Liverpool’s entire defence was exceptional in their win over Manchester City, but I was especially pleased with Joe Gomez’s performance alongside Virgil van Dijk.
It’s four years since they were first paired together at centre-half for the Reds, when Gomez was 21. Back then, in November 2018, I said we might be seeing the start of one of the all-time great Premier League partnerships in central defence.
We’ve been denied that because of the serious injury that Gomez suffered while training with England in November 2020, when he ruptured the patellar tendon in his left knee.
I still always believed in Gomez, who has hardly played at centre-half since, but I knew it would take time for him recover because I know that injury well, and the saga that comes with it.
That’s why Sunday was very big day for him.
An injury that is ‘always on your mind’
I suffered a partial tear of my patellar tendon, and it was the most debilitating of my career – I was out of action for four months, but it took me a couple of years to get my pace back completely, and be able to deal with a striker’s acceleration the same way I used to.
It took much longer than that for me to get over it completely, and it is serious enough to be something you can end up nursing for the rest of your career.
Gomez’s was a complete tear, where the tendon is separated from the kneecap, so it was worse than mine. Even for me, though, it was an injury that stayed with me.
To understand why, you have to know about the amount of force that goes through your knee when you are a Premier League centre-half. The demands during a game are unbelievable, and your body has to be able to deal with it or you are found out.
I watched Gomez live when Liverpool were thrashed by Napoli in the Champions League earlier in the season. It was a game where he and the rest of Liverpool’s defence came in for a lot of criticism, not for the first or last time in recent weeks.
Gomez was playing at centre-half alongside Van Dijk then too, but he wasn’t himself. He looked to me like he was just trying to get through the game, which is what you do after an injury like that.
You don’t want to put too much energy through that leg, or ask too much of it, because, believe me, you are always thinking about it. It is always on your mind.
Against City, Gomez could not let his knee affect him like that. Not when he was playing against Erling Haaland.
This was big for him because it wasn’t just about him playing well to get a result for Liverpool, it was about rebuilding his reputation. He has fallen a long way down the pecking order for club and country, especially in the centre of defence.
Gomez only started four Premier League games last season, all of them at right-back, but he is an absolutely top-class centre-half and he showed it on Sunday.
He had the pace to deal with Haaland, and the power in the air. He also had the desire and the confidence, now that his injury is behind him.
That is great news for Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, and I think Gomez might also have answered some of Gareth Southgate’s prayers before the World Cup.
With this performance, he was back to his best. It was brilliant to see.
Van Dijk in the right place when it mattered
Alongside Gomez, Van Dijk was also in the mood where he decided he would not just stand up to Haaland, he would try to bully him.
There was one City chance late on where Van Dijk headed the ball over his own bar when it would have otherwise been a close-range tap-in for Haaland.
It was a difficult ball to deal with, across the face of goal, but if it reaches the striker and he scores we ask ‘where are the defenders?’
Well, this time, they were bang on it. He and Gomez were always in the right place when it mattered, when the ball came into the box.
They knew they had to target Haaland, and challenge him everywhere he went.
There had been enough said and written about him and his 20 goals in 13 games for them to say to each other as a centre-half pairing ‘you deal with that’ in different scenarios. Between them, they got it exactly right.
Are Liverpool contenders again?
This was a great result for Liverpool but I don’t think it changes much for them in the title race.
It would have to be one of the biggest comebacks of all time for them to win the Premier League from here, even after this win.
Liverpool are still 10 points behind City, although Jurgen Klopp’s side do have a game in hand.
Crucially, we know how City react when they are beaten. Under Pep Guardiola, they always seem to go on long runs of winning game after game.
They had won seven out of nine in the league before they went to Anfield and I’d expect them now to go and win their next seven games in all competitions before the season stops for the World Cup. That’s what they do.
So, although it was a good day for Liverpool, in terms of what it means at the top of the table, it was a much better one for my old team, Arsenal.
City’s first league defeat of the season means our 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’ record is intact for another year, and although the Gunners really rode their luck to beat Leeds, they are now four points clear at the top.
Martin Keown was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.
