Liverpool made it two wins out of two on their pre-season tour of the USA with an impressive 2-1 win over Arsenal.
Goals from Mohamed Salah and Fabio Carvalho put the Reds into a commanding lead before Kai Havertz halved the deficit. Here’s how we rated the players in Philadelphia.
Defence
Caoimhin Kelleher: 5 – The £25m-rated Kelleher was caught out twice by advancing Arsenal players after taking too long to pick his pass. Fortunate not to be punished.
Conor Bradley: 6 – Struggled a little to get a hold of Martinelli and was pegged by for most of his time on the pitch. Should have picked Jota out free in the middle when put through expertly by Salah.
Jarell Quansah: 8 Man of Match – Led Liverpool’s line with typical quality. Prevented a certain goal with an inch perfect block from Martinelli’s square pass across the face of goal. Growing game on game. Fans are rightly excited about Quansah.
Sepp van den Berg: 7 – The pace of his passing is a slight concern but dealt well with the physicality of what was a strong Arsenal front line.
Kostas Tsimikas: 6 – Didn’t start badly but was pulled out of position far, far too easily by Odegaard’s body feint which freed up space for the Norwegian to set up Havertz up for a goal. Was fine otherwise.
Midfield
Curtis Jones: 6 – Not as involved as he might have liked to have been and isn’t grabbing the audition to be Liverpool’s starting midfielder. Tidy as always but not much besides. Off at half-time.
Dominik Szoboszlai: 7 – Worked extremely hard as Liverpool’s most pressing midfielder. Good in tight spaces and oozed quality on the ball.
Harvey Elliott: 8 – Ever involved in a new, No.10 role but not everything he tried initially came off. Burst into life with a perfect early ball over the top for Salah to score and almost had a second assist when sliding through to Jota. Did get one with a sensational dinked ball for Carvalho.
Fully justified why Joe Cole called Elliott ‘fantastic‘ for his performances last season.
Attack
Mohamed Salah: 8 – Loves playing against Oleksandr Zinchenko and was a threat straight from the first whistle. Wonderful play to cut across Gabriel when through on goal and finish coolly into the corner.
Diogo Jota: 7 – Back in the side and looked lively against his favourite opposition. Excellent knock down in the build-up to the Salah goal and generally worked hard and well. Should have scored but fired against the post instead.
Fabio Carvalho: 8 – Some very neat touches early on got Liverpool a foothold in the game. Looked sharper and quicker than previously seen out on the left wing. Sent Havertz for the ECHO and then volleyed home superbly for a deserved goal.
Substitutes
Luca Stephenson: 7 – On at half-time at right-back and didn’t look out of place. Looks a feisty and dependable option.
Wataru Endo: 6 – Will have been disappointed to miss out on the starting line-up after Liverpool turned down bids for him in the week. Entered at half-time and looked assured enough.
Trey Nyoni: 6 – Came on at half-time into a left-sided forward role before drifting into a false nine position. Nyoni was superb against Real Betis but couldn’t quite get into things here.
Ben Doak: 6 – Another lively appearance from Doak who left everything out there during his short time on the pitch.
Harvey Blair: 6 – Couldn’t make as much of a nuisance of himself as he would have liked through the middle of the attack but led one counter nicely before playing in Nyoni.
Stefan Bajcetic: 6 – Didn’t get on the ball as much as Liverpool need him to but looked assured when he did have it.
Owen Beck: 6 – All-action at left-back and broke forward with energy late on.
Nat Phillips: 6 – The senior man amid a raft of changes, Phillips was as physical and dominant as usual.
Tyler Morton: 7 – Gets an extra point for an incredibly clean tackle on Eddie Nketieh which stopped a dangerous attack.
Amara Nallo: 6 – Good to see him get some minutes and showed his quality with one perfect, faded ball out to the wing.
