With seven games left, Arsenal remains intact for European-spot while Merseyside fell apart for much needed points.
Starting Line-up
A couple of minutes later, Mesut Ozil, the German star who played two sets of 90 minutes on his international duty doubled the lead from a splendid set-piece.
15 minutes short of the final whistle, Liverpool was luckily handed a penalty after Taylor, the referee pointed towards the spot when Sterling was brought down by a clumsy challenge from the goal scorer Bellerin. Henderson converted the spot kick and started their Emirates' 3-1 trail.
Arsenal 4 - 1 Liverpool
(Bellerín 37', M. Özil 40', A. Sanchez 45', O. Giroud 90+) - (J. Hendersen 76')
Starting Line-up
Arsenal
David Ospina, Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Oliver Giroud.
Subs: Ryan Macey, Kieran Gibbs, Gabriel Paulista, Mathieu Flamini, Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck
Liverpool
Simon Mignolet, Emre Can, Kolo Toure, Mamadou Sakho, Joe Allen, Lucas Leiva, Alberto Moreno, Jordan Henderson, Philippe Coutinho, Lazar Markovic, Rahim Sterling.
Subs: Brad Jones, Glen Johnson, Dejan Lovren, Daniel Sturridge, Javier Manquillo, Fabio Borini, Cameron Brannagan.
Both the sides were desperately hoping for a victory and to claim a Champions League spot though finally Arsene Wenger's much-balanced side came out on top. Three late first half goals from Arsenal proved to be decisive for three points.
Less than three minutes and Mignolet had his very first quick test of the evening from Santi Cazorla but held onto the shot with ease.
4 minutes into the encounter and gunners had their early opportunity when Kolo Toure's tackle was won by Ramsey and the Welsh wizard later shot through the grass, but Mignolet once again came to the rescue. Coutinho delivered a tricky through pass onto Markovic when he faced a one-on-one situation against Ospina. The unselfish attacker sent the ball past the keeper to reach Sterling, but the English man couldn't get hold of it and paved way for goal-kick.
Brendon Rodger's side was very much feeble at decisive moments. Arsenal's lethal trio of Ozil, Sanchez and Giroud often broke away their 3 man defence. Especially the former Arsenal player, Kolo Toure was no means a threat to their opponents' attack but instead handed them certain glorious opportunities and was found nervous throughout the half lacking composure and passing.
Clock, ticked past 35 minutes at Emirates Stadium when Spanish full back Hector Bellerin finally found the breakthrough when Liverpool defence once again proved to be frail. Per Mertesacker rolled the ball to Bellerin and the Spaniard passed two defenders in ease to provide a curling shot to pull the lead by their side.
A couple of minutes later, Mesut Ozil, the German star who played two sets of 90 minutes on his international duty doubled the lead from a splendid set-piece.
Goals came flooding down into the dying minutes of the half and Sanchez had his turn then. The Chilean international struck in a sensational shot after tricking Kolo Toure and the ball rifled past Mignolet for the third time.
Arsenal remained the boss team throughout the half and players headed towards the tunnel, with the Liverpool side in despair having a 3 goal deficit.
Rodgers came up with the first substitution of the game when Markovic was replaced by Daniel Sturridge. Neither English attackers from the Liverpool offence produced any convincing chance despite Rodgers offering lots of encouragement from the touch line.
Arsene Wenger enabled his smart tactics and brought on Flamini to replace Ramsey as a sign of defensive change and held on to the lead throughout the game only producing quite a few opportunities.
Later in the half Emre Can was sent off for his poor tackle over Danny Welbeck who came in as a substitute. Can suffered his second booking with the previous one over Sanchez early in the second half.
The much anticipated contest of the weekend almost turned to be a one-sided one especially when the Barclays Premier League player of the month, Olivier Giroud, netted in the fourth goal for the gunners in stoppage time beating Mignolet with a powerful piece of glider.
Misery piled up over Brendon Rodgers' men following a brutal unparalleled 4-1 away defeat to Arsenal and saw their European hopes shattering while Van Gaal considering it an advantage.
Wenger's army succeeded in its seventh straight win and moved to the second spot, 2 points ahead of Manchester City in the table and 4 points short of Chelsea with the Blues having 2 games in hand.
0 comments :
Post a Comment