What Arteta did after Zinchenko error vs Liverpool speaks volumes on Arsenal defensive plan

Jurgen Klopp had spent four days trying to build up the Anfield atmosphere. It took Arsenal just four minutes to silence it. As Gabriel cupped his ears to the Kop end following his early opener there was one Arsenal man dragging the Gunners players into a huddle. The inclination was to rush back to the centre circle with joyous ecstasy, but Oleksandr Zinchenko wanted to remind his teammates to keep a cool head. If only he could have practised what he preached.

Despite his attempts to exude calmness, the Ukrainian offered up a chaotic energy for much of the game. While he was key to Arsenal's impressive start at Anfield, the familiar questions over his defensive capabilities began to quickly raise their head.

While any defender could have been beaten by Trent Alexander-Arnold's spectacular ball over the Arsenal backline to Mo Salah, another full-back would surely have engaged the Egyptian outside of the box before he was able to cut in and finish past David Raya. That was really the tip of the iceberg for Zinchenko.

Before the game Mikel Arteta had described Anfield as being like a washing machine and Zinchenko's start to the second half only served to speed up the spin rate. In this pre-festive fixture, the Ukrainian was twice caught napping on the edge of the box like a man who had eaten far too big a Christmas lunch. After the second instance — where Mo Salah could, and maybe should, have punished Arsenal — Arteta turned to his bench and puffed his cheeks with exasperation.

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«We gave so many balls away after regaining it,» he said in his post-match