In full: Jordan Henderson's matchday programme notes

Like anyone who has had any kind of involvement with Liverpool Women’s Hospital, I was shocked and disturbed by what occurred there last weekend.  

The Women’s is the hospital where my kids were born so it will always be a special place for me and my family and it has always been somewhere where we have felt safe. Like I’ve said, seeing it under threat was a massive shock and I know it will be the same for everyone who has ever visited. 

My immediate thoughts were for the staff and patients. A week on, this hasn’t changed. Everyone who works at the Women’s does an incredible job, providing unbelievable care and support and making the hospital the perfect place for generations of Liverpool kids to be brought into the world.

Like anyone else going about their work, the least they deserve is to feel safe and secure when they do their jobs. Last Sunday this wasn’t the case so right now they need the support of all of us as they continue trying to come to terms with what happened. 

It was easier for me to put myself in the shoes of a visitor because I have been one. Like every new dad who has been there, I have been in that car park and walked through those doors and every time I have done so I have known that I was going to a place where my family and myself couldn’t feel safer. Nothing else makes sense, to be honest – it is a hospital. 

Seeing its chief executive, Kathryn Thomson, refer to the traumatic experience that had taken place really brought home what everyone has been through. It is clear from what Kathryn went on to say that the messages of support that the hospital has received have made a massive difference so hopefully we can all carry on with that, even if it’s just a few kind words, in the knowledge that it really does help. 

My thoughts are also with the taxi driver who was injured in the attack. Again, he was just going about his job and I can’t even begin to imagine what he has gone through. I don’t know much about him other than that his name is David Perry, but I hope he is doing OK and that in time he will somehow be able to get over what happened. 

There are no positives to come out of this – the only positive would have been if it had never happened – but there is a glimmer of one in the way that the people of Liverpool have responded. This doesn’t come as any surprise, of course, but it is as important now as it has ever been because there will be those who want to use last Sunday’s events to divide us and we can’t allow this to happen. 

The Women’s Hospital welcomes everyone and so does the city of Liverpool. This has to carry on. Anything else would go against what both have always stood for. 

I’m pretty sure there will be supporters at Anfield today who were at the Women’s last weekend, whether as staff, patients or visitors, so as ever our responsibility as players is to give our best for them, just as they always give their best for us. 

I know our jobs are nowhere near as important, but we can lift spirits and give people a bit of an escape and if there’s one thing I can always guarantee about this squad it’s that every single player will do their very best to achieve that. 

We fell short in our last game against West Ham and this was hugely disappointing to all of us because the defeat brought an end to our unbeaten run. The challenge when you do suffer a loss is to look to respond in the right way. This has been the message ever since that setback and it will be the thought that’s running through all of our minds when the game kicks off today. 

Arsenal are a very good side and they are improving all the time so we will be taking nothing for granted, but it is our reaction that counts most because we know that if we respond in the right way our chances of being successful, not just today but in the season as a whole, will be much greater.