The Liverpool captain says his side also had players missing and rejected the idea of Arsenal digging in for a plucky draw

“It goes both ways,” Virgil Van Dijk said, as he reflected on his off-the-ball clash with Arsenal’s Kai Havertz in the opening exchanges of Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. It was a point that Van Dijk was keen to apply more broadly, taking in the subject of which team had suffered the most in terms of player unavailability.

“We can keep speaking about them missing players and players going out [during the game] but it’s part of football,” the Liverpool captain said. “I think we also missed certain players.”