Arsenal Win At Anfield For The First Time In 14 Years To Go Three Points Clear At The Top

Fourteen years of waiting, one tap-in, and 74 minutes of defending: Arsenal left Anfield top of the league, and Liverpool left it without a single shot on target.

LIVERPOOL — Arsenal won a Premier League game at Anfield for the first time in 14 years on Sunday, beating Liverpool 1–0 through Kai Havertz’s 16th-minute goal to move three points clear at the top of the table. The champions defended the lead for 74 minutes against wave after wave of Liverpool pressure, and the home side’s failure to register a single shot on target in a home league game — the first time that has happened since records began in 2003 — told the story of how well they defended it.

The Goal

The game’s only goal came from Liverpool’s attempt to play out from the back. After Arsenal won back possession as Liverpool sought to build from a goal-kick, Declan Rice overlapped Noni Madueke down the right channel and his low delivery found Havertz free at the back post to tap in, Liverpool’s own match report recorded. PA reporting added that goalkeeper Alisson Becker’s attempted pass in the build-up had put his defence in trouble. The goal made Havertz the highest-scoring German in Premier League history, passing Ilkay Gündogan’s record, according to Sports Mole’s match report.

Fourteen Years

Arsenal had not won a league game at Anfield since 2012, when their manager Mikel Arteta was still playing in their midfield. They arrived knowing Manchester City had lost at home to Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, and that a win would put clear water between them and the rest. Liverpool, the previous champions, responded with their strongest spell before half-time: Florian Wirtz curled a free-kick against the crossbar and Alexis Mac Allister headed a good chance over the bar, Reuters reported. Sports Mole counted 28 Liverpool touches inside the Arsenal box in the first half and four penalty appeals turned down. None of it produced a shot on target — in 442 home league matches since records began in 2003, that had never happened to Liverpool before, PA reported.

The Table

The win takes Arsenal to 24 points from nine games, three clear of Manchester City on 21, Reuters reported. Liverpool’s second league defeat of the season — and their second under manager Andoni Iraola — leaves them fifth, nine points behind the leaders. The attendance at Anfield was 60,406. Both clubs turn to Europe on Wednesday: Liverpool travel to Fenerbahce in the Champions League league phase, while Arsenal are away at Slavia Prague.

What It Means

One game in November decides nothing, and Arsenal’s lead is three points, not thirteen. But the shape of the result is what will travel: the defending champions went to the ground where they had not won in fourteen years, scored early, and then kept the home side from testing their goalkeeper for a full afternoon. Liverpool’s season is not broken — fifth place and nine points can be recovered by spring — but a team that cannot put a shot on target at home, for the first time in more than two decades of records, has a problem that the table only partly describes.

Anfield — In Short

Arsenal beat Liverpool 1–0 at Anfield on Sunday, Kai Havertz tapping in Declan Rice’s low cross in the 16th minute after Liverpool were caught playing out from a goal-kick. It is Arsenal’s first Premier League win at Anfield in 14 years and takes the champions to 24 points from nine games, three clear of Manchester City, who lost at home to Brighton on Saturday. Liverpool — who hit the bar through Florian Wirtz and had four penalty appeals turned down — failed to record a shot on target in a home league game for the first time since records began in 2003, and stay fifth, nine points adrift.

Sources: Reuters, November 1, 2026; Liverpool FC match report, November 1, 2026; PA reporting via the Glasgow Times, November 1, 2026; Sports Mole match report, November 1, 2026; TNT Sports, November 1, 2026.