Liverpool had 56% of the ball, took 17 attempts and did not force David Raya into a single save. Across 442 Premier League matches at Anfield since 2003-04, their home ground had never produced that scoreline of effort against reward.

The goal that decided it arrived from an Alisson slip. The Liverpool goalkeeper tried to play out, Martin Odegaard pressed, Declan Rice carried the ball to the right and clipped a low cross through the six-yard box, and Kai Havertz slid in at the far post. Sixteenth minute, 1-0, and Mikel Arteta’s side spent the next 74 minutes defending as if they had been waiting 14 years for exactly this. They had: Arsenal had not won a league game at Anfield since September 2012, a run of 13 visits without a win.

Arteta’s back line held firm

Andoni Iraola’s rebuilt attack, with Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola all starting, produced plenty of shots but nothing clean. Arteta’s back line funnelled Liverpool wide and crowded the box on every cross; Liverpool held 56% possession and turned it into a long highlight reel of blocks and attempts that drifted past the posts.

Iraola did not look for cover afterwards.

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“Overall, I think we have to blame especially the start of the game and until we conceded the goal,” he told reporters.

Havertz past Gundogan

Havertz’s finish was his 46th goal in the Premier League, moving him clear of Ilkay Gundogan’s 45 as the division’s all-time top-scoring German. He needed 172 appearances to get there; Gundogan needed 221.

The German pointed to his provider.

“I think 90% of the goal belongs to that man. We all know his right foot. Today he was there, brilliant overlap and perfect cross,” Havertz told Sports Illustrated.

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For Arsenal, the win was also their 300th Premier League away victory and the joint-best start to a Premier League season under Arteta, with eight wins from nine matches. The club’s own report noted the 13-match winless run equalled Arsenal’s longest ever at Anfield, previously broken by their 2-0 win in 1989.

Arsenal lead the Premier League on 24 points from nine games, three clear of Manchester City. Liverpool are fifth on 15 points, nine behind the leaders.

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