By Adegboyega Adeleye

Mikel Arteta youthful side showed character once again as Saka and Martinelli inspired Arsenal to a 3-2 win over Liverpool.

Following last week’s 3-1 win over Tottenham, Arsenal won again to reclaim the top spot on the Premier League table- a point ahead of defending champions, Manchester City to keep their dreams of winning their first league title since 2004 alive.

Jurgen Klopp’s men poor start to the season continued with only two wins this season.

4 draws and 2 losses in 8 games has made Liverpool fall to the other half of the table in 11th position, 11 points behind Arsenal.

Star players like Mohammed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk, and Trent Alexander Arnold looked out of sorts throughout the match with Trent subbed off at half-time after Martinelli won a first-half battle over the defender.

He ran past Trent Alexander-Arnold to give Arsenal the lead less than 60 seconds into the game.

The Brazil forward has now been directly involved in eight goals in his past seven Premier League games at Emirates Stadium.

The Reds seemed out of balance/shape especially in midfield. Martinelli broke free to assist the second goal while Arsenal’s wonder-kid, Bukayo Saka dominated and scored a brace including a calm penalty which sealed the win.

Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino showed character by scoring the equalisers for Liverpool.

Liverpool felt unjustly treated as they were denied a first- half penalty when Arsenal’s defender Gabriel handled the ball in the box.

However, Arsenal were awarded a decisive penalty when Thiago Alancatara got penalised for a foul on Gabriel Jesus in the 76th minute. Saka made no mistake and fired home the match-winner from 18 yards.

It was Arsenal’s 8th win of the season; their only loss of the season being the 3-1 defeat at Manchester United on September 4th.

The impressive Gunners made a statement win over The Reds in the Premier League for the first time since a 2-1 win at Emirates Stadium in July 2020.