4 things we learned from Liverpool’s pre-season victory against Arsenal

Liverpool and Arsenal played out an entertaining pre-season friendly overnight in the United States, with the Reds prevailing 2-1 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Early goals from Mohamed Salah and Fabio Carvalho put Arne Slot’s side two up in the first half, while Kai Havertz pulled one back for the Gunners just before the break.

Mikel Arteta’s men were unable to find an equaliser and fell to defeat in Philadelphia, but both outfits were able to get good minutes in the legs of some key players ahead of the new campaign.

Here are four takeaways from Wednesday night’s encounter.

Arsenal established themselves as by far the Premier League’s best defensive team during the second half of the 2023/24 season.

Arteta has constructed a monstrous backline that you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of, boasting several six-foot-plus defenders and midfielders to do his team’s dirty work.

But two key members of that cohort – William Saliba and Declan Rice – are still on holiday, and boy did that look noticeable against Liverpool. It must have been a shock for Gunners fans to see their team frantically backtracking to defend open spaces rather than calmly plug those gaps.

And yeah, it’s such a massive shock that Arsenal don’t look as good without two of their best players, but it did show their fragility when you remove those figures from the picture. The signing of Riccardo Calafiori should give them greater flexibility and depth, at least.

For a couple of years now, Harvey Elliott has looked at home when starting for Liverpool.

The next step is to nail down a place in the starting XI, and he’s wasted no time trying to impress Slot this summer.

After playing as a withdrawn forward in their opening tour win against Real Betis, Elliott returned to an advanced midfield role here, coming up with assists for both of Liverpool’s goals – including a delectable scoop for Fabio Carvalho’s second.

At 21, Elliott falls into the category of a bright prospect with plenty of top-level experience under his belt, and a noted player-improver like Slot must be relishing the chance to mould him into a true Premier League star.

It’s a fairly well-known and open secret that Liverpool are scouring the transfer market for new centre-back options.

But the Reds hierarchy should make sure that whoever they do target is not…