Liverpool snatched a valuable victory from Arsenal in the English Premier League, narrowing the difference between them and leaders Manchester City to only one point.
The Reds won 2-0 at its host in a postponed match held at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening, thus raising its score to 69 points from 29 matches, behind the leaders City with 70 points.
Liverpool is superior in goals, scoring 55 goals, while the City players, who tied with Crystal Palace in the last match, scored only 50 goals.
Arsenal dominated the first half, taking advantage of the crowd support at the Etihad Stadium, but the brilliance of Alisson Becker, Liverpool goalkeeper, deprived him of the opportunity to score.
The situation changed completely in the second half, and Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp succeeded in imposing his rhythm on the match, and his players scored two goals.
The first goal came through the Portuguese Diogo Gota, in the 54th minute, and after the goal, Gota and Luis Diaz came out, and Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino participated in their place, who added the second goal in the 62nd minute, from a wonderful pass from Andrew Robertson.
With this result, Liverpool has continued its winning streak for the ninth consecutive game in the Premier League, since its 2-2 draw with Chelsea at home, in early January.
Arsenal remains in fourth place, with 51 points, behind Chelsea in third place with eight points, and ahead of Manchester United in fifth place by only one point, but it has two matches postponed.
Liverpool is progressing fast
The match was going in favor of Arsenal from the start, and the Gunners were confident at home and among their fans.
Alisson Becker managed to save his goal from dangerous attacks, but as soon as Gota scored the first goal for the Reds, the situation changed completely, and they took control of the match.
Klopp continued to put pressure on the hosts after scoring the goal of progress and involved his striking force, Salah and Firmino, and the changes were positive, and the Brazilian actually scored the second goal.
Then Arsenal completely retreated and left the arena in front of Liverpool.
Arsenal fall again
Despite the defeat, Arsenal players received praise from their fans with the final whistle in recognition of their efforts in the match, especially the prominent striker Gabriel Martinelli, who caused great pressure on Liverpool defender Trent Alexander.
Arsenal has maintained its presence among the top four in the league, and will play two matches in deferred, which qualifies it to maintain an advanced position in the standings this year.
Liverpool managed to defeat Arsenal in the two league matches this year, and the Gunners suffered two defeats, the first at home against Chelsea and the second away from home against Manchester United.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta appears to be on an upward curve towards consolidating the team’s standing in the league, and the performance was convincing despite the loss, but there is no doubt that they still have a long way to go before they think about their old glory again.
‘Exceptional performance’
“I think the whole team played exceptionally well,” Arteta told the BBC. “I don’t think the result reflects the performance, but in the penalty area they had the decisive ability. They put the ball in the net twice.”
As for Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp, he told the BBC: “Coming here and beating Arsenal is really special, but winning the game as it was – more special. We started really well, then it became an open game. We wanted to improve in the second half.”
Klopp added: “I’m very excited about the team and the situation we are in but that doesn’t change everything. We just need to keep going. We really want to enjoy the situation we’re in by winning games.”