Match report2 min read
We won at Anfield. Fourteen years. Nobody touch me.
Havertz, a gift from Alisson and the first league win at Anfield since Arteta was our captain. Then we nearly blew a 2–0 in Prague. Classic us.
The last time Arsenal won a league game at Anfield, Mikel Arteta was wearing the armband. September 2012. Al Jazeera had to look it up too.
Fourteen years. Kids who were born that season are now old enough to have opinions about Havertz. Some of them are probably wrong.
On Sunday it finally happened. Liverpool 0, Arsenal 1. Top of the league. Three points clear of City. The goon platoon spent the evening sending the same voice note to each other on loop.
The goal
Sixteen minutes in, Declan Rice rolled a low ball across the face of goal and Kai Havertz put it away. Lovely move. Very professional. Also, and we say this with all the love in the world, Alisson had a moment. ESPN were less polite about it than we're going to be.
We'll take it. We have lost at that ground in every way a football match can be lost. We are owed a goalkeeping error or six.
It also made Havertz the top-scoring German in Premier League history, 46 goals. Remember when half of you wanted him gone? We remember. We have screenshots.
The bit nobody enjoyed
The other 74 minutes were not fun to watch. Liverpool came into it on a five-match winning run, and when you're 1–0 up at Anfield, every Liverpool throw-in feels like a penalty. We watched most of the second half through our fingers. Then the whistle, and a noise in our living rooms that the neighbours are still asking about.
The Bill Shankly statue outside the Kop at Anfield
Sorry, Bill.
Then Prague happened
Three days later we went to Slavia and decided the weekend had been too relaxing. Madueke scored after nine minutes. Gyökeres made it two before half-time, set up by Merino. Comfortable. Professional. Champions.
Then Slavia scored on 90 minutes and the last few minutes of stoppage time lasted about a week. ESPN's live blog literally called it "hold on". Slavia hadn't won a Champions League game in 23 attempts. We were briefly trying to become their 24th-time lucky.
We didn't. 2–1. Ten points from four games in Europe, unbeaten. Top of the league at home.
So why does it feel like we've aged five years? Because we're Gooners. Winning is just losing with extra steps that happen to go our way.
Next up: Hull at home on Saturday. Absolutely nothing can go wrong. (Please.)
Photos: Anfield Stadium by Mike Pennington, CC BY-SA 2.0. Bill Shankly statue by Rodhullandemu, CC BY-SA 4.0. Both via Wikimedia Commons.
