POV: Going For Goals (William Kedjanyi)

In our latest POV column – Star Sports’ William Kedjanyi on Arsenal’s lack of attacking bite at Anfield in their 1-0 defeat…

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There have been only three gameweeks of the new Premier League season, but it’s safe to say that Liverpool fans had a much more Super Sunday than Gunners like me. A 1-0 win in a turgid game for the Reds was followed up by a late night briefing that the Reds have finally landed Alexander Isak, giving them yet more firepower, as if they needed it.

Meanwhile, Arteta and Arsenal supporters were left to rue what could have been in a game when neither side appeared to be close to the heights they hit last season. In a game of only 20 total shots, and just four of them on target, the Gunners might well have been able to test a Liverpool backline that had conceded four goals in two games so far.

There are mitigating circumstances about this approach – the Gunners were without Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, and saw Martin Odegaard start on the bench after a nasty knock against Leeds, and this was their first defeat against a ‘Big Six’ side since 2023 – but a lack of offensive firepower now looks to be stopping them from winning the silverware their improvement – and investment – demands.

"They need to just add that little bit more threat."

Only Sunderland have a lower xG from open play than Arsenal this season, Joe Hart and @WayneRooney think they need to show a bit more.#MOTD pic.twitter.com/N99MQn2qYD

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) August 31, 2025

 

Arsenal – even in an injury hit season that became a disaster midway through – conceded only 34 league goals last season (only a marginal increase from 29 in the past campaign). Mikel Arteta is arguably the most well stocked defensive manager in the league, and one of the bright spots will be how well Cristhian Mosquera coped after we lost defender William Saliba to injury after only five minutes.

Despite Saliba’s knock, the problems lie ahead for the Gunners. Viktor Gyokeres struggled with the physicality of Van Dijk, Konate and Gomez. Noni Madueke was lively, but there are worries about his end product and Eberechi Eze was only given 20 minutes despite being fully fit with other injuries. If the trophy drought is to be broken for us this season, Arsenal will need to find the cutting edge at the top of the pitch – and that’ll mean taking more risks for Arteta.

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