Robin van Persie’s two goals sealed the victory for the Gunners, but Wojciech Szczesny should also be congratulated for making several fantastic stops to keep Arsenal in the contest. Arsene Wenger’s side once again came from behind to win, which should end any criticism over a supposed lack of leadership.
Liverpool made two huge errors that ultimately cost them the match. They allowed Robin van Persie to have two chances. The Dutchman only had two shots during the entire ninety minutes, but those two efforts proved to be deadly for Kenny Daiglish’s side.
Robin scored the winner in the dying minutes of the game. Alex Song floated a pass towards van Persie, and the clinical striker volleyed the ball past Pepe Reina. In reality, it was a half-chance, but van Persie is capable of bending the simple laws of physics. The goal was very similar to the winner van Persie scored against Everton in December. Song grabbed the assist on that one as well.
The ironic part of the narrative was Liverpool’s incompetence in front of Szczesny’s net. Van Persie only needed two opportunities to score twice, while the Reds failed to capitalize on their good attacking play. In fact, Liverpool even had a majority of the possession (54% to 46%). Arsene Wenger said after the match that his side was outclassed in the first half:
”Liverpool had a very good first half and we were not in the game – what was flattering for us was to be 1-1 at half time.” (Source: Arsenal.com)
Wojceich Szczesny was possibly the only player (aside from RvP) who played well during the first forty-five. The Polish keeper made two outstanding saves after Liverpool were awarded a penalty. The first save brought back memories of his penalty stop against Udinese, while the second save on Kuyt’s follow-up attempt was reminiscent of David Seaman’s famous save against Sunderland. Szczesny was terrific throughout the game.
Unfortunately, it took one of Szczesny’s teammates to finally beat him. Laurent Koscielny helped the goal-challenged Reds by scoring in his own net. Koscielny has developed into a fine defender, but he does have a tendency to make an extremely stupid error every now and then. He will need to break that habit in order to progress to the next level as a player.
It almost seems as though this set of Arsenal players needs the opposition to score first in order to wake up. This season we have conceded the first goal against Spurs, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Norwich, Chelsea, Bolton, Shrewsbury, and Udinese, and in each of those matches, we went on to win. So much for a lack of fight.
The critics will call Arsene Wenger’s squad a one-man team. Of course, Robin van Persie is our key player, and he’s also the best player in the Premier League. I’d rather have a one-man team than a pathetic combination of strikers. Suarez, Kuyt, Bellamy, and Carroll all appeared for Liverpool on Saturday, but the four of them couldn’t score. Oh, and Charlie “Hollywood Pass” Adam would rather attempt a 30-yard blast than actually try to create a goalscoring opportunity.
The day could have been perfect had Mikel Arteta not suffered a scary injury to his neck. Arsenal’s Official Twitter account posted this message after the match: “Update – Mikel Arteta went to a local hospital after the game as a precaution but has travelled back with the squad in good spirits.”
Arteta was not the only Gunners to fall victim to injury. During his post-match press conference, Arsene Wenger said: “The bad news of the day is that Diaby is injured and did his hamstring. Benayoun has a small hamstring problem, Gibbs has a problem. We look decimated after the game. I don’t know who will be available on Tuesday night. Maybe I will play with six strikers as we have to score goals!” (Source: Arsenal.com)
Think of what Diaby and Gibbs could accomplish if their bones were not made of glass.
After the Milan debacle, Arsene Wenger talked about how the flames of crisis can descend upon any club in England at a moment’s notice. Currently, Stamford Bridge is completely engulfed. By the time you read this, Andre Villas-Boas will probably have already been sacked. Hopefully not, because his side are practically handing us the fourth position. Chelsea lost 1-0 to West Brom on Saturday, so our lead over them has extended to three points.
Our victory over Liverpool has effectively knocked Kenny Daiglish’s team out of the race for fourth. They are now ten points behind us, though they do have a game in hand. Newcastle, our opponent for next week, play Sunderland tomorrow, so we will eagerly await the result of that derby match.
Another game which will certainly catch the interest of many Arsenal supporters is the clash between Manchester United and Spurs on Sunday. If Tottenham fall at Old Trafford, we will only be four points away from catching them for third. We’re on the rise!
