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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Simon Collings

Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal: Fabio Carvalho scores winner in Philadelphia pre-season friendly

Arsenal ended their US tour in defeat as they were beaten by Liverpool in Philadelphia.

Fabio Carvalho scored what turned out to be the winning goal after latching onto a great pass by Harvey Elliott.

Before that, Mohamed Salah had put Liverpool ahead and Arsenal were only able to pull one back through Kai Havertz.

The defeat means Arsenal finish their US tour with a 2-1 loss after beating Manchester United last week and drawing with Bournemouth.

Mikel Arteta named a strong team for this showdown with Liverpool, but Jurrien Timber and new signing Riccardo Calafiori were both not in the squad.

Calafiori was not rushed into action given he only joined Arsenal for training on Monday, while Timber was rested.

Liverpool named an attacking side and there was a first start of pre-season for Portugal forward Diogo Jota.

It was Salah who gave Liverpool the lead, though, with the winger finding the net after just 13 minutes.

A long ball forward from Caoimhin Kelleher found Jota, who set it for Elliott. The midfielder then sent Salah clean through and, when one on one, he made no mistake.

The early goal set the tone for an entertaining half and Jota should have got on the scoresheet. He hit the post with one effort and skied another over the bar.

The Reds did double their lead, however, thanks to Carvalho. Once again the assist was from Elliott, whose dinked pass on the edge of the box looped over the Arsenal defence and found Carvalho to score.

Arsenal were on the ropes, but they hit back just before the break when Havertz tapped home after good work from Martin Odegaard.

Havertz pulled one back for Arsenal in their defeat to Liverpool (AFP via Getty Images)

The second-half failed to live up to the entertainment of the first, no doubt in part because both sides made a raft of changes.

Liverpool threw on plenty of youngsters and they managed to hold their own, despite Arsenal dominating possession.

The Gunners had chances to level the game, with Fabio Vieira drawing a good save from Kelleher and Jesus heading over from a corner.

In reality, though, they failed to create any golden opportunities and Liverpool were able to hold out for the win.

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