It feels like a lifetime ago, yet it is only 55 days since Arsenal and Liverpool played out a pulsating 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium. That result meant the two sides were separated by just four points after 11 games. Eight matches later, the gap is now 13 points.
Their respective form since they met last month has indeed differed. Liverpool are on a run of eight consecutive Premier League wins and have their club record of 11 firmly in their sights. Arsenal have won four games, drawn three and lost one, with their own unbeaten run a distant memory. Despite Jurgen Klopp’s protestations, they are most certainly not in a Premier League title race.
Nor should they be. This stumble was always inevitable for a side both in transition and struggling with injuries. Unai Emery’s Midas touch has worn off, long-term doubts still linger over numerous players, and familiar mistakes are creeping in once more. The honeymoon is over, yet that does not mean this will not be a successful marriage.
It is just unfortunate that they come up against a side much further along in their development, much longer in the tooth and much more established in their manager’s image. Klopp’s Liverpool have never looked quite so brilliant; Liverpool as a whole haven’t for quite some time either.
On only three occasions has a Premier League club passed the halfway point of a season without being beaten. Arsenal (2003/04), Manchester United (2010/11) and Manchester City (2017/18) all combined attacking flair with defensive solidity to win the Premier League title, and Liverpool are cut from a similar cloth. They have conceded at least eight fewer goals than any side, scoring more than all but third-placed City.
The solitary black mark against Klopp’s side was – until victory over Manchester United – their record against fellow members of the Big Six. In a mini league between those teams, Liverpool were top from 2015/16 to 2016/17. But their gradual shift from chaos to control has seen them fall to fifth in the same table from 2017/18 to the current season. The only club below them is Arsenal.
As mentioned in 16 Conclusions from last month’s draw: ‘These games used to be Klopp’s playground, but he needs to remember how to pick on people his own size if Liverpool are to succeed this season.’ Their last dropped points came against the Gunners; if they can right that wrong they will enter 2019 with a six-point lead at the top.