Arsenal overcame a serious test of their Premier League title defence with a 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
The Gunners were still reeling from Tuesday’s penalty shootout exit to League Two Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup, but you wouldn’t have guessed it from their performance.
Mikel Arteta‘s men needed just 16 minutes to take the lead on Merseyside, with Kai Havertz tapping home at the far post after Virgil van Dijk, Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo all failed to deal with a Declan Rice cross — the product of Arsenal pouncing on a loose pass from Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.
The hosts reacted well to the goal and dominated the rest of the first half, but were unable to breach a typically stubborn Arsenal backline. Both sides enjoyed periods of ascendancy after the break, but much to Arsenal’s gain, neither were able to find another breakthrough.
Inspired Rice leads Arsenal to famous win
Declan Rice has been in fantastic creative form so far this season, and he continued that at Anfield on Sunday.
It was the England international who made a surging, overlapping run down the right flank to receive the ball from Noni Madueke, before delivering an inch-perfect cross onto the foot of the waiting Havertz for the only goal of the match.
That was Rice’s fifth assist in nine Premier League outings so far this season, matching his total across 36 games in 2025/26. No player in England’s top flight can match the midfielder in this regard, while his four big chances created is the fifth-highest total in the division.
But Rice provided far more than just an assist on Sunday afternoon; he was absolutely everywhere to help Arsenal hold on to the lead.
Rice made a team-high four tackles (including a vital one to foil Bradley Barcola) as the defending champions rode out waves of pressure against the team they ripped the title from last season. The 27-year-old also made three recoveries two clearances, won six of his 11 duels and covered 11.5km across the 90 minutes.
With numbers like that, it’s no surpise to see Rice second among Arsenal players in the Premier League this season for tackles (13) and interceptions (8), and first for possessions won in the middle third (17).
Ex-Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy summed it up well, telling BBC Sport: “Declan Rice always plays well, but he really looks up for it today. Brilliant for the goal, great tackle on Barcola. He’s just so instrumental to this Arsenal side. His athleticism, his quality just always stands out. It’s been a brilliant start to the game from him.”
Rice is a captain without the armband for Arsenal and he was absolutely vital to what could go down as one of their most important results of this season.
Wasteful Liverpool fire a blank
Liverpool did more than enough to take something from this match, but simply lacked cutting edge in the final third.
Florian Wirtz‘s free-kick rattling the crossbar in the first half was the closest the Reds came, while David Raya casually catching a tame long-range effort from Alexis Mac Allister was the goalkeeper’s only notable intervention.
Even despite that ‘save’, Liverpool were credited with zero shots on target from 17 attempts worth 1.15 xG.
Alexander Isak was too often static as Liverpool lined up crosses into the box, failing to get across Arsenal defenders or find meaningful space — notwithstanding a clear pull on his shirt as he attempted to head a Barcola cross.
Meanwhile, Barcola and Cody Gakpo didn’t make enough diagonal runs to disrupt the Arsenal defence, and a blunt Wirtz failed to create a single chance.
There have been some serious steps in the right direction for Liverpool under Andoni Iraola recently. However, on Sunday, they were the latest victims of Arsenal’s air-tight defence — giving the champions a helping hand with a predictable performance in the final third.
Arteta finally conquers Anfield
Mikel Arteta has already achieved so much as Arsenal manager.
He’s taken a club that had regressed into a cup side and turned them into genuine title challengers, getting over the line last season after three straight years as runners-up.
The Spaniard has also forged a robust and formidable defensive unit that sets the stage for narrow wins and hard-fought results.
But one thing he hadn’t managed prior to Sunday was a win at Anfield.
In fairness, Arsenal as a club hadn’t won an away game against Liverpool in the Premier League for 14 years, since Lukasz Podolski and Santi Cazorla fired the Gunners to a 2-0 victory in September 2012. A match in which Arteta started for the north London giants.
That’s another scalp taken by Arteta, and while the manager himself probably won’t place too much value in the stat itself, he will know the importance of the three points and the statement his side have sent out to the chasing pack.