PHILADELPHIA — Mohamed Salah and Fábio Carvalho scored first-half goals as Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-1 in a pre-season friendly at Lincoln Financial Field on Wednesday.
Kai Havertz pulled a goal back for the Gunners shortly before the break in an entertaining opening period but despite dominating possession after half-time, Mikel Arteta’s side were unable to avoid a first defeat on their United States tour in their final match.
On a sweltering evening with temperatures hovering around 30 °C (86 °F) at kick-off, Arsenal started brightly in front of a 69,879 sell-out crowd – a record attendance for a football match in this stadium – capitalising on some nervousness in Liverpool’s defence as they attempted to play out from the back.
Caoimhín Kelleher narrowly avoided an embarrassing error as Gabriel Jesus closed down his third-minute clearance but the ball rebounded just wide.
Kelleher went longer in the 13th minute and it paid off. His ball forward was helped to Harvey Elliott by Diogo Jota.
Elliott then slid a pass in behind Arsenal’s back-line where Salah beat Oleksandr Zinchenko for pace before slotting a low finish past Karl Hein.
“He [Salah] always comes back really fit. But if I only use Mo as an example I would not be fair to the other guys because the other ones are strong and fit as well,” Liverpool coach Arne Slot said.
“One of the main positive things until now is that all the boys are fit, we have no injuries at all so we hope he can continue like this and their fitness levels go up and up.”
After Jarell Quansah made an excellent intervention to deny Jesus a tap-in from Gabriel Martinelli’s cross, Liverpool continued to threaten as the first half wore on.
Jota hit the post from another clever Elliott pass before they doubled their lead 11 minutes before the interval.
Elliott lifted the ball over Arsenal’s defence and Carvalho fired in a low shot from close range.
Arsenal responded five minutes before the break as Odegaard seized on a loose ball in the box, Konstantinos Tsimikas lost his bearings and the Gunners captain found Havertz, who squeezed an effort past Kelleher.
“When you’re in those spaces in the box [it is about] putting the ball in the net,” Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta said about his team misses in front of goal.
“We created the situations. We had two or three more big situations as well. We have to improve.”
Both sides made changes at the break. Jota came off in a pre-planned substitution among Liverpool’s three alterations while Leandro Trossard and Fabio Vieira replaced Martinelli and Reiss Nelson for the Gunners.
Arsenal dictated play in the second half struggled to create many openings. Vieira had a shot beaten away by Kelleher after Odegaard’s cute through ball while Eddie Nketiah dragged a tame shot off target.
The result meant Arne Slot was able to celebrate a second consecutive victory after succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool head coach, following a 1-0 win over Real Betis last weekend.
The Reds face Manchester United in South Carolina on Saturday while Arsenal were due to fly back to London from Philadelphia overnight and will play a friendly against Bayer Leverkusen at Emirates Stadium next Wednesday.