Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Arsenal have become appointment viewing for a neutral because of the quality of their play rather than the expectation of comedy and schadenfreude. Such entertainment comes with a vulnerability that’s all part of the fun: they are still yet to keep a Premier League clean sheet at the Emirates. Darwin Núñez’s first-half equaliser suggested where Arsenal’s title challenge might fall flat. Gabriel was horribly flat-footed in his misread of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s diagonal and it was not his only moment of hesitancy. There was also space behind their midfield that Luis Díaz, until leaving the field with injury, made dangerous use of. William Saliba was equally static as Diogo Jota slotted in Roberto Firmino for Liverpool’s second. But Arsenal’s attackers meanwhile caused huge problems for their opponents’ defence, putting Liverpool through another failed examination of their defensive quality. At times, Jürgen Klopp’s team resembled a League One outfit raggedly clinging on for a cup replay. John Brewin
Match report: Arsenal 3-2 Liverpool
Roberto Firmino’s ice-cool finish on Sunday was that of a man who knows who to keep his head while everyone else is suffering a collective nervous breakdown. Liverpool were their now-familiar madcap selves in north London: their defence a disaster, their star players bereft and Darwin Núñez occasionally threatening to establish himself alongside Andy Carroll and Andriy Voronin in the grand Anfield tradition of hapless long-haired centre-forwards. The unflappable Firmino has provided a lone note of hope to Liverpool’s calamitous season – not something many would have predicted when Núñez arrived this summer to supplement the prodigious output of Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz. The