Arsenal are too good at defending for their own good, and the disappointing draw to Liverpool shows why

The Gunners were twice ahead in the game but were playing as if they were more than one up

LONDON -- That Arsenal are the best out-of-possession team in Europe has been apparent for some time now. At their full compliment, the back four has an aura not seen in these parts since the back four. They love defending and so do the six in front of them.

Perhaps they love it too much. Arsenal play like a team who are two goals up when their lead is only one. Sit deep, let the waves crash upon us, what we have, we hold. More often than most they do hold. Indeed for the first 36 minutes of the second half, this battered backline, held together by whatever Mikel Arteta could rustle up on his substitutes' bench, looked like it might just do that. 

Then came one through ball judged to perfection by Trent Alexander-Arnold and the sort of composed pass Darwin Nunez only seems to play to Mohamed Salah. That was about it from Liverpool in terms of quality chances, even in a second half where territory and possession swung in their direction. It was all they needed to retain their four-point cushion over the Gunners.