By OkayGoal
Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal ended a 14-year wait for the visitors, but the part Liverpool should be chewing over this morning came after the 58th minute, when Andoni Iraola took off the 19-year-old who had been running his midfield.
Kai Havertz’s 16th-minute tap-in settled it on Sunday, making him the highest-scoring German in Premier League history, past Ilkay Gundogan. It was Arsenal’s first top-flight win at Anfield since 2012, and it leaves them three points clear of Manchester City at the top. Liverpool are fifth, nine points behind.
The numbers tell you how strange an afternoon it was. Liverpool had 56% of the ball, 17 shots and 28 touches in the Arsenal box in the first half alone, the most on record (since 2008-09) by any side in a first half against Arsenal. Not one of those shots hit the target. Opta’s records go back to 2003-04, and in 442 league games at Anfield since then, that had never happened before.
How did Arsenal get the only goal?
Liverpool gave it to them. Arsenal won the ball back as the hosts tried to play out from a goal-kick, Declan Rice overlapped Noni Madueke down the right, and Havertz was left free at the back post. Iraola didn’t hide from it: “It’s true we conceded when we mess up a goal-kick.”
Alisson Becker’s part in that was costly, because going behind inside 16 minutes to this Arsenal side is about the worst thing that can happen at Anfield. They scored and then dropped deep, and Liverpool spent the rest of the day trying to pick a lock. Iraola accepted as much: “It is true that probably they didn’t need to take risks and they go deeper.”
In fairness to Alisson, he also kept the deficit at one with a stunning save from Christos Tzolis’ first-time shot in the second half. Arsenal won’t care how it looked. Liverpool never forced David Raya into a save from a shot on target, and Ezri Konsa was excellent at the back. Ugly or not, that is how you want to play at 4.30pm on a Sunday at Anfield with a lead.
How good was Trey Nyoni on his first league start?
We got this one wrong. Our predicted lineup had Ryan Gravenberch next to Alexis Mac Allister on the basis that Iraola would back experience. Instead Gravenberch sat on the bench for the full 90 minutes, and Nyoni, who had 12 Premier League substitute appearances and had started the cup tie against Chelsea in midweek, got the shirt. He is only the second Liverpool teenager to make his first Premier League start against the reigning champions, after Raheem Sterling against Manchester City in 2012.
Iraola told Sky Sports before kick-off: “The thinking is that he’s playing very well and we trust him. I think he gives us good control on the ball.”
He was right, and for us Nyoni was Liverpool’s best player. The pass we liked most was the one he kept punching forward through the Arsenal midfield into Mac Allister’s feet. It’s a risky ball for a 19-year-old in a game this size, and it opened the pitch up every time it came off.
He also solved a problem without the ball. By dropping into the space on the left next to Virgil van Dijk, he gave Liverpool a back three in possession and let Milos Kerkez push on. Arsenal never quite worked out who was picking Kerkez up, and he was getting into the box in a way we have rarely seen from him. That half-hour after the goal was Liverpool’s best spell of the match, and Nyoni’s movement was a big part of why.
Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal: what changed after 58 minutes?
Dominik Szoboszlai replaced Nyoni, and Anfield stood to send the teenager off. From there the urgency drained away. Liverpool struggled to string three passes together, and when they did, the ball moved far too slowly to trouble a deep Arsenal defence.
That isn’t a stick to beat Szoboszlai with. He was only just back from injury, and he brings quality on the final ball. But Liverpool swapped their forward passer for a player who kept it safe, at the moment they most needed someone to take a risk.
Iraola went for the long-range option: “I decided to finish with Rio [Ngumoha], with Victor [Munoz], even putting Dom [Szoboszlai], to see if we could maybe score from one shot outside the box, score in different ways.” The closest that plan came was Ronald Araujo’s close-range effort being blocked. Munoz, who didn’t come on until the 82nd minute, then got his head to Kostas Tsimikas’ cross, but without the power to trouble Raya. That was Liverpool’s last opening, and they finished the match without a single shot on target.
Where did the Liverpool attack go?
Nyoni wasn’t the reason Liverpool lost, and neither was the back line. Araujo, Jeremy Jacquet and Van Dijk all did their jobs. But nobody in red hit the target, and the most obvious place to look is the front four of Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo, Bradley Barcola and Alexander Isak.
- Wirtz: whipped a free-kick onto the crossbar in the first half, which was as close as Liverpool came, and barely featured otherwise.
- Barcola: Jurrien Timber gave him plenty of room in the first half and he did little with it, then faded badly after the break.
- Gakpo: a quiet afternoon, and off for Rio Ngumoha after 67 minutes. We’d have liked to see Ngumoha sooner.
- Isak: missed from a tight angle after Kerkez slipped him in, and got very little service otherwise.
It’s also not a one-off. Opta has Liverpool on four league goals at Anfield this season, their joint-fewest after five home games in a top-flight campaign (1913-14 and 2012-13 are the others), and they have drawn blanks at home against Arsenal, Manchester City and Fulham. Sunday’s blank was the worst of them, because Liverpool had so much of the ball and so many touches in the box.
Was the Isak shout a penalty?
Liverpool had a succession of appeals turned down, and the one that rankled was Timber’s pull on Isak’s shirt in the first half. Iraola was blunt: “I think the Isak one is a clear penalty. He is going to head the ball in front of the goal and they grab him where everyone sees the shirt.”
He added: “Probably because he doesn’t dive or he doesn’t go to the floor, it shouldn’t be a reason not to concede a penalty.” Van Dijk told Sky Sports: “I think it was also a clear penalty, I’ve seen it back.”
We think they have a case, but to his credit Iraola didn’t use it as an excuse, saying “we cannot waste too much time about the refereeing decisions.” Liverpool had enough of the ball and enough touches in the box to make it irrelevant.
Did Mac Allister need to go down?
Which brings us to the 79th minute. Mac Allister had been Liverpool’s other standout, the only player really driving them from defence to attack in the second half, and his header from Kerkez’s cross just before the break was what Iraola called “a very clear chance”. A metre lower and this is a different article.
Then Madueke, already on a yellow from the 55th minute, leaned his head into him as they squared up, and Mac Allister went to ground. Liverpool wanted a red card. VAR said no.
#LIVARS – 79’
The referee’s call of no violent conduct by Madueke on Mac Allister was checked and confirmed by VAR.
VAR: “All of the situations have been checked and cleared. There is some contact as Madueke and Mac Allister square-up. In my opinion, it’s not forceful, not…
– Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) November 1, 2026
Mac Allister was booked for his part in the scuffle, and Jamie Carragher was critical of the reaction. So are we, and it isn’t about which shirt he wears. It spoiled what had been a very good performance. We’d say the same about anyone: get up.
Verdict: Nyoni has to keep his place
Liverpool have now lost twice under Iraola, both times to the two sides above everyone else, City and Arsenal. That isn’t a crisis, and he’s right when he says the season is long. But any talk of a title race can stop for now. This was a reality check, and top four is a far more sensible target from fifth place and nine points back.
Our preview had Iraola’s Reds flying into this one. Few teams defend a lead the way Arsenal do, so we wouldn’t read too much into one narrow defeat, but the honest answer is that Liverpool are a step behind for now.
What it did show is who makes them play forward. Liverpool go to Fenerbahce on Wednesday and then Crystal Palace on Sunday, their last league game before the international break. Nineteen or not, we would have Nyoni in the side at Selhurst Park, and we wouldn’t be in a hurry to take him off.