Arsène Wenger was eager for his team to pick up where they had
left off before the international break, on a sequence of wins, but even in his
most optimistic moments he wouldn’t have dared to imagine the sudden blur of
startling football that created a chasm between his team and Liverpool.
Having been on the receiving end last
season at Anfield, when Arsenal were obliterated in any early kickoff by a
burst of attacking football, the tables were turned at the Emirates. Three
stunning strikes in eight first-half minutes crushed Liverpool, and demonstrated Arsenal at their best, full of self expression
and the desire to play what Wenger describes “the game we love”.
Three peaches, from Héctor Bellerín,
Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez, shredded Liverpool, who travelled south with a
few headaches as far as their lineup was concerned, and went home with a
nauseating migraine. Next season’s Champions League looks like a faded dream
now.
They looked flummoxed from the off, reorganised in a way that
didn’t make them look entirely comfortable. Kolo Touré came into a back four
that missed Martin Skrtl terribly. Jordan Henderson was shunted wide right.
Raheem Sterling began up front but endured the kind of afternoon that put that
ill-considered decision to talk about his future during the week in an even
more unfortunate light.
After Arsenal forced the early issues,
with Simon Mignolet picking up the pieces from a Santi Cazorla fizzer and an
effort Aaron Ramsey should have scored from, Liverpool did threaten briefly.
Philippe Coutinho and Sterling promised.
Arsenal resisted initially, before the game opened up for the visitors.
Coutinho’s delicate pass to Lazar Markovic was perfect. Markovic’s lay off to
the onrushing Sterling fractionally less so.
The crowd held its breath in that millisecond as the goal gaped
and the ball traversed towards the supposed man of the moment. Too strong.
Sterling flashed a leg at the ball but it was gone.
And soon, so were Liverpool. A move of
classic refinement gave them the lead. It started as Özil gathered the ball in
the centre circle. He paused. Looked. Calculated. Then he lofted an arcing pass
over to Ramsey on the right, who noticed Bellerín galloping upfield. The young
Spaniard, who has deputised at right-back with such aplomb this season, had the
confidence to canter goalwards and plant the ball with his left foot into the
far corner of the goal. His elation was merited.
Then came Özil takeover time. The
German’s influence on big games is questioned by some critics, but he
demonstrated the peak of his capability here. In a promising position he was
clipped by Mamadou Sakho, and it was revealing in terms of his much analysed
body language that he got up, no nonsense, and grabbed the ball with intent as
if to make sure the free-kick was his and nobody else’s. His set piece was
struck beautifully, and sailed past Mignolet.
Arsenal’s third was all about Sánchez demonstrating that spark
and high energy, full power game that drives him. His footwork at top speed was
sensational, matched by the wellied thump he got on the ball for his 20th goal
of the season. The Emirates Stadium is not known for erupting with the joyous
noise that greeted that goal – it seemed to be a kind of confirmation of
everything Wenger strives for.
With the game seemingly irretrievable,
Brendan Rodgers sent on Daniel Sturridge at half-time. Liverpool competed more
vigorously in a fairly open second half.
Mignolet was called into action again to
palm away Olivier Giroud’s header. Then David Ospina pushed Emre Can’s shot
aside. The Liverpool defender was later sent off for a second yellow card.
Liverpool did get one goal back via the
penalty spot, when Bellerín tripped Sterling. Henderson stepped up and although
Ospina reached it, the ball made it over the line for Liverpool to score.
Cazorla came close to restoring a
three-goal margin when he struck a post at the end of a sweeping move. That
honour went to Giroud, who won the ball on the halfway line, sprinted onto a
beautiful return pass, and swerved into space to fire home.
It seems bizarre to say “if only” at the
end of what was, in spells, the most dazzling and accomplished football Arsenal
have played this season.
But playing with the power and panache
to take Liverpool apart, it is reasonable for Wenger to wonder what might have
been if only Arsenal had started this run of form earlier.
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