Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal: Kai Havertz's early header sends the leaders back to the top of the table

Arsenal did not need to dominate the ball at Anfield to leave with the three points that took them back to the top of the Premier League. They needed one moment of precision from a set piece, and Kai Havertz supplied it before the game was even a quarter of an hour old.

Havertz rose to meet a Declan Rice corner in the 16th minute and headed past Alisson Becker for the only goal of the game. Liverpool had the better of the territory for long stretches afterwards — more of the ball, more corners won — but could not find the finish that would have rescued a point in front of their own supporters.

A single chance decided it

This was not a one-sided afternoon by any reasonable measure. Liverpool held 56.4% of possession and completed 377 of their 461 passes, both figures ahead of Arsenal's. But none of that superiority turned into a shot on target: Liverpool finished the match without one, while Arsenal needed only three to make their single real opening count. It is the kind of statistical gap — plenty of the ball, nothing to show for it — that explains why a scoreline can look tight on paper and lopsided in practice.

The game grew increasingly stretched as it went on, with eight bookings shared between the two sides across the second half and stoppage time — Bradley Barcola, Milos Kerkez, Alexis Mac Allister and Virgil van Dijk for the hosts, Noni Madueke, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Jurriën Timber and David Raya for Arsenal — but no second card went far enough to force a sending-off, and Arsenal's back line, marshalled by Gabriel Magalhães, held the lead to the final whistle.

Match facts

• 16' — Kai Havertz (Arsenal), assisted by Declan Rice

Line-ups

• Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson Becker; Van Dijk, Jacquet, Kerkez, Araújo; Wirtz, Nyoni; Mac Allister, Isak, Barcola, Gakpo
• Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Raya; Gabriel, Konsa, Calafiori, Timber; Ødegaard, Guimarães, Rice; Havertz, Tzolis, Madueke

Arsenal's unbeaten run keeps growing

Arsenal went into the weekend on a run of four wins and a draw across their last five matches in all competitions, the only blemish a 2-2 draw away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. This result stretches that to five wins in six, and it is their eighth league win in nine matches this season, with only one defeat — away to Brighton & Hove Albion in September — on their record. Mikel Arteta's side have now kept Liverpool without a shot on target for 90 minutes at Anfield, which says as much about their defensive discipline as Havertz's finish says about their edge in the moments that matter.

Liverpool's good run ends where it was toughest

For Liverpool, this breaks a run of four straight wins that had followed their only defeat of the autumn, a 0-3 loss at home to Manchester City in October. Arne Slot's side had scored freely in that spell — four against Villarreal in the Champions League, two past Brighton in the league — but they managed nothing at all in front of goal against the division's form team, and a fixture that could have closed the gap at the top instead leaves them further off the pace.

What's next

The win takes Arsenal to 24 points and back above Manchester City on goal difference at the summit of the table, with Declan Rice's assist also making him the league's outright leader in that category on five for the season. Liverpool stay 5th on 15 points, inside the top half but seven adrift of the top with nine games gone. Both sides now turn to the November international break before the Premier League resumes.