If a good striker can always get their team out of a hole, Alessia Russo is doing her best to drag Arsenal out of a deep chasm of uncertainty. Her two goals gave the ­under‑pressure Arsenal head coach, Renée Slegers, some brief respite with a much-needed, albeit still rather unconvincing victory.

Russo’s double took her impressive recent tally to seven goals in her past four appearances. Her goals were priceless for an Arsenal team who arrived on Merseyside with just one win in their previous seven Women’s Super League games. They will be relieved to have won after Liverpool posed plenty of problems and the hosts were unhappy about a ­disallowed goal.

Arsenal began the match brightly, with Lisa Baum’s effort deflecting on to the bar and Olivia Smith firing over from a tight angle.…