Well, now, that was a great Sunday afternoon, wasn’t it?

Arsenal went up to Anfield, a place that is traditionally a painful experience; they went to a ground that normally sees the home fans come away happy, and us trudge home; they went to the North West, where we don’t usually fare too brightly, and came away with all three points.

That was the kind of performance where Champions can be made.

Arteta names what is arguably right now the strongest XI we have with Saliba and Saka injured, and in came Tzolis and Bruno alongside the usual familiar faces. This was an Arsenal side that was intent on stamping their authority on a Liverpool side under Iraola that is still building its identity. Ours is already forged; we have a side which has the defensive foundations that make any opponent feel a little helpless at times in terms of their chance creation. And despite the fact that Liverpool hit the bar (I think that was a cross rather than a shot from Wirtz), and despite the fact that they probably got a good shout for a penalty (Timber was silly there, and we can count ourselves fortunate), Arsenal limited Liverpool to zero shots on target. At their own gaff. Marvellous stuff.

I’d call this game a ‘compelling’ one, rather than one that was particularly exciting. But why would we make it one that is end-to-end? That’s what Liverpool would want. Instead, what we want to do is control the margins, the key moments, reduce as many incidents as possible, and when you can limit your opponents’ attempts on goal to zero, you’re doing that.

In the moment, it didn’t feel like it; however, Liverpool still created a lot of chances. They had an xG of 1.05, 17 shots on goal, and a lot more of the ball in terms of possession and passing. So as I was watching it all unfold, I have to admit that it didn’t feel like one of those games that would be comfortable. But I guess that’s the point. The fact we haven’t won there in 14 years shows just how difficult a place it is to go, and getting three points as well as it being ticked off our away day list is quite impressive.

That’s our season so far in the Premier League, however, eight wins from nine to put us clear of 115 Charges FC is a very impressive return. We’re also six clear of third-place Brighton, eight clear of Chelsea, nine clear of Liverpool, and heck, even the Tiny Totts have only got half of the points we’ve got. We’re on pace for a 101-point season at this rate. We won’t get to that, of course, but we’ve kicked off the defence of our title in superb fashion, and have already knocked off Villa Park, The Amex and Anfield from our tough away grounds list.

And I thought yesterday we started off looking every bit the champions. And wouldn’t you just know it, that the hero yesterday was the somewhat villain in midweek against Fleetwood in midweek, as Kai Havertz crept in at the back post to slot home Rice’s superbly weighted ball into the Corridor of Uncertainty to home the winner early on. Kai said afterwards that Dec had done the hard work for him and it’s hard to disagree; it was another action from Rice which underlined his man-of-the-match performance and showed why he is hands down the best midfielder in the Premier League right now. That was his assist; it was his big chance created, he also had a shot on target, as well as one off target, and 38 of 44 passes. But he did his duty defensively too, with nine defensive contributions, three tackles, two clearances, and three ball recoveries. He does his job all over the pitch, and this morning we have to be thankful that Arteta worked so hard to bring him to The Arsenal. We wouldn’t be the same team without him.

I thought everyone did their job; however, with good performances from all of the back line, Noni was spritely, although if you listen to the nonsense of Van Dijk you’d think he should have been sent off. Not for me; if that’s a headbutt, then I’m a monkey’s uncle, because Mac Allister made the biggest meal of what was minimal contact and should be embarrassed by his reaction this morning. No matter, however, because Arsenal did their job and ensured that Liverpool, and especially Isak, were kept out. Which means we’re getting to the quarter point in the season, and we’ve only conceded five goals so far. The next best is Brighton, who have conceded seven, but I suspect they are running a bit hot right now. Let’s see if that can be maintained into 2027. If it does, fair play to them, but with European football properly kicking in, they’ll have to manage a gruelling schedule. We will too, but we’ve got experience in this, and given how good our defence has been for the last three or four seasons, you can’t say that we are running hot – our back line is just that good.

And ‘good’ is the right word for today, because that win last night certainly felt like it was that – in abundance. We were good value for when we went ahead; we had to weather an inevitable storm as Liverpool tried to get back into the game, but we were value for what we got out of the game, and we have a monkey off our back after that win up there. Today is a good day. Plus, seeing some of the salty Liverpool fans moaning this morning is rather amusing, because I had a comment on the site saying that because of the Conor Bradley stuff last season at our place, they were going to be all over us. Nope. Try again.

It was a happy day, it was a fine day, it means that Fleetwood is a distant memory, which is just the tonic. For some more bonus watching, check Mikel’s response on the official site here.

Right, that’s it from me for today. I’ll be back later on with the guys for a Same Old Arsenal pod this evening. Until then, enjoy your Monday.