Arsenal are three points clear at the top of the Premier League after a 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, with Kai Havertz scoring inside the opening ten minutes. Mikel Arteta's team widened their lead thanks to Manchester City failing to win at Brighton, and the Daily Star says Liverpool have fallen out of the top four, with Chelsea taking their spot.

Havertz punishes a reshaped Liverpool midfield

The Daily Star said the game was decided during the first ten minutes in midfield, as Declan Rice was "everywhere" and Liverpool were left chasing shadows. The outlet judged Florian Wirtz to have offered next to nothing defensively and said Trey Nyoni, making his full Liverpool debut, was not given time to settle before Havertz opened the scoring. When the home side began to claw their way back, Nyoni was withdrawn, and the Star felt Liverpool lost control of midfield again.

Arsenal's starting line-up at Anfield, as listed by Arseblog News, included Rice, Martin Guimaraes and Martin Odegaard in midfield, with Tzolis, Madueke and Havertz ahead of them. Liverpool's XI featured Nyoni alongside Alexis Mac Allister behind Wirtz, with Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai among the substitutes.

Timber flashpoint overshadows the result

The game was overshadowed by an incident after Liverpool had fallen behind. The Daily Star reported that Alexander Isak had got ahead of Jurrien Timber and appeared poised to head a loose ball, but the Dutchman extended an arm and dragged him back. Isak neither complained nor went to ground. The Star's verdict was blunt: "that challenge is a penalty every single day of the week" — yet referee Andy Madley and his VAR team did not give it.

The publication added that Liverpool were on top at that stage and had efforts saved, blocked and hit the woodwork, but they failed to score. It also argued that Arsenal bought cheap fouls to slow the game down, and that the home crowd's growing irritation played into the visitors' hands.

Carragher and Wright on Iraola's call

Andoni Iraola's decision to hand Nyoni a first Premier League start, with Gravenberch left on the bench, drew scrutiny. Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports that being picked behind a younger player is hard for an established senior professional, saying: "It's always difficult for the senior player to ever recover from that." He added: "I think that'll be a mighty blow for Gravenberch."

Ian Wright, speaking in the same coverage, felt the selection showed how highly Iraola rates the teenager, arguing it could not have been based on matches alone. "Can you imagine how good he must be in training for him to go, 'I'm going to put him in,'" Wright said.

Iraola told Sky Sports that the call was about the player rather than himself, explaining: "He has shown that he has the level." He added that Nyoni covers a lot of ground, is aggressive without the ball and calm in possession. Liverpool full-back Milos Kerkez described the midfielder as a hard worker with quality on the ball. The Daily Star, for its part, placed the defeat at Iraola's door, saying he made two poor decisions on the night.

Arteta finally gets his Anfield win

For Arteta, the result ends a long wait. Football.London noted before kick-off that Liverpool were unbeaten in their previous 13 top-flight home meetings with Arsenal, and that Arteta had started in midfield the last time the Gunners won there, in 2021, when a 4-0 victory followed his decision to play You'll Never Walk Alone through speakers beside the training pitch at London Colney.

Speaking on Friday, Arteta said the emotional approach around the fixture had worked against his team in the past: "we believe that this had a bad effect on the team." He also insisted his target at Anfield was unchanged, saying: "After midweek, the thing that I want at Anfield is winning as well." He added that visiting such stadiums rarely ends in victory and that Arsenal would need to be at a high level.

Arsenal return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to face Slavia Prague in the Champions League at the Fortuna Arena.

Photo: Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, resized.