Arsenal win at Anfield and move three clear

Arsenal won a league game at Anfield for the first time since 2012 on Sunday, and the goal that decided it arrived after 16 minutes. Kai Havertz met a Declan Rice cross from the left and finished left-footed from the left side of the six-yard box. Arsenal then defended that lead for the rest of the afternoon, and Liverpool, with 17 attempts, did not put one on target.

That last number is the story of the match. Liverpool had 56.4 percent of the ball, seven corners and 33 crosses, five of them accurate. Arsenal had 10 attempts, three on target, and David Raya did not make a save. Alisson Becker made two. The scoreline says 1-0. The shot count says something closer to a siege that never landed, and the table says Arsenal are three points clear.

Havertz, the cross and the finish

The goal was simple, and it was the kind Arsenal have scored all season: a cross from the left, a runner attacking the near post, a finish taken early. Rice carried the ball down the left, looked up and delivered towards the six-yard box. Havertz got across his marker and swept it into the bottom left corner. ESPN reported that the goal made him the most prolific German scorer in Premier League history.

The rest of his afternoon was spent with his back to goal. Arsenal's attacking output after the 20th minute was minimal: 10 attempts in 90 minutes, three on target, and a long spell of defending that never quite stopped. Havertz came off after 84 minutes, with Viktor Gyökeres on. Martin Ødegaard followed him four minutes later, Mikel Merino on. By then the game had become a series of Liverpool crosses into a crowded box.

There was an early disruption too. Gabriel Magalhães needed treatment after three minutes and played on, and the first half ran to 45+3. Arsenal's back line spent the afternoon heading and blocking, and cleared 36 balls to Liverpool's 22.

Liverpool's 17 shots and none on target

Liverpool's problem was direction rather than volume. Alexander Isak shot wide from the left of the box after 36 minutes, set up by Bradley Barcola, and high and wide from the same area after 56, set up by Milos Kerkez. Virgil van Dijk headed wide from a corner after 27. Ronald Araujo had two headers blocked, Alexis Mac Allister headed over from a Kerkez cross, and Barcola dragged the last chance of the afternoon wide from the centre of the box in stoppage time.

Arsenal blocked nine shots, and the pattern was set early: Liverpool would work the ball wide, cross, and find a red shirt. Thirty-three crosses produced five accurate ones and no shot on target. Kerkez went down after 69 minutes and was replaced by Kostas Tsimikas after 81, one of three Liverpool changes in the same passage of play.

The table after nine games

Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Arsenal	9	8	0	1	14	5	24
Manchester City	9	7	0	2	20	10	21
Brighton	9	6	1	2	24	7	19
Chelsea	9	5	1	3	19	15	16
Liverpool	9	4	3	2	11	9	15
Brentford	9	3	5	1	16	9	14

Arsenal have 24 points from nine games: eight wins, one defeat, 14 goals scored and five conceded, the fewest in the division. City are second on 21 with the second-best goal difference at plus 10. Brighton, who won 1-0 at the Etihad on Saturday, are third on 19 with the best goal difference in the league at plus 17. Chelsea are fourth on 16, Liverpool fifth on 15, Brentford sixth on 14.

The gap between first and fifth is nine points after nine games, which is not yet a season. It is, though, the first time this autumn that the top of the table has looked like Arsenal's to lose rather than a three-way argument.

The penalty Liverpool wanted

The loudest complaint came in the second half, when Jurriën Timber pulled at Isak's shirt inside the area. No penalty was given. The decision was still being argued about on Monday morning, with BBC pundits Danny Murphy and Micah Richards disagreeing over whether the contact was enough, and Andoni Iraola saying afterwards that his players have to go down to win such decisions.

That is a coach arguing with how the game is refereed rather than with the result. Liverpool's own numbers make the same point less sympathetically: 17 attempts, none on target, and a centre-forward who spent the afternoon shooting from the left corner of the box. Iraola also lost Milos Kerkez to injury and used all five substitutions before the 85th minute.

Madueke, the headbutt and a yellow card

Noni Madueke was booked after 55 minutes for a foul on Mac Allister. The contact was an apparent headbutt, and the Premier League later explained why it did not meet the threshold for a red card. Madueke stayed on and was involved in Arsenal's best moments of the second half: his crosses set up Bruno Guimarães twice, and Christos Tzolis forced Alisson's second save after 73.

Eight yellow cards were shown, four to each side, and none of them changed the shape of the game. Barcola was booked in first-half stoppage time, Kerkez and Myles Lewis-Skelly within five minutes of each other, Timber and Mac Allister together after 80, and Raya and Van Dijk in stoppage time. The match had 28 fouls and 11 corners and produced one goal, from the only move in the first half that beat a defence properly.

What it means for the title race

Arsenal have won eight of nine, with a single defeat and five goals conceded. Liverpool have lost twice and drawn three times in the same number of games, scoring 11. DAZN called them wasteful and said the title conversation around them had been premature; Van Dijk said he was very disappointed. Mikel Arteta said his players should be extremely proud, and he now has a win at Anfield as a manager for the first time.

Whether that is worth three points or more will be known in December, when the fixture list thickens and the Champions League takes its share of the week.

What comes next

• Arsenal have conceded five goals in nine league games, fewer than any other side.
• Liverpool have scored 11 in nine, less than half Brighton's 24.
• Both clubs are back in Europe this week: Arsenal at Slavia, Liverpool at Fenerbahce. The Champions League table has the league phase picture.
• The Premier League weekend closes at St James' Park on Monday, where Newcastle, 12th on 11 points from eight games, host Everton, 14th on 10.

All 20 rows are on the tables page, and the rest of the weekend is in the Premier League section.