Arsenal take the points Liverpool’s pressure could not buy
Twenty-five Liverpool shots ended in defeat as Nicola Nigretti’s penalty rewarded Arsenal’s defensive nerve.
Liverpool had 25 attempts, ten on target and long spells of control at Anfield. Arsenal had four shots and the only goal.
Nicola Nigretti converted a 68th-minute penalty after a VAR review, placing his kick into the top corner. The rest belonged to Arsenal goalkeeper O. Ya’acov and a compact defence that survived Liverpool’s late pressure to preserve a 1–0 win.
It was an old lesson delivered with unusual clarity: territorial dominance is not the same as command of the score. Liverpool generated 1.36 expected goals but could not turn volume into precision. Arsenal, by contrast, waited for the match’s decisive invitation and accepted it.
The result should not be mistaken for attacking superiority. It was a victory of resistance, concentration and opportunism — the sort of away performance that can steady a season precisely because it is earned in discomfort.