The Liverpool-Arsenal friendly on Wednesday, July 31 at the Link set the record for the stadium’s highest ever attendance for a soccer match. The two premier league powerhouses battled in front of 69,879 spectators. The “Rivals in Red” match, marked by high temperatures and high attendance alike, ended in a 2-1 win for Liverpool.
The first major chance of the game came for Arsenal in the third minute off of a mistake by
Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher during a goal kick, which was immediately intercepted by Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus, the powerful deflection narrowly missing the right goalpost.
Liverpool’s Mohamed “Mo” Salah opened the scoring in the 13th minute with an impressive run off an assist by Harvey Elliott, burying the ball in the bottom right corner of Arsenal’s net. A key chance for Liverpool’s Diogo Jota was thwarted by the right goalpost in the 28th minute before Fábio Carvalho was able to double Liverpool’s lead in the 34th minute — both opportunities assisted by Elliott.
Arsenal was able to cut Liverpool’s lead in half in the 40th minute through a tap-in goal by Kai Havertz off of an Ødegaard assist. While Arsenal dominated possession for the remainder of the match — at 61% — they were unable to equalize in the goalless second half. Fábio Vieiria came closest to tying the game after an impressive strike in the 68th minute, however Kelleher was able to pull through with an impressive save to keep Liverpool ahead.
As is common in friendlies, the second half brought many substitutions, granting especially many younger players the chance to gain critical experience before regular season. Arsenal held off longer for such substitutions, with Liverpool making all changes by the 72nd minute, and Arsenal making the majority of substitutions in the 78th and 84th minutes. Both halves contained additional water breaks in an effort to combat the excessive heat.
While Liverpool was missing stars such as Captain Virgil Van Dijk and English Trent Alexander-Arnold, Arsenal was also notably without key players such as England’s Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice and French Defender William Saliba. Arsenal’s new signing Riccardo Calafiori of Italy additionally joined the team in training for the first time before the match at Lincoln Financial, but was absent from the game roster.