Views: 24
BBC SPORT
Arne Slot’s new-look Liverpool beat Premier League rivals Arsenal 2-1 with goals from Mohamed Salah and Fabio Carvalho in Philadelphia.
Salah’s 13th-minute strike and Carvalho’s finish in the 34th minute capped excellent Liverpool moves, before Arsenal’s Kai Havertz swept in a close-range shot in the 40th minute of an exciting first half.
Both teams made changes during the second half of the friendly as the tempo dropped at Lincoln Financial Field, where the crowd of 69,679 marked a record at the stadium for a football match.
Liverpool have a final fixture in their US pre-season tour against Manchester United in Columbia on Saturday (00:45 BST Sunday).
Arsenal flew straight home after Wednesday’s match and will play in a friendly tournament against Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon at Emirates Stadium.
Elliott to have his breakthrough season?
Several of Harvey Elliott’s former England Under-21 colleagues have broken through into the senior squad in the last year and, before kick-off, the Liverpool player admitted that it is on him to do the same.
The 21-year-old had a competent showing in an drab 1-0 friendly win against Real Betis, but he excelled in an attacking midfield role against Arsenal.
If Diogo Jota had not missed a gilt-edged chance, Elliott would have claimed a hat-trick of excellent first-half assists, after a wonderful first-time through ball for Salah’s goal and an instinctive lobbed pass for Carvalho.
New manager Slot’s football and his vision for a number 10 role looks to be a perfect fit for Elliott, a versatile player looking to build some identity at the highest level.
If he can go from being Jurgen Klopp’s utility man to a regular in Slot’s new system, an England debut could follow.
When asked about Elliott, Slot said: “Two great assists, but what I believe is that the team created this for him as well – playing out from the back, getting him in the right positions or another number 10, and then it is up to him to bring the most out of those situations and he did that today with two assists.
“If I am a bit hard on him, I think there are maybe two other situations where he could have done better, but that is what the team is doing for him.”
Arsenal bombarded Liverpool’s goal early on but missed chances. Gabriel Jesus put a one-on-one chance straight at Caoimhin Kelleher and Gabriel Martinelli blasted high from the edge of the box.
The Gunners also missed chances to equalise at 2-1, with Havertz, Fabio Vieira and Eddie Nketiah spurning decent opportunities.
Arsenal must decide whether to bring in additional firepower or try to elevate their capable – but not world class – forward line to deliver that little bit extra to win a Premier League title.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said: “We have to punish teams. It’s an area where we can obviously improve. The first chance they had, they scored, and that’s what makes the difference as well – when you’re in those spaces in the box, putting the ball in the net.
“We created the situations. We had two or three more big situations as well. We have to improve.”
Reds boss Slot has demonstrated so far on this tour of the United States that his side will take more risks in possession, which will mean some mistakes.
They are playing more fluid football and moving away from former boss Jurgen Klopp’s ‘heavy metal football’ approach.
Liverpool went toe to toe with Arsenal, but they saw mistakes in possession from Kelleher (twice) and Curtis Jones lead to shooting chances.
Arsenal, meanwhile, look physically strong and sharp in their familiar style which Arteta hopes to evolve again after adding Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori this week.