Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will be delighted at how his side handled their first game without topscorer Mohamed Salah as Arsenal were made to pay for their wastefulness in front of goal in their 2-0 defeat in the FA Cup.
Salah has once again been Liverpool’s talisman this season with 18 goals and nine assists in all competitions.
He’s the only Reds player to reach double digits in front of goal despite the array of attacking talent in Klopp’s squad.
But Salah’s departure to represent Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations has put the onus on Liverpool’s other attackers to step up in the next few weeks.
Liverpool were helped by an own goal
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The FA Cup game against Arsenal was Klopp’s first chance to see how his attacking unit would cope without Salah.
Harvey Elliott was given the nod to play in Salah’s position on the right wing, but the 20-year-old failed to have the same kind of impact as the Egyptian.
Salah’s absence also had a knock-on effect to the other forwards too with Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz also being wasteful in front of goal.
Thankfully for Liverpool, Arsenal were just as poor in front of goal with Gabriel Jesus out injured.
Bukayo Saka was off his game for the Gunners as well with Joe Gomez keeping his compatriot quiet.
Arsenal were the superior team for most of the game and created a large number of guilt-edge chances.
Mikel Arteta couldn’t believe his eyes at some points as he witnessed miss after miss from good areas inside the box from his players.
And the hosts were eventually made to pay in the closing stages when a wicked Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick was turned into his own net by Jakub Kiwior.
Liverpool’s forwards initially struggled in the match
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That opened the game up even more as Arsenal pushed higher up the pitch to try and find an equaliser.
Liverpool were helped by a superb man-of-the-match performance from Ibrahima Konate at the back who pulled off several huge blocks to keep Arsenal at bay.
And Luis Diaz added the icing on the cake for Liverpool with the final kick of the game to make it 2-0.
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Luis Diaz ended his goal drought in the end
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That goal from Diaz may be the most pleasing aspect for Klopp with the Colombian ending his seven-game goal drought.
Klopp will need players like Diaz to step up and take over the load from Salah and his goal will give him huge confidence to do just that.
The Liverpool boss will need his forwards firing on all cylinders next week as well when they face Fulham at home in the first semi-final leg.
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