Liverpool vs Arsenal: Top 5 Games

Liverpool vs Arsenal: Top 5 Games Liverpool and Arsenal have faced each other 223 times with the first match being Woolwich Arsenal vs Liverpool on 28^th October 1893 which the Merseyside team won 5-0, since then Liverpool have won 86 games with Arsenal winning 78 and 59 of the match ups ending as a draw. Current Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is yet to lose against Arsenal in his Liverpool reign, winning the past three games and drawing his first game against the Gunners 3-3. With the two teams set to face off in the Premier League once again on Friday here is my Top 5 Liverpool games against Arsenal: Liverpool 4 1 Arsenal 31st March 2007 With Liverpool 3^rd and Arsenal 4^th the battle for this game was to solidify top 4 credentials, the season before Arsenal had been beaten by Barcelona in the Champions League final and whilst it wasn’t confirmed at the time Liverpool would be heading into their second European final in just three seasons. Liverpool took an early lead as Peter Crouch beat his defender to a low near post cross from Arbeloa and smashed the ball past Jens Lehmann after just four minutes. The score would stay at 1-0 for half an hour but Benitez’ team would go into half-time 2-0 as Peter Crouch got his second of the game; this time rising above every one else to nod the ball home and double Liverpool’s lead. It would only take 15 second half minutes for Liverpool to put clear daylight between themselves and Arsenal, Daniel Agger somehow found himself unmarked in the box and took full advantage of the opportunity with a header to send Liverpool into a 3-0 lead. There would be a brief moment where William Gallas would pull one back for Arsenal but with less than 10 minutes to go Peter Crouch would seal the game and his perfect hat-trick with a nice piece of footwork before slamming the ball home with his left foot. Arsenal 3 4 Liverpool 14th August 2016 With the Premier League throwing up this fixture to start the season it guaranteed that at least one Premier League giant would be unable to start the season off with three points. Arsenal came flying out of the blocks and were awarded a penalty early on for a foul by Moreno on Walcott, it was Walcott who then stepped up to take the penalty but Simon Mignolet was heroic to prevent the spot-kick. Arsenal’s right winger would soon atone for his penalty miss and give Arsenal the lead, capitalising on poor positioning from Moreno and finally beating Mignolet in goal. Arsenal looked favourites to go into half-time with the lead, that was until Phillipe Coutinho stepped up to score a worldie of a free kick from over 30 yards out and ensure that both sides came out of the first 45 minutes at a deadlock. In the second half, it was Liverpool’s turn to come flying out the blocks; Adam Lallana’s brilliant touch from Gini WIjnaldum’s ball set himself up to fire past Petr Cech and give Liverpool the lead for the first time in the game. They would then pile on the misery as Coutinho got on the end of a Clyne cross to divert the ball into the net and put Liverpool 3-1 up. Then came a moment of brilliance from Liverpool’s new signing Sadio Mane, picking the ball up on the right the winger managed to cut inside two players and curl the ball with his weaker foot into the top corner of the goal. Liverpool were cruising at 4-1 but were put back on their heels after now Liverpool player Oxlade-Chamberlain got one back for Arsenal and Callum Chambers added a third ten minutes later. With 15 minutes to go Liverpool’s lead had been cut down to one and Arsenal were hunting for that elusive 4th goal that would at least get them a point. Fortunately, Jurgen Klopp’s team held on for the win and got their season off to a great start. This win would inspire the team to a top 2 place at Christmas before a bad January saw them settle for fourth come the end of the season. Liverpool 4 0 Arsenal 27th August 2017 Once again Liverpool met Arsenal really early on in the season, this time round there were a couple of games played before and Liverpool would be the home team. A draw away to Watford and a last minute winner at Palace meant that Liverpool had made an ok start but that the tactics hadn’t fully clicked into place, Arsenal had just about managed to scrape a win against Leicester on the first game of the season but a loss away to Stoke had rattled the team and Wenger was coming to Anfield looking to bounce back. Liverpool completely dominated the game from finish to end, Arsenal never looked like they were at the races and the choice to start Welbeck upfront instead of new man Lacazette backfired for Wenger. Liverpool managed to finally break Arsenal down after 17 minutes when Firmino guided a Joe Gomez cross past Petr Cech, a second member of the fab four in Sadio Mane would then add the second just before half time; picking the ball up on the left and cutting inside to curl the ball into the far corner in a similar way to his goal against the Gunners the season before. Liverpool piled on the misery for Arsenal fans in the second half, in the 57th minute Salah capitalised on a poor touch from Hector Bellerin and ran the length of the pitch quicker than anyone else whilst still managing to keep the ball at his feet. The Egyptian showed the great composure that we’ve all got used to seeing from him to slide the ball past Petr Cech at the end of his run and extend Liverpool’s lead to three. Salah would then have a hand in the final goal of the game, crossing to substitute Daniel Sturridge at the back post for him to head in and make sure that the scoreline showed the embarrassment that Liverpool had just laid upon Arsenal. Liverpool 4 -2 Arsenal 08th April 2008 After drawing the first leg at The Emirates 1-1 the momentum was with Liverpool for the second leg at Anfield. With a semi final in sight Liverpool’s European pedigree made them the favourites to beat Arsenal and make at least the semi final of the Champions League for the third time in four seasons. Liverpool had a nightmare start, Abou Diaby scored for Arsenal after just 13 minutes to erase Liverpool’s away goal and put Arsenal 2-1 up on aggregate. Their lead would only last for 17 minutes as Sami Hyypia met a deep Steven Gerrard corner and produced an incredible header to beat the goalkeeper and the man on the near post. The teams went into half time level and with the score line the same as it was at the end of the first leg everything was to play for in the final 45 minutes. Liverpool enjoyed most of the better chances in the second half but wouldn’t take the lead until the 69th minute, Fernando Torres picked the ball up in Arsenal’s box and some quick touches set him up to whip the ball into the far post and give Liverpool a 2-1 lead. The team pushed for more goals and mounted the pressure on Arsenal, but it was the away side that would score the next goal. Picking up the ball off of a Liverpool set-piece, Theo Walcott ran the length of the pitch taking on three Liverpool players in the process before sliding the ball to Adebayor who smashed the ball past Pepe Reina. The goal made the game 3-3 on aggregate and Arsenal were going through on away goals but straight from kick off Ryan Babel won a penalty from Kolo Toure and Gerrard dispatched it to put Liverpool back in front. After again reversing the roles, Arsenal were pushing for their third goal of the game and this time it was Liverpool’s turn to counter attack. Hyypia cleared the ball up the pitch and Ryan Babel was first to it, outpacing Cesc Fabregas and slotting the ball past Almunia in goal to put Liverpool 4-2 up and send them through to the Champions League semi-final. Liverpool 5 1 Arsenal 08th February 2014 To the shock of many, Liverpool had found themselves in a Premier League title race and Arsenal presented themselves as a big challenge in that battle for the top spot in English football. Challenging for the top 4 themselves Arsenal needed to get a result and to win away to high flying Liverpool would have sent a message to the rest of the Premier League. Arsenal’s challenge lasted 60 seconds, from the kick off Liverpool won a free kick on the far left. Steven Gerrard whipped the ball in and Martin Skrtel was there to poke the ball home and give Liverpool an early lead. Similar to the result this season, Liverpool were all over Arsenal from start to finish and were creating chance after chance after chance. In the tenth minute of the game Skrtel was at it again as he latched onto a Gerrard corner and connected with a header that was reminiscent of Hyypia’s goal in the 2008 Champions League Quarter Final. In a rampage that lasted just 20 minutes Liverpool nearly went 3-0 up as Suarez hit the post with a spectacular volley and Kolo Toure missed the open goal rebound, Sturridge missed a one on one and Flanagan had a chance to score but it was the young Raheem Sterling who made it 3-0 to Liverpool after just 16 minutes. It was then Sturridges time to make amends for his earlier miss and score Liverpool’s fourth goal of the game, in easily the teams best first half of the season they had completely embarrassed a fellow Premier League rival. Games like this tend to slow down in the second half and that afternoon was no different. Sterling got on to his own rebound to make it 5-0 and get his second before Gerrard brought down Oxlade-Chamberlain to give Arsenal a penalty which Arteta made no mistake of to make it 5-1. That’s how the game would end but all the damage was done within the first 20 minutes of the game. Liverpool had produced by far their best performance of the season and had brushed aside Arsenal to continue their pursuit of the Premier League title. Article by Louis Connor Twitter: @Loui_Connor For more Redmen TV content including podcasts, subscriber exclusives and three new shows every week subscribe now and get your first month for FREE bit.ly/RMTVjoin