. Liverpool forgot how to finish.
Look at what Liverpool actually did on the day. They had 56% of the ball. In the first half alone they piled 28 touches into Arsenal's box. Florian Wirtz rattled the crossbar from a free kick. Alexis Mac Allister rose unmarked, got his head to a cross, and sent it over the bar from a spot strikers are supposed to score from. Liverpool's expected goals came in at 1.31. For all of that, they never forced a save. Arsenal nicked it through Kai Havertz in the 16th minute, after the home side got caught trying to pass their way out from the back and handed him the opening.
Call it what it is: a team dominated territory and chances and lost anyway, because the players paid fortunes to score couldn't score.
Gary Neville called it "a defensive masterclass from Arsenal." I see why it looks that way. A masterclass implies control, and control is the one thing Arsenal didn't have for long stretches of this game. They were pinned and overrun in midfield at times, and they survived because Wirtz hit the woodwork instead of the net and Mac Allister headed at the sky. Responsibility for 0-1 sits with Andoni Iraola's attack far more than with Arsenal's back four. Liverpool authored their own afternoon.
Mikel Arteta's defense has been the meanest in the division this season, with the joint-most clean sheets and the fewest big chances conceded entering this round of fixtures. That's a real pattern, built over months, and it's why Arsenal keep winning games like this. The shape held, nobody panicked, and when Liverpool threw bodies forward late the back line didn't crack. That deserves credit. A season of discipline made this performance survivable.
Arsenal got help, too. Jurrien Timber hauled at Alexander Isak's shirt in the first half, a clear pull, and the officials and the VAR booth decided it was nothing. Liverpool should have had a penalty. Arsenal benefited from the biggest refereeing moment of the day. For a team supposedly imposing total control, they needed that let-off.
Arsenal had their own moments, too. Christos Tzolis got a shot away, and Jeremy Jacquet threw himself in front of it to keep the deficit at one. But the balance of chances, the woodwork, the free header, the missed spot kick, all point one direction. Liverpool dominated and lost.
Arsenal sit three points clear of Manchester City, who lost at home to Brighton, after eight wins and a single defeat in nine games. That's the real story of their season, and they've earned it. The romance now being pinned on this one result is a separate matter. People are calling the historic shutout at Anfield proof of Arsenal's defensive brilliance. Bury the header and hit the target from the woodwork, and we're asking how Liverpool contrived to lose a game they ran. Mac Allister should still be hearing about that header.
