The Athletic FC

Welcome to the Athletic FC

where today we'll be delving into the big talking points

from the midweek Premier League action

and looking ahead to the remainder of the season.

Joining me today, we've got Kerris Jones,

Kerrish third pod of the week for you. Is it? With me, that means you get to take the matchball slash microphone home, I think. Way. Delightful. Ruben Binders back on board to, hey, dear, dear, Ruben. Yep, not too bad, thank you. Lovely stuff. Right, on Thursday night, Arsenal hosted Liverpool, and that's where we're going to start today.

And joining us for this section is the Athletics Liverpool correspondent, Andy Jones.

So let's start with Liverpool then, Andy.

Positives and negatives to take from that performance.

Look solid, but also first time since March 2010 that they failed to have a shot on target in a Premier League game. Yeah, the stats aren't great, but I think overall it was a lot more positive than I think a lot of people thought it was going to be going into the game. Given where Liverpool are, given where Arsenal are, I think a lot of people thought it was a bit of a foregone conclusion that Arsenal would win. So yet it was a lot of positive to take. You know, it was a lot of things that we've seen from Liverpool's play in terms of the unbeaten

none that been on. It's just 10 games now. It's not been particularly impressive. But it's

that compact shape, you know, low event, basically safety first approach, where the limit

and the opposition, but also not creating much themselves.

But I think when you look at the personnel that they had available to them, there was very

little for them to be able to create when your mission strikers, like Hugo Eckert,

TK, Alexander Isaac and Mohamed Sala, you're going to struggle to sort of have goal scorers in your team.

And also, I think ultimately they were playing against Arsenal who are, you know, the best defence in the league. Then Liverpool have struggled at the Emirates, regardless of form, regardless of personnel over the last few years. So it was always going to be a tricky game. So I think given the expectation, I think Liverpool definitely exceeded it, even if it was a nil-nil-nil draw. And maybe shared a bit more fight than they have done of late?

I think the fight's been there in this unbeaten run.

I think it's more the attack and threat and the general play, which has been the frustration

for fans.

There's obviously been times when they've sort of the collapse against Leeds, for example,

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