Salah and Carvalho give Liverpool victory over Arsenal

Arne Slot’s new-look Liverpool defeated Premier League rivals Arsenal 2-1 with goals from Mohamed Salah and Fabio Carvalho in Philadelphia.

Salah’s 13th-minute goal and Carvalho’s 34th-minute finish capped some excellent Liverpool play, before Arsenal’s Kai Havertz struck from close range in the 40th minute of a thrilling first half.

Both teams made changes during the second half of the friendly as the pace dropped at Lincoln Financial Field, where the crowd of 69,679 set a stadium record for a football match.

Liverpool will play the final game of their pre-season tour of the United States against Manchester United in Columbia on Saturday (00:45 BST on Sunday).

Arsenal returned straight home after Wednesday’s match and will play a friendly tournament against Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon at the Emirates Stadium.

Will Elliott have his breakout season?

Several of Harvey Elliott’s former England Under-21 team-mates made the senior squad last year and before kick-off the Liverpool player admitted it was up to him to do the same.

The 21-year-old played competently in the dismal 1-0 friendly win against Real Betis, but stood out in the attacking midfield role against Arsenal.

If Diogo Jota hadn’t missed a golden opportunity, Elliott would have scored a hat-trick of excellent assists in the first half, after an excellent first pass for Salah and an instinctive pass to Carvalho.

New manager Slot’s football and his vision for the number 10 role appear to be perfect for Elliott, a versatile player looking to carve out an identity at the highest level.

If he can go from Jurgen Klopp’s utility player to a regular in the new Slot system, an England debut could be on the cards.

When asked about Elliott, Slot said: “Two big assists, but what I believe is the team created that for him as well – playing defense, putting him in the right positions or another number 10, and then it’s all good. It’s up to him to make the most of these situations and he did that today with two assists.

“If I’m a little hard on him, I think maybe there are two other situations where he could have done better, but that’s what the team is doing for him.”

More evidence that Arsenal need a striker?

Arsenal bombarded Liverpool’s goal early on, but wasted chances. Gabriel Jesus opened up a one-on-one chance straight to Caoimhin Kelleher and Gabriel Martinelli shot high from the edge of the box.

The Gunners also missed opportunities to equalize at 2-1, with Havertz, Fabio Vieira and Eddie Nketiah wasting decent opportunities.

Arsenal must decide whether to bring more firepower or try to elevate their capable – but not world-class – forward line to deliver a little more to win the Premier League title.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said: “We have to punish teams. It’s an area where we can obviously improve. The first chance they had, they scored, and that’s what makes the difference too – when you’re in those spaces in the area, putting the ball in the net.

“We created the situations. We had two or three more important situations as well. We have to improve.”

Slot compares your team to one of the best

Reds coach Slot has demonstrated so far on this trip to the United States that his team will take more risks in possession, which will mean some mistakes.

They are playing more fluid football and moving away from former manager Jurgen Klopp’s “heavy metal football” approach.

Liverpool faced Arsenal but saw possession errors from Kelleher (twice) and Curtis Jones lead to shooting chances.

Arsenal, meanwhile, look physically strong and sharp in their familiar style, which Arteta hopes to evolve into again later signing Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori this week.