Stand in Liverpool skipper Trent Alexander-Arnold has told of his delight at leading Liverpool to a 2-0 away win over Arsenal in the FA Cup on Sunday evening.
An own goal and a late strike from Luis Diaz saw the Gunners knocked out of the competition in the third round for the second time in three years, and speaking to BBC Sport Alexander-Arnold said it was a massive result for his team: “It’s huge. We’ve got a lot of players missing today with the lads on internationals and Virgil not in the squad.
“We dug deep with two late goals. We changed things around at half-time and we came out and played football, created our chances. The change of system made an impact for us,” he said, referring to some tactical tweaks that were affected at the break.
“At times in the first half we were a bit naïve playing out from the back. We stuck with how we play. We have our identity and used the speed of Darwin and Lucho [Luis Diaz]. Darwin went out wide and used his speed against their full-back.”
Alexander-Arnold was responsible for creating the opening goal. Describing the moment, he said: “With the in-swinger you want to hit it as well as possible. You want to make it as hard as possible for them to clear. We hit the woodwork a couple of times.”
The captain’s thoughts were echoed by manager Jurgen Klopp, who said: “I’m super proud. It’s a super difficult draw. Maybe the most difficult we could have got. With all the things we had to consider coming here, Arsenal lined up slightly different, that was smart.
“We changed a bit at half-time. We were really in the game in the second half. We scored the goals and brought the kids on. We fought for 95 minutes.
“It was obvious there would be changes at half-time. Today the boys bought into it and we could make them. Not too many. In the end we came through. I’m really happy and proud we could win this game. Arsenal could have won it without a doubt. We finished it off and it spoke for the character of the boys,” he said.
