Arsenal's squad depth may prove pivotal in title race

Mikel Arteta first turned to Myles Lewis-Skelly.

- RICHARD JOLLY SENIOR FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT

Then he went to a double bill of Gabriels, with both Jesus and Martinelli. Next came Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze.

There were five substitutions before Liverpool's first. Even that was enforced. Injury time proved a sadly accurate term as Conor Bradley was stretchered off and Joe Gomez came on.

Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool finished 5-1 in one respect: changes. "I think there are other things to talk about where both teams are at the moment than talking about the bench," countered Arne Slot. The league table shows a 14-point gap and Slot cited a 20-goal difference in their respective set-piece balances, to borrow his term.

But champions and their probable successors have pursued different policies in their attempts to win the title. Liverpool were famously the biggest spenders, but Arsenal had the largest net spend. Slot got the flashiest signings. Arteta did not. Indeed, the last pair he brought on, Madueke and Eze, were summer arrivals but do not seem to figure in his first-choice side.

He filled out his squad, filled in every gap. It was the Polyfilla approach to winning the title, ensuring there were no cracks left in the group.

There was a case, reduced by their autumnal struggles and stumbles, to say that Liverpool had the strongest starting 11. It remains utterly uncontroversial to say that Arsenal have the best squad. No one else has quality in such depth. Arsenal, Slot had said the day before the stalemate at the Emirates, were a team with no obvious weaknesses. “The complete package,” he called them. Liverpool remain an incomplete package.