Liverpool lost the midfield battle at Arsenal – but Fabinho will have learned a valuable lesson

The midfield battle was one Liverpool lost on Saturday evening against Arsenal.

For whatever reason, it just wasn’t balanced right and it was great to hear James Milner talking about putting that right after the game.

I think Fabinho is going to be a very good defensive midfielder for Liverpool long term and while it’s great to see him playing well against Red Star and Cardiff, Arsenal away is totally different test.

It was the biggest game Fabinho has been involved in since moving from Monaco in the summer and I just thought he was a little bit off the pace at times in that midfield area.

However, looking at the bigger picture, I think that will do him a world of good because he now knows the top teams in this league and the standard he has to reach to match them.

Whereas playing Fulham at home this weekend won’t be a problem for him, making a mark in the engine room against the top sides in the league away from Anfield is a different standard all together.

And I think it was just a bit of a learning process for him in there, but that will come with time.

He will take it all on board, learn and improve and that is what makes a player.

When the next big game comes around such as Manchester United or the Merseyside derby, he will know what is required in there, so that is one benefit for Liverpool from Saturday.

Two ways to view Arsenal result

Liverpool’s draw with Arsenal at the weekend was probably the best Premier League game of the season so far.

There were plenty of attacking intentions from both sides, they both went for it, there was drama, goals and poor decisions from the officials – it had the lot.

There are two ways to look at the result, too.

On the one hand, you could argue it was a really good draw for Jurgen Klopp’s side. Arsenal put them under lots of pressure, won the midfield battle and had their chances.

Plus gaining a point away to a top-six rival is always something you would take and the Reds turned in a really good performance at the Emirates.

Post-match reaction from James Pearce

On the second hand though, the bar has been raised so high this season by Manchester City that you actually walked away from Arsenal feeling that it was an opportunity missed.

You just knew City would beat Southampton on Sunday too, so it’s really hard to take but Liverpool have to keep soldering on and they have to try and take advantage when they play Fulham at Anfield this weekend.

The Reds have a great chance to put the Londoners away and let City and Chelsea scrap it out against Manchester United and Everton respectively.

And I have to say, for the first time ever, I want Manchester United to win!

City have showed no signs of slowing down after beating Southampton 6-1 at home on Sunday and they aren’t looking like slipping up anytime soon.

Wolves did exceptionally well against them to earn a draw but you can only see City not winning against the top sides, so unfortunately all Liverpool can do is keep up the momentum and getting the results.

It’s very frustrating to think every other year Liverpool would be in with a massive opportunity of winning the Premier League with this kind of form.

Liverpool still have a great chance to do that of course, but they are relying on City slipping up as the season goes along, so it will be difficult.

Officials got it badly wrong

It was refreshing from Sadio Mane to hear him saying he wasn’t too annoyed at seeing his goal wrongly ruled out for offside at Arsenal.

He had got the benefit of a poor decision against West Ham in the season opener and said he felt these things evened themselves out.

It is certainly one way of looking at it, but I have to say I was frustrated by the decision as it’s cost Liverpool two points at Arsenal.

Seeing both the referee and the linesman not getting Mane’s goal correct was tough to take.

The referee didn’t have an awful lot to do but I felt he strongly favoured the home side with some of his decisions throughout the game.

There was nothing hugely contentious but some of them dumbfounded me, and the linesman certainly got it wrong with Mane’s goal.

Mane was in an offside position when the first ball was played but became active again once Roberto Firmino took the shot, so the linesman should know that and give the goal.

Unfortunately, he’s flagged for offside for the first phase, which isn’t right as Mane didn’t touch it.

Firmino has hit the post, it’s come back to Mane and he’s tapped it in. It should have stood and Liverpool should have taken the lead.

It was a puzzling decision and I question whether the linesman knew the rules.

The lads took it on the chin though, moved on and carried on fighting – eventually getting their necks in front through James Milner.

And to be honest, I couldn’t really see Arsenal scoring as I thought Klopp’s side defended really well, limiting the chances for the home side.

But if you look at it across the board, I’d say it was ultimately a fair result.