If any opponent could have known what was coming when Dominik Szoboszlai stood over that free kick at Anfield back in the summer, it was Arsenal. For almost half a decade before his move to Liverpool, the Gunners had been closely following the progress of a youngster considered the best prospect Hungary had produced in generations.
Before the summer of 2020, there were voices within Arsenal’s recruitment department seriously advocating for a move for the then Red Bull Salzburg midfielder, according to CBS Sports sources. Szoboszlai had been on the Gunners’ wishlist beforehand — 12 months’ earlier he had been under consideration to fill the gap left by the departing Aaron Ramsey — and was developing rapidly with 12 goals and 18 assists in what would prove to be his final full season in Austria. At the end of the year he would depart for sister club RB Leipzig, but in the summer there was an opening that had been fashioned by the scouts. It is understood Szoboszlai was intrigued by the move.
Why Arsenal wanted 19-year-old Szoboszlai
Though there was an acceptance that the then 19-year-old couldn’t be expected to immediately establish himself in the first team, senior figures were entranced by the raw materials of a player who might develop into a left winger, a number 10 or a box-to-box midfielder. He would need time to adapt to the physicality of the Premier League, but Arsenal’s scouting reports backed him to do exactly that. They praised his eye for a pass, his shooting skills and the burst of acceleration that could take him driving through midfields.
Most notable of all there was great admiration for Szoboszlai’s willingness to step up in pressure moments. Even as a teen, Arsenal’s final scouting report noted, he was stepping up to take set pieces and deliver for his team when they needed him to. And he was exceptional at them.
Five years later, didn’t Arsenal know it? Then again in that summer, the one in which technical director Edu dramatically overhauled the scouting department that recommended the young Hungarian, they bought Willian. This was clearly one of those recruitment missteps that happen at every club long before Szoboszlai spanked one in David Raya’s top corner from 32-yards-out.
That moment of brilliance has been in short supply at Liverpool this season but when it has come it has been delivered by Szoboszlai, one of the league’s outstanding performers. As some of his team mates appear to have slackened off after cresting the mountain, he has had the look of a player utterly intent on more. Asked by Sky Sports if Thursday’s game was pitting the current champions against the future one, his response was spiky. “I don’t think we are playing against the champions. They are playing against the champions.”
That spike, a conviction in his own quality that can border on the arrogance, that’s another facet that Arsenal’s recruiters liked about the Hungarian. In this instance though it might serve as yet more material for an Emirates Stadium bulletin board that Mikel Arteta could fill five times over to get his team up for Liverpool’s visit.
It’s been a long half- season since Liverpool last faced Arsenal
Looking back four months on, the last meeting between the champions and the club who are favorites to depose them feels like a curio from a bygone season. Just three games in to the campaign there were those who saw signs of Liverpool ascendant, a team that might well have wobbled out of the gate but who would surely be irresistible if they were getting on winning runs when playing badly.
Arsenal’s lacklustre attacking performance without Bukayo Saka as well as, for most of the game, Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze, was smashed into a familiar narrative of a side who lacked the gumption to go to their rivals and deliver the performance of champions. It was the draw at the Etihad in 2023-24 all over again, ignoring the fact that that had been a game where Arsenal remained ahead of Manchester City at full time.
Arteta wasn’t best pleased about that narrative at the time. He still isn’t. “People are entitled to their opinions,” he said. “Mine was different, but that’s the beauty of football.” What exactly his opinion was is not something he was minded to share. It is clear, however, that the Arsenal manager had something on his mind.
His first response in his pre-match press conference set the tone for the 30 or so hours ahead of Arsenal. “It’s a massive game against the champions of the last Premier League and we have a point to prove,” he said. Asked what that point was, he added: “That we can go again and again – every week we have a point to prove. We had it a few days ago against Bournemouth after a great win against Villa and it’s going to continue like that until May.
“We know that because once we are in the position that we are in, we want to maintain and extend the lead that we have. In order to do that, our level of determination and desire has to be with that mindset.”
It was hard to shake the sense even in the moment that that was Arteta rowing back, seeking to downplay the significance of perhaps the only game this season where his side have come under real flak. It is not as if Arsenal need to prove that they can go again and again. In the three months that followed their loss at Anfield their record read played 18, won 15, drew three. Consistency is not what eludes Arsenal.
There is not much that really has. But how they might love a touch of Szoboszlian magic to assert themselves on the title race on Thursday night, even if the man himself long since evaded their grasp.
Viewing information: Arsenal vs. Liverpool
- Date: Thursday, Jan. 7 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Vitality Stadium — London
- TV: NBC SN | Live stream: Peacock
- Odds: Arsenal -175; Draw +300; Liverpool +400
