By: Shane Brennan.
Liverpool travelled to North London last night to face Arsenal, knowing that a win would just put them one point behind leaders Manchester City after their draw with Crystal Palace on Monday night.
Liverpool started the better of the two sides, with Virgil van Dijk testing Aaron Ramsdale from a corner , the Dutch man was left all alone in the box for a free header, but it was to be The Englishman who came out on top producing an Excellent save.
Then it was The Gunners turn to have an attack with the dangerous Gabriel Martinelli , who ran down the Liverpool left wing at quite a pace, crossing the ball really well with Alexandre Lacazette ready to pounce, thankfully Andy Robertson was on hand to make a fine clearance, as Liverpool knew they were in a difficult battle with one of England’s most in form sides at the moment.
Arsenal threw everything at Liverpool, but it has to be said that Liverpool kept a determined Gunners side at arm’s length, and just before the interval the ultimate reward nearly came about for The Reds endeavours, when a quite suburb pass from the boot of Trent Alexander-Arnold from inside his own half found Sadio Mane clean through on goal, but Gabriel put in an heroic tackle, to keep the game on level terms at the break.
After a hard fought first half by both sides, Liverpool knew that they would have to up their performance if they were to leave The Emirates Stadium with all three points in the bag, and sure enough they came out of the blocks firing, when Henderson played in Mane to finish well, as The Reds thought they had a crucial break through, but the linesman’s flag was to let Arsenal off the hook this time.
Arsenal were then gifted a suburb opportunity by the usually reliable Thiago Alcantara, he played a back pass as he didn’t see Lacazette coming, and in turn the French man was in on goal , he picked out Martin Odegaard, who managed to get his shot away, but thanks to Alisson Becker’s sharp movements he managed to get himself into position, to pull off a great save, and get Liverpool out of a very sticky situation once again.
Liverpool were to take full advantage of their good fortune, when Thiago threaded a nice ball through the Arsenal defence to find, Diogo Jota who squeezed the ball underneath Ramsdale, to give Liverpool, a massive goal in pursuit of Premier League glory.
Then Liverpool managed to grab a quick second goal, through constant pressure, which led to Andy Robertson crossing the ball to find Roberto Firmino, who tapped the ball into the net, to give Liverpool a crucial second goal and a firm grip on the game.
Arsenal tried to respond with a fine attempt of their own, as Granit Xhaka found Martinelli, as he got a good shot away which agonisingly went past the post, and with that it was lights out on a creditable Arsenal effort.
It was to be Liverpool’s night at the Emirates, as the title race is well and truly alive and kicking, up next for Liverpool is a trip to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest in The FA Cup Quarter Final on Sunday evening.
