Fired-up Liverpool take their anger out on hapless Arsenal

LONDON • An ugly first-half altercation between Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and his Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta fired up the home fans and players at Anfield on Saturday before a four-goal salvo sent the visitors packing.

After a quiet first half an hour, Sadio Mane's aerial challenge on Takehiro Tomiyasu saw the Gunners boss, normally a collected figure, rise in outrage.

That incensed the often passionate Klopp, who strode angrily towards Arteta as the fourth official came between them.

Both men raised their hands and shouted at each other as assistants restrained them. They carried on chuntering in each other's direction after referee Michael Oliver brandished yellow cards to each.

The incident raised the noise levels and appeared to galvanise the hosts, who stepped up their intensity levels and went on to score four goals with no reply, recording a sixth successive home Premier League win over Arsenal.

Mane opened the scoring before strikes by Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and substitute Takumi Minamino, with his first touch of the game, ended Arsenal's 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

After the trouncing, Klopp said he was incensed by the reaction to Mane by Arsenal's bench, comparing it to the same way the Senegal forward was targeted by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League earlier this month.

"It was absolutely no foul from Sadio. But the Arsenal bench acted like it was a red card or whatever," Klopp said. "I'm really sick of that, everyone tries to go for Sadio in these moments. It's just not right."

Despite the flashpoint, there was no real fight from Arsenal on the pitch, with Klopp purring over the Reds' performance.

"The boys played damned good football," the German said. "After half-time, we had a really impressive phase and controlled the game again. It was a mix of a very mature performance and very exciting."

Arteta would not be drawn afterwards, saying such incidents were part of football, while admitting his side, who have yet to taste victory at Anfield in the league since 2012, had to learn from this defeat.

Elsewhere, Steven Gerrard led Aston Villa to a 2-0 win over Brighton in his first game in charge, while Newcastle drew 3-3 with Brentford - a match new boss Eddie Howe missed because of Covid-19.

REUTERS