Arsenal 1-0 Liverpool: Havertz punishes Alisson error to win at Anfield

Arsenal beat Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield on Sunday, and the match turned on one bad decision in the 16th minute. Kai Havertz scored after Alisson Becker's error playing out from the back.

The win took Arsenal to the top of the Premier League, helped by Manchester City's slip-up at home to Brighton on Saturday. It also ended a winless run at Anfield that went back to September 2012, when current manager Mikel Arteta was in the playing squad, according to the Standard.

The error that decided it

CaughtOffside described the goalkeeper's choice as "a disastrous decision while attempting to play the ball out from the back, allowing Arsenal to regain possession". Playing out from the back is a bet.

Playing out from the back is a bet. It pays when your passing beats their press. It costs you when the decision is wrong. This one was.

The Standard says the goal ended Havertz's Premier League drought and was his third league goal of the season.

One goal in 16 minutes, then Arsenal held on. The Standard's phrase was that they "managed to hold on from there". That is a fair description of a side that took the lead and kept the match small.

The penalty argument

Liverpool will point to the 21st minute, five minutes after the goal. From a free-kick, Alexander Isak appeared to have his shirt pulled in the box by Jurrien Timber. The Standard wrote that replays showed it "did enough to stop the in-form Liverpool striker from making contact with the teasing cross".

No penalty was given. Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola was surprised, according to the Standard. Sky Sports presenter Dave Jones then revealed at half-time that VAR had checked the incident and cleared it. The reports give no reasoning from VAR.

The Sky pundits split in an interesting way. All three Standard-reported voices thought Isak had a case, but they differed on what he should have done:

• Daniel Sturridge: "If he [Isak] makes more of it, it's a penalty. I don't think he makes enough of it. It's clear and blatant."
• Ian Wright: "He shouldn't have to make more of it. We can see it. As an Arsenal man, I'm glad we got away with it."
• Jamie Carragher: "One of the best goalscorers in the league is pulled back seven yards out and it stops him heading the ball - why does he need to make a meal of it? VAR do your job."

The Athletic also addressed the penalty question in a paywalled piece.

It is worth being exact about the sequence. The incident came after the goal. A converted penalty would have levelled the score at that point. But Liverpool's first problem was the error that cost them the lead, not the decision that did not give them a spot-kick.

What it means

For Arsenal, this is clean league business: a win at Anfield, a chance taken from Manchester City's slip, and the top of the table. The table does not care how the goal arrived.

For Liverpool, the margin is the uncomfortable part. A 1-0 defeat after a goalkeeper's error is the kind of result that gets pinned on one man. Liverpool should also consider the risks of building from the back, rather than making this solely about the goalkeeper.

One costly error, one decisive goal, three points: Arsenal on top.

What to watch next is simple: whether Liverpool change how they play out from the back, because opponents will have seen how this one went.