LIVERPOOL, England: Liverpool handed Arsenal a harsh reality check Saturday by tearing through the Gunners in the second half for a 4-0 win in the Premier League.
A resurgent Arsenal side had the chance to climb above Liverpool in the standings with a win, but Juergen Klopp’s side gave the visitors a reminder that there is still a big gulf in class between the teams.
Liverpool’s unbeaten start to the season had ended at West Ham before the international break but the Reds looked back to their best at Anfield.
Sadio Mane scored the opener in the first half and Liverpool then dismantled Mikel Arteta’s side after the break, with Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and substitute Takumi Minamino running up the scoreline.
Arteta got into a heated shouting match with Klopp on the touchline when the game was still scoreless, and the incident seemed to spark both the Anfield crowd and Liverpool’s players.
Arsenal was on a 10-match unbeaten streak but goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale had already needed to make several good saves before Mane nodded home Alexander-Arnold’s free kick in the 39th minute, having been left unmarked in the six-yard area.
Liverpool started the second half at a furious pace and former Arsenal player Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had a chance to double the lead when the influential Fabinho intercepted Bukayo Saka’s pass, but the midfielder steered a shot wide of the post.
Arsenal kept turning the ball over and Nuno Tavares gifted Liverpool the second goal when he gifted a pass straight to Jota who showed real composure to side-step Ramsdale and score into an empty net.
Arsenal kept being pinned back and the third goal came 17 minutes from time when Mane burst down the left to cross for Salah to volley home his 16th of the campaign, before Minamino scored his first Anfield goal just 48 seconds after replacing Jota.
The win lifted Liverpool provisionally into second place, four points behind leader Chelsea. Arsenal remained fifth.
Rampant Liverpool dismantles Arsenal 4-0 in Premier League
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Rampant Liverpool dismantles Arsenal 4-0 in Premier League
- A resurgent Arsenal side had the chance to climb above Liverpool in the standings with a win
- Arteta got into a heated shouting match with Klopp on the touchline when the game was still scoreless
Sabalenka powers past Osaka into Indian Wells quarter-finals
- Sabalenka wrapped up the first set with two breaks of serve before Osaka began to find her rhythm
INDIAN WELLS, United States: World number one Aryna Sabalenka powered into the Indian Wells quarter-finals on Tuesday, beating former champion Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4 in a battle of Grand Slam winners.
It was another straightforward, straight-sets victory for Sabalenka, who fired 31 winners with eight aces.
“Overall I’m happy that I put so much pressure on her, that I brought variety today on the court,” said Sabalenka, who mixed her booming groundstrokes with effective forays to the net.
“I think she was a little confused in the key moments, and I’m happy to see that,” Sabalenka said. “I’m happy that my serve worked well, on the return I played really great tennis.”
Sabalenka wrapped up the first set with two breaks of serve before Osaka began to find her rhythm.
But the Japanese star was unable to crack the serve of Sabalenka, who saved both break points she faced in the second set and grabbed a break for 4-3 with a pair of forehand winners.
It was just the second meeting between the two, both four-time Grand Slam champions.
Osaka won the first back in 2018 on the way to her first major title at the US Open.
“That’s actually crazy,” Sabalenka said of the fact they haven’t met more often. But she predicted there were more clashes in their future as Osaka, now ranked 16th, regains her momentum on the WTA Tour after taking off all of 2023 and having daughter, Shai, in July of that year.
Sabalenka, runner-up at Indian Wells in 2023 and 2025, will continue her pursuit of a first title in the prestigious ATP and WTA Masters 1000 event against either sixth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova or 10th-seeded Canadian teen Victoria Mboko.
Australian qualifier Talia Gibson’s dream run in the California desert continued with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 victory over seventh-ranked Italian Jasmine Paolini.
The 21-year-old’s first victory over a top-10 player propelled her into her first WTA quarter-final, where she’ll face either Czech Linda Noskova or Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.
Gibson, ranked 112th, used a late break to pocket the first set, closing it out with her 18th winner of the opening frame.
Paolini sped to a 3-0 lead in the second as Gibson’s errors mounted and it looked as if the experienced Italian, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, had seized control.
But Gibson unleashed a barrage of winners in the third, including a stinging forehand service return on match point.
“Honestly, just completely speechless,” said Gibson, who beat top-20 players Ekaterina Alexandrova and Clara Tauson on the way to the fourth round.
