Arsenal End 14-Year Anfield Drought, Beat Liverpool to Go Clear at the Top
Reigning champions Arsenal claimed a 1-0 win away at Liverpool's Anfield in the English Premier League. Sunday's high-voltage victory put Mikel Arteta's side in sole possession of top spot in the points table.
After nine matches the Gunners lead the league with 24 points. Manchester City, beaten at home by Brighton in a surprise result, have dropped to second with 21 points from the same number of games. Defeat sent Liverpool down to fifth, now nine points behind leaders Arsenal.
The Anfield win ended a long wait for Arsenal. The north London club had not won a league match at Liverpool's home ground since 2012; Arteta's players finally broke that 14-year drought.
The only goal of the match came in the 16th minute. Declan Rice's low cross into the goalmouth reached German forward Kai Havertz in a good position at the back post, and he finished easily. It was his third goal for the club this season.
With that goal Havertz passed İlkay Gündoğan to become the highest-scoring German footballer in Premier League history. The forward, who scored 19 league goals for Chelsea between 2020 and 2023, took his tally for Arsenal to 27.
After conceding, hosts Liverpool pushed wave after wave of attacks in search of an equaliser. They controlled the rest of the first half and the start of the second, but kept running into Arsenal's compact defence and could not create a clear chance to level the match.
Substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly's introduction gave Arsenal counter-attacking opportunities. Late on, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson saved a goal-bound shot from Christos Tzolis with one hand to prevent the margin doubling, but Havertz's single goal was enough to secure Arsenal a valuable three points.
