Szoboszlai: Liverpool displayed champions’ quality in Arsenal draw
Dominik Szoboszlai asserts that Liverpool demonstrated the reasons behind their prior Premier League title victory by stifling the current frontrunners in Thursday’s goalless stalemate against Arsenal.
The teams settled for a point each after a subdued match between the title defenders and their challengers at the Emirates Stadium.
For extended stretches, Liverpool outperformed their rivals, especially in the latter half, even while missing key players like Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak, and Hugo Ekitike due to a combination of international commitments and injuries.
Szoboszlai rotated with Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo at the forefront of Liverpool’s attack, but the Reds failed to produce a single shot on target for the first time since drawing a blank against Wigan Athletic in March 2010, a span covering 600 matches.
They only accumulated 0.36 expected goals (xG), while Arsenal managed a slightly better 0.57 xG, failing to take a shot in the time frame between the end of the first half and the stoppage time of the second half.
In his post-game conversation with Sky Sports, Szoboszlai emphasized the importance of maintaining their fighting spirit as they pursue a top-four finish.
“We faced an unbelievable team,” he stated. “We demonstrated once more why we were champions last season. This represents progress following recent weeks.
“We proved again, against a team at the top of the league, that we can compete. We need to carry this into the upcoming weeks.
“Of course, it’s challenging to play here against such an outstanding side, but I think no team likes to defend against the ball in the Premier League, so we aimed to retain possession as much as we could in the first half, and the same went for the second half.”
Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool
This one won’t be remembered fondly.
A match surprisingly lacking in attacking flair between Arsenal and Liverpool concluded in a goalless draw. pic.twitter.com/5FVy7m4hro
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) January 8, 2026
Thursday’s draw marked the first 0-0 encounter between Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League since August 2015. Across their last 20 league clashes, 79 goals had been netted, averaging 3.95 goals per game.
A significant incident transpired during stoppage time of the second half, as Arsenal substitute Gabriel Martinelli hurled the ball at Conor Bradley while he was on the ground due to injury, then proceeded to try to shove the Liverpool player off the pitch.
Liverpool’s players reacted with anger, leading to a booking for Martinelli, and Bradley was taken off on a stretcher due to what seemed to be a serious knee injury.
When asked about the altercation, Szoboszlai remarked: “I saw that Conor twisted his knee, I have no idea what transpired with him (Martinelli).
“Clearly, he didn’t want Conor to return to the pitch for time-wasting, but Conor was in such agony that he couldn’t even comprehend where he was rolling, and Gabriel rushed in to push him off the field.
“I get that everyone wants to win; we want to win too, but the well-being of a player is far more crucial than anything else.”
Published: 2026-01-08 23:13:00
source: www.soccernews.com
