One of the biggest match-ups in the Premier League delivered on the hype, as Liverpool bested Manchester City – and handed Arsenal a four-point lead in the title race.
But how did Liverpool gain the upper hand on Pep Guardiola’s reigning Premier League champions? And should Arsenal fans really start to believe in their title dream?
Here’s the biggest talking points from this weekend’s Premier League action!
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Salah slots home as Reds down City | 01:39
FIRE AND ICE: Klopp loses his cool, but wins battle of wits
Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp’s red card in the 85th minute of the Reds’ blockbuster 1-0 win over Manchester City was almost completely unsurprising.
This was a manic, red-hot battle between two juggernauts, fraught with tension and drama. Klopp’s ranting and raving, his wild-eyed pleas to any official in shouting range, were always going to boil over.
Klopp’s Liverpool has so often reflected the frenzied antics of its German coach. They press with berserk ferocity and attack with single-minded intensity – something that has felt tired and worn this season.
But this weekend’s statement win was a victory of cold-minded tactics as much as passion.
Firstly, Klopp’s decision to shift Mohamed Salah to the centre of the attacking line was as radical as it was successful.
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For so long, Roberto Firmino has played and redefined the false 9 role for Liverpool. Salah brought a whole new dimension to the nine position – not a false nine, not the Haaland-esque true nine. He was Salah, the modern-day Liverpool legend, doing what Salah always does, only more centrally.
Having struggled early this season, Salah backed up his record-breaking hat-trick in the Champions League with the crucial winner against City, taking him past Steven Gerrard to become Liverpool’s second all-time Premier League scorer (121 goals, behind Robbie Fowler’s 128).
Against City, he looked like a man revived – summing up Liverpool’s season so far.
Klopp also deployed Harvey Elliott on the right side of midfield, giving him freedom to remain wide or tuck in more centrally – and subsequently giving Salah plenty of room to roam and trouble the defenders in the middle or on the right flank.
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On the other hand, Pep Guardiola’s tactics failed. He opted to deploy three central defenders for the first time in the league this year. But the formation was nullified through the middle by Klopp’s disciplined and deeper defensive set-up (one of their deepest in three years), forcing City to slow down in possession – and crucially, limiting the spaces both on the flanks and behind the Liverpool defence that have been their greatest weakness this year.
The two most influential City players – Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland – were largely shut down by the Reds in the opening half, with the two players having the fewest touches of any City players.
De Bruyne was isolated on the right flank by the formation and Liverpool’s defence. In response to City’s sluggishness in possession, Guardiola made a crucial tactical decision at halftime, swapping Bernardo Silva’s central midfield position with Ilkay Gundogan. It opened up the game and ramped up the pressure on Liverpool’s right flank – their weak link this season.
But Klopp’s set-up was poised to benefit from that change, too. Firmino increasingly found space and his influence grew, while Liverpool’s fullbacks were able to remain defensive to cover City’s devastating offence
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But there was one moment that summed up Klopp’s tactical brilliance. In the 72nd minute, he called for a triple substitution. Salah – Liverpool’s most threatening offensive outlet all game – had his number called. He looked stunned, appalled that he would be dragged off. Instead, Klopp gave him a furious spray, a tactical talk that looked more like a machine-gun barrage, and sent him back out.
Whether Salah’s number had been wrongly held aloft by the sideline official, or whether Klopp simply changed his mind, it was the backflip that might just define the Reds’ season. Salah scored less than five minutes later.
Erling Halaland drew a blank for the first time this season, looking like a 22-year-old human rather than the robotic goalscoring machine he has been so far this season. And yes, Liverpool played with blazing intensity to match their manager’s fire – racking up 118.59km as a team, their second-highest total in the last three seasons.
But it was Klopp’s cold hard tactical decisions as much as the fire of battle that won Liverpool the day – and breathed life into their season.
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ARSENAL LEARN HOW TO WIN UGLY … BUT CRACKS SHOW
Ten Premier League games, nine wins. Now the Gunners are flying high at the top of the Premier League table, now four points clear of Manchester City who fell to Liverpool in the weekend’s biggest battle.
But Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Leeds was lucky, scrappy, and just plain ugly. It was their worst performance of the season – much, much worse than their only loss, a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United that could easily have been a draw or victory.
Coach Mikel Arteta agreed when asked if Leeds had proven their toughest test of the season so far.
“From the first whistle in the second half we started with no rhythm, not making the right decisions time after time and we put ourselves in big trouble,” the Spaniard said.
But his next sentence showed how far Arsenal has come.
“But when you get in those moments I love the resilience, the fight, the character and the courage that the team showed to win the game.”
“I’m extremely happy because we keep winning and you have to be able to win in any context,” he added.
Leeds has already taken three points off Chelsea this season. Arsenal only narrowly escaped that fate. Leeds star Rogrigo’s horrible brain fade gifted the Gunners the opener, before Patrick Bamford missed a penalty, and VAR and a healthy dose of Aaron Ramsdale brilliance spared the league-leaders.
“We were better on the day, but we’re walking away with nothing,” Leeds coach Jesse Marsch put it.
In recent season, Arsenal has been blown off the pitch when playing badly – or even, far too often, losing when playing well. This time the script was flipped: they played horribly in the second half but still scraped a win.
Gunners fans can be happy in that regard. But for Manchester City, there’s also reason to be optimistic after the weekend – despite their own disappointing defeat.
Arsenal may have opened up a gap at the top of the ladder. But for the first time, the cracks were showing, and the leaders looked extremely vulnerable. The title race is just beginning to heat up.
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FOREST FIRE: ARE THEY ALREADY RELEGATED?
We’re only ten rounds into the season, but Nottingham Forest’s hopes of avoiding relegation appear well and truly on thin ice.
Seven losses from the opening ten matches – with just one win and two draws – has them rooted to the bottom of the ladder.
Tomorrow morning’s clash with seventh-placed Brighton is the start of a brutal three-game run, with Liverpool then Arsenal to follow.
Brentford and Crystal Palace round out their league matches before the World Cup break – with Man United and Chelsea a tough return to action before the calendar year is done. By that stage, they could be well and truly on the road to relegation.
On the field, signs are dire, though a shift to four at the back helped to shore up a woeful defensive record. Off the field, things are just as bad.
An ill-advised social media post from the club’s official account (a photoshopped picture of Emmanuel Dennis with three wolf pups and the captain ‘play time’) was quickly deleted, but not before it was shared in the Wolves’ group chat before the match, firing up the players – and leading to Wolves’ Twitter account ruthlessly hitting back after the game.
Recently, the club sacked head of recruitment George Syrianos and head of scouting Andy Scott, in the wake of one of the wildest transfer windows in recent history – where newly-promoted Forest signed 23 players for around £150m in a bizarre, chaotic and hodgepodge signing spree.
Meanwhile, the club recently lost its head of operations, and still has no shirt sponsor as potential investors refuse to come close to their reported £10m asking price.
After Syrianos and Scott were sacked, CEO Dane Murphy could well be the next out the door.
But manager Steve Cooper has survived their poor start – and was even handed a shock contract extension until 2025.
Changing the team’s formation has helped to tighten up the defence, but cost them any incisiveness or creativity in attack.
For now, it seems the club is prepared to stick with Cooper, no matter how bad things get. We might find out just how bad things can get in the coming weeks.
