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Kai Havertz’s 11th-minute strike proved decisive as Arsenal secured a historic 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield, ending their 14-year wait for a Premier League win at the venue since 2012.
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The Gunners moved three points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table with 24 points from nine matches, while Liverpool slipped to fifth position, nine points behind the North London side.
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Liverpool struggled to find a breakthrough despite registering 17 attempts on goal, with Florian Wirtz hitting the crossbar and two penalty appeals waved away as Arsenal produced a resilient defensive display to preserve their clean sheet.
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Havertz made Premier League history with his match-winning effort, taking his tally to 46 goals to become the competition’s all-time leading German goalscorer, overtaking former Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gündogan’s record of 45 goals.
November 01, (THEWILL) – Kai Havertz scored the only goal to lead Arsenal to a 1-0 win over Liverpool for their first win at Anfield since 2012 on Sunday.
The victory was enough to move the Gunners three points clear of Man City, who lost 1-0 to Brighton on Saturday.
Havertz broke the deadlock in the 11th when he turned in Declan Rice’s cross across the face of goal after Liverpool defenders switched off.
From that moment on, Liverpool fought hard to find the equaliser, but the visitors held on to keep another clean sheet.
The Reds had two penalty claims waved away before Florian Wirtz crashed a free-kick against the crossbar.
The visitors continued their dominance in the second half, but the Gunners withstood the pressure to hold on to seal a vital win.
Liverpool had 17 attempts on goal but could not manage any on target.
The defeat leaves Liverpool in the fifth position, nine points behind the Gunners.
Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta, was delighted with the hard-fought victory, which propelled the team to the top of the log.
He said: “Extremely proud. It’s been 14 years; that’s a long time. I’m sure we made everybody attached to the club extremely proud today. Not only for the victory but for the way we’ve done it, the spirit we’ve shown.
“Especially considering what happened four days ago when you lose and go out of the cup against a team you are supposed to beat. That’s the magical part of this game; it can take you to really bad places, but four days later you have the opportunity to do something really historic, and we’ve done it.”
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Liverpool coach, Andoni Iraola, disagreed with the officials’ decision to deny the team two penalties in the encounter.
He said: “Especially the Alex [Isak] one. Gakpo was sustained holding, I understand. The Alex one is a clear penalty. You hold the shirt; we can all see that he holds the shirt. Because he doesn’t go to the floor, you are not going to call the penalty. I don’t understand it.
“That’s the problem we have with the game. Because he doesn’t dive and go to the floor. The fact that you are even asking me if he should go to the floor; if he goes to the floor, they call the penalty 100%. It should be like this, but it is what it is. Next time, the managers should tell Alex to go to the floor; otherwise, they won’t call it.”
Iraola was delighted with the team’s reaction despite the defeat.
He added: “We had good chances – we hit the crossbar and had good situations we were not able to finish. We definitely deserved a goal.
“I loved the reaction from my players after going 1-0 down. We finished the first half very well, kept pushing. I loved a lot of moments of the game.
“We have to keep going. It is very early in the season. Arsenal are in the best of the situations, but it is just the start of November today. A lot of games to play.”
Arsenal will return to action against Hull City, while Liverpool will face Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Top Stats From Liverpool vs Arsenal According to OPTA Stats.
Liverpool have scored just four goals at Anfield in the Premier League this season, their joint-fewest after five home matches in a top-flight campaign (also four in 1913-14 and 2012-13).
24 – Arsenal’s 24 points are the most by a team after nine games of a Premier League season since the Gunners themselves in 2022-23 (also 24). Only in 2004-05 and 2007-08 have they ever had more at this stage of a PL campaign (25 in both).
Liverpool’s 28 touches in the opposition box so far today are the most on record (since 2008-09) by any side in the first half of a Premier League game against Arsenal.
Kai Havertz is now the all-time leading German goalscorer in the Premier League (46 goals), overtaking Ilkay Gündogan (45).
