A look at Adam Lallana’s stellar performance for Liverpool against Arsenal

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Liverpool faced Arsenal at Anfield in the evening kick-off on Saturday. It was a game both teams were desperate to win. Liverpool needed to bounce back from an extremely disappointing loss against Leicester while Arsenal needed to turn around a poor run of form in which they have lost two of their last three Premier League games.

Liverpool came out on top as 3-1 winners and it was the performance of Adam Lallana that really caught the eye. Despite failing to register a goal or assist, the English Player of the Year was quietly effective on the ball yet, his most impressive work came out of possession.

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He worked tirelessly, harassing Arsenal’s defence and midfield, constantly nicking the ball. Often it was Lallana who was the initial presser and he was largely responsible for the Reds’ being so dominant in the first half, winning the ball back quickly for his team after it was lost.

The Englishman also demonstrated game awareness and intelligence that may not normally be associated with his game. For Liverpool’s third goal, the ball fell to Lallana and he initially broke away on his own. The ex-Southampton then realised he had little support and cleverly turned away from the chasing defender before playing a lovely ball to Divock Origi. which allowed him to break away and play the crucial cross-pass to Georginio Wijnaldum, who finished the move off.

The Belgium sped away and played a crucial cross-pass to Georginio Wijnaldum, who finished the move off.

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Lallana’s clever turn allowed Divock Origi to check his run after initially being offside, and also allowed a more-than-willing Wijnaldum to make up the ground and get into the box. It was the unnoticed skill and decision-making that was crucial in the context of the game and in helping Liverpool secure victory.

Overall, despite registering no goals or assists, the English midfielder can be very happy with his performance, and after some woeful performances recently, Jürgen Klopp will be happy to see Lallana and his teammates put in a very good performance against Arsenal.

Klopp will hope Lallana can now mount a good run of form to help Liverpool climb back into the top four. Coming into the season and playing so well, a top four finish looked like a minimum for this Liverpool side. It will be a challenge now to achieve this feat but this performance against Arsenal will give them some hope.

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