SIX THINGS WE LEARNED as Liverpool beat Arsenal stateside

Liverpool made it two wins from two under Arne Slot on their US pre-season tour, with a 2-1 win over Premier League rivals Arsenal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Harvey Elliott impressed for the Reds providing to superb assists to split open a usually solid Gunners backline.

The first sent through Mo Salah to open the scoring after 13 minutes before the midfielder then clipped a lovely lob into the box for Fabio Carvalho to volley home.

Kai Havertz did pull a goal back from close range for Mikel Arteta‘s side before half-time, but Slot’s side held on for the victory in a subdued second half.

Mail Sport’s Lewis Steele and Isaan Khan were stateside to witness the Reds conquer Arteta’s team, and they take a look at what we learned from the clash. 

Elliott taking his chance 

Harvey Elliott told Mail Sport earlier this week that he was ready to step up as a leader and play a pivotal role in Arne Slot’s plans and, judging by this performance, the 21-year-old is not all talk.

The midfielder played as a No 10 for Liverpool here and recorded two excellent assists. The first was a slick first-time pass to set Mohamed Salah through on goal, before he added another with a deft chip for Fabio Carvalho.

Elliott won more appearances than all but one player at Liverpool last season but he was limited in terms of starts. It feels like he needs to really kick on this season and he views the arrival of Slot as a chance to start afresh.

Aside from his goal contributions, Elliott constantly got on the ball and looked dangerous – even trying a Rabona pass to Luca Stephenson in the second half to show his confidence was skyrocketing.

Given several key men are missing for Liverpool, this pre-season tour has been a chance for fringe players like Elliott to prove to the new coaching regime that they are worthy of star roles. After two positive outings in the United States, Elliott is certainly taking his chance.

Dutch defender’s value only on the rise

Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg came out with a bizarre line this week when he said that the valuation placed on his head – believed to be around £20million – is too high, hinting that he was being priced out of a move.

PSV Eindhoven had a bid of around £10m rejected this week after the defender’s pleasing campaign on loan at German club Mainz. Liverpool believe they have slapped a fair price on Van den Berg despite his comments.

Sporting director Richard Hughes has watched other moves this window for young defenders – such as Dean Huijsen, who has played less than 10 times in Serie A, from Juventus to Bournemouth, and Taylor Harwood-Bellis to Southampton for £20m.

Therefore, Liverpool think £20m for Van den Berg is reasonable after two seasons in the Bundesliga and two before that in the Championship. It is not definite that the defender will be sold, especially after two pleasing pre-season outings.

He got on the ball and was a calming presence in Liverpool’s back line here, with the 22-year-old also making some vital defensive actions. After this pleasing trip to the States, that £20m valuation might only go one way.

Slot is happy to tinker

Elliott described Slot’s philosophy as a ‘typical Dutch style’ earlier this week and he was right. This was not quite Total Football but some of the play, especially in the first half, was liquid attacking.

Players were interchanging positions left, right and centre. In the build-up, for example, Dominik Szoboszlai was a deep-lying midfielder but he would also pop up in the channels and make lung-busting runs into the box.

Elliott played as both a No 10 and a No 9, while Trey Nyoni popped up all over the field in his 45 minutes. The 17-year-old was a shining light in Pittsburgh last week and had some nice moments here, too.

But the main takeaway from the night was that Slot’s style is easy on the eye, fluid and vertical. And it is worth noting that if the system looks reasonably polished already, better is surely set to follow when senior figures return to the AXA Training Centre.

The sweltering heat and humidity of Philadelphia clearly took its toll in the latter stages as the game fizzled out. But the slick football on show from Slot’s men gave those Liverpool fans staying up late back home plenty of reasons to be excited for the near future.

Gunners midfield miss Declan Rice 

This was the first match on Arsenal’s pre-season tour where thoughts wandered to a man not in the country: Declan Rice.

The midfielder is away, along with Bukayo Saka, Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya, after being granted extra rest following England’s Euros defeat to Spain.

Particularly in the first half, wave after wave of Liverpool attacks penetrated through the middle with ease.

The backline’s lack of cohesion didn’t help matter — influenced by the lack of times Jakub Kiwior, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel have played together — but the root cause lay with the midfield.

It was Thomas Partey’s task to marshal the area in front of the defence and pitch in where necessary.

Time and again he was overrun in midfield and couldn’t subside the Liverpool pressure forward which left his backline exposed often. And when he needed help towards the left, Zinchenko’s positioning made assistance scarce.

Of course, this is not the defence, nor midfield — which unusually had Kai Havertz in there — Arsenal will play many times, if at all, this season.

But it was a reminder of the power of Rice.

Mikel Arteta manages Jurrien Timber’s minutes

A surprise, but wise decision, Jurrien Timber did not make the Arsenal squad.

Initially it came as some surprise after the Dutchman’s displays in the previous two pre-season fixtures against Manchester United and Bournemouth, where he played 63 and 62 minutes respectively.

The 23-year-old looked menacing and physically imposed himself upon opponents, not shirking from challenges.

A particularly good sign after such a long injury lay-off. The physical and mental scare are clearly healed.

It would have therefore been interesting to see how he would have fared against a Liverpool team featuring the likes of Mo Salah and Diogo Jota. But then again, the context is key.

After a gruelling eight-month rehabilitation period from an ACL injury sustained in August against Nottingham Forest, Timber does not need to be rushed.

Arsenal would have felt rather silly if he did pick up a niggle before the season had even started by pushing the defender too hard.

It was the correct call.

Nketiah heading for the exit? 

Arsenal gave fans a final hint over the futures of a couple of their players, before departing on a midnight flight from Philadelphia to London.

Eddie Nketiah was on the bench in a game he would have fancied either starting, or at least coming on earlier than the 78th minute as a substitute.

The fact he didn’t sways towards reports that he nears the exit door. A move to Marseille on a long-term deal is his main option, and one he is considering. It would grant the striker regular first-team football, which is something he will not get this season at Arsenal.

Reiss Nelson started which shows the Gunners are contemplating their options with him. A number of clubs are interested in him, but Nelson did sign a four-year deal last July so it would be potentially trick to get him out the door — if the Gunners wish to do so.

The winger underwhelmed in the first half before being substituted at the break. Though his lack of game time this year in general meant he was never going to hit the ground running. He needs to play in order to be fairly assessed.

He does have solid attributes, as seen by his teasing cross on 20 minutes.