Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal: Player Ratings

Written by @bobbehfirmino (Twitter)

Liverpool and Arsenal played out a 1-1 draw at Anfield which could prove to be a massive result in the title race. Arsenal will stay top of the league at Christmas and Liverpool are a point behind.

Alisson Becker - 7. A fairly quiet Alisson performance. Some would say he should’ve done more for the goal which would be harsh, but he made a couple saves and proved vital in the build up in another game for the Reds.

Trent Alexander-Arnold - 8. Took his assist brilliantly and was solid defensively against Gabriel Martinelli and then Leandro Trossard when he came on. He would have been on a 9 if it wasn’t for that missed chance towards the end in front of the Kop.

Ibrahima Konate - 9 (MOTM). One of Konate’s best games in a Liverpool shirt. He won all of his aerial duels and five ground duels, made a few strong tackles and had Martinelli in his pocket. The dynamic between him and Trent is starting to click so let’s hope he can stay fit for a good run of games.

Virgil van Dijk - 8. Another solid defensive performance from the captain, who also won all of his aerial duels and four ground duels. Completed three long balls and kept Gabriel Jesus quiet, forcing Arteta to bring Nketiah on in his place.

Kostas Tsimikas - 7. It was looking to be another good Tsimikas performance in place of Andy Robertson, proving that he is a good backup option despite a few shaky games earlier in the season. That was until a Bukayo Saka ‘50/50’ sent him flying off the pitch and he landed awkwardly which resulted in a broken collarbone. Somehow Saka wasn’t booked, which should’ve been his first of many.

Wataru Endo - 8. A solid performance from Endo who kept the frontline and Havertz quiet, showed why he’s a very good option to have at the club and he just keeps getting better. He seems to finally be settled at the club and has shown his quality especially in recent games. Showed why he’s a better midfielder than Declan Rice, but didn’t get the same plaudits, obviously.

Dominik Szoboszlai - 6. A decent Szoboszlai game, definitely an improvement on his Manchester United performance. He completed two dribbles, two passes into the final third, won three tackles. However, towards the end he was becoming careless with his passes like he was last week and probably should have been taken off instead of Curtis Jones.

Curtis Jones - 7. He is yet again proving why he is the best option for that left centre midfield position at the club. Although he didn’t make any headlines this time out like he did against West Ham in the cup, he helped us to control the game at times, including our best period in the game, shortly into the second half. And we could see after he came off for Gravenberch the tide of the game was turning.

Mohamed Salah - 8. Some would say an 8 is harsh, others would say it’s too kind. As other than his goal his all round game was probably poor, but he continued to threaten and once again had Zinchenko on strings like a puppet. He created two chances, he won a tackle and scored a great goal to pull us level.

Cody Gakpo - 5. A quiet game from Gakpo who clearly doesn’t have the same relationship with Diaz as he does with Nunez. He didn’t really have any memorable chances that he should’ve scored, he just wasn’t enough of a threat and was rightly taken off for Darwin Nunez in the 68th minute.

Luis Diaz - 4. Another game where Diaz fails to be a threat going forward, every time he’d get the ball he kill all momentum of the attack and it’s a wonder why Klopp decided to go with him tonight despite his bad form, along with the fact that he was dropped against West Ham midweek where Nunez took his place and did well.

Joe Gomez - 9. What a performance by Gomez. Some would not have been confident with him coming on at left back against Bukayo Saka but he silenced the doubters. I fact, he attacked Saka better than vice-versa. He should’ve probably scored in the second half but just missed the post, and he went on a good run in the first half but chose to pass instead of going for the finish.

Ryan Gravenberch - 2. A day to forget for Gravenberch, who had the opposite effect on the game than what was indented, as his substitution lost us control in the midfield battle and the 20 minutes after he came on was as much of a ‘hanging on’ job as it was a ‘let’s find another goal’ one. However, it was an uncharacteristically poor performance, not something we’ve seen regularly from him, as some Liverpool and strangely Bayern Munich fans want us to believe.

Darwin Nunez - 5. A rare ineffective Darwin Nunez substitute appearance. He didn’t change the game when he came on or bring us a burst of life as he normally does off the bench. However, he will probably be starting against Burnley on Boxing Day in the place of Luis Diaz who came off with a little injury.

Harvey Elliott - 6. Came on with the previous two names and was decent. We went with a Nunez-Salah-Elliott attacking three, and Elliott was probably the best out of the three in the final 20 minutes. It could be a hint at where he will play whilst Salah is off at AFCON, as he played there in the cup in midweek, too.

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