Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal – Match report

Despite the equalizer, Liverpool carried on to dominate the game and once again were denied taking the lead from Szczesney. Koscielney got to too tight on Suarez who wriggled free and turned the Arsenal defence inside out and shot low towards goal only to be denied superbly the young keeper.

Despite Arsenal playing poorly, Wenger did not make any changes at half time, but we didn’t have to wait long. Five minutes after the start of the second half, Mikel Arteta collided with Henderson in an off the ball incident. The Spaniard was knocked out cold by the clash and had to be taken off in a stretcher and an oxygen mask on his face. This meant that Abou Diaby was brought on for his first appearance in four months.

Liverpool though continued from where they left off in the first half and were making all the running and making life very difficult for the Arsenal players. The pressing game which worked so well v Tottenham was non existent here.

Liverpool were bombarding our box time and again and it only seemed a matter of time until they regained the lead. With the game getting stretched Theo Walcott had a great chance to give Arsenal the lead. Kieran Gibbs had got in behind the Liverpool full-back pulled the ball back to Walcott, whose deflected shot was well saved by Reina.

Wenger then made a change replacing Yossi Benayoun for Gervinho in hope that the Ivorian could take advantage of the tiring Liverpool full-backs.

Abou Diaby‘s afternoon though was short-lived. You sort of feel sorry for him because he brought more stability to the Arsenal midfield after replacing Arteta. He had to come off with a tight hamstring and was replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

As the game was approaching its conclusion, Arsenal looked happy with a draw. But with eight minutes being signalled as stoppage time, Liverpool were set up for a final onslaught. Van Persie though had other ideas.

Song picked the ball up in midfield and clipped a delightful ball over the Liverpool defence to the Dutchman, who, cushioned a fantastic volley into the near post and sent the Arsenal fans into raptures. The goal was in many ways reminiscent to the goal at home v Everton but no less brilliant.

Chamberlain fancied a third and shot just wide. Liverpool were clearly shell-shocked and could not muster any more efforts on goal and it was over.

After last week against Spurs, it was hardly a performance we expected. However, at this stage of the season, I don’t think anyone cares, just as long three points are secured.

Only four points behind Spurs now.

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