Arsenal hold on for vital win at Liverpool after Kai Havertz’s close-range finish

It was a game when Arsenal showed their ruthless side and all of the champion knowhow that they accumulated over the course of last season. As they headed back to London, they did so having made a statement. Irrespective of what happens to Manchester City over their financial rule breaches, Arsenal remain the Premier League’s team to beat.

Mikel Arteta was in the Arsenal midfield when the club previously won a league fixture at Anfield; it was back in September 2012, although his memories are a little hazy owing to the concussion that he sustained in a collision with Jordan Henderson.

Arteta has a clear-eyed focus on retaining the league title and this was an occasion to see his hopes surge. Kai Havertz’s first goal in ten appearances proved the difference but, really, the victory was rooted in Arsenal’s capacity to control and frustrate.

When the full-time whistle went, the Liverpool captain, Virgil van Dijk, was booked for sarcastically applauding the referee, Andy Madley. Everybody connected to the club raged at what they perceived as Arsenal’s dark arts. The truth was that Arteta’s team held them at arm’s length with relative comfort.

Liverpool ran out of ideas as their five-match winning streak in all competitions came to a shuddering halt. They provided high energy enjoyment in the first half but fizzled out badly, the invention drying up. Arsenal’s previous trip to the north-west had ended badly on Tuesday night with the Carabao Cup humiliation at Fleetwood. This was much more like it.

Liverpool were in the mood to take no prisoners at the outset, with Trey Nyoni – on his full league debut – snapping into challenges. The 19-year-old’s first action was to leave something on Martin Ødegaard and not long after that, he did the same to Havertz. Nyoni was fortunate to emerge without a yellow card. The Kop teemed with intensity; indignation, too, when they felt that Arsenal’s players were too quick to tumble to ground. And stay down. It was a theme of the day.

The Arsenal breakthrough was a self-inflicted wound from a Liverpool point of view, Alisson trying to be too cute with a short pass out from his area for Jérémy Jacquet. He got the weight and direction of it wrong, Ødegaard pouncing to intercept and from that point, it was just a stunning piece of interplay. Arsenal worked it over and up the right and Declan Rice fizzed over the final ball; low and across the corridor of six-yard box uncertainly. Havertz, a player who needed an easy tap-in, got one.

Liverpool responded with more fire and they might have scored before the interval, Alexis Mac Allister blowing the big chance – a free header from Milos Kerkez’s cross in the 43th minute. Moments earlier, Florian Wirtz had whipped a free-kick from the left-hand side against the crossbar.

Liverpool howled in vain for a penalty on more than one occasion in the first half, most loudly when Jurriën Timber grabbed a fistful of Alexander Isak’s shirt in the 21st minute as the striker tried to reach a Bradley Barcola cross. Timber got away with that one. Barcola was also denied by Rice after a loose Ezri Konsa touch.

Arsenal flickered on the break. There were a few times in the first half when they flooded men forward and there were possibilities. Havertz narrowly failed to get a touch to a Bruno Guimarães cross-cum-shot while Timber could not react in front of goal when Noni Madueke volleyed a Christos Tzolis cross back from an acute angle.

At 1-0 up, Arsenal had the game where they wanted it. They backed themselves to keep Liverpool at bay; to frustrate Andoni Iraola and his players; to withstand the hostilities of Anfield. It was about their game management. They have become masters at drawing the sting.

Iraola introduced the fit-again Dominik Szoboszlai for Nyoni on 59 minutes; the youngster was given a tremendous ovation as he departed. Liverpool had to do more in attacking terms and the longer the second half went on, the more assured Arsenal looked. They stifled Liverpool and there remained the feeling that they could land something on the counter.

When Jacquet slipped in the 68th minute, Arsenal went left to Tzolis and he almost teed up Ødegaard – with Alisson out of position. Jacquet got back to make an important intervention. Tzolis also forced an excellent save out of Alisson with a first-time shot for the far corner.

Liverpool struggled to keep a lid on their frustrations. As did the home crowd. There was uproar every time that Arsenal won a free-kick, Mac Allister raging after Ødegaard bought a cheap one towards the end. In the ensuing melee, Mac Allister felt Madueke initiate a touch of foreheads. Which was risky by Madueke given he was on a booking for a foul on Barcola.

Down went Mac Allister, undermining Liverpool’s claim to the moral high ground. Madueke survived. It would have been an awfully soft dismissal. Liverpool huffed and puffed. They never looked like landing a decisive blow.