The most anticipated game of the Super Sunday line up of fixtures featured the game between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield. From a Liverpool and football point of view, it was a breathtaking 90 minutes of scintillating football action as Arsenal failed to muster a shot on target.
Liverpool with their high pressing game hit Arsenal with four unreplied goals from Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah and Daniel Sturridge. From the blast of the whistle, Liverpool started the game like a house on fire and it didn’t take long for them to get the first goal which came from a Firmino header off an inviting Gomez cross in the 17th minute.
Liverpool however refused to rest on their oars as they continued to probe and ask questions of the Arsenal defence with Peter Cech making some fine saves, notably 3 against Mohammed Salah. He was however left helpless in the 40th minute as Mane curled in the second goal of the game after a swift counter-attacking move in which the Merseyside team picked Arsenal apart with beautifully crafted passes. This was the irony of the game as Arsenal who are characteristically known for playing beautiful football were torn apart by Liverpool.
Bellerin then makes a mess of a pass as he fails to control the ball, allowing Salah to pounce and run at Cech before finishing with aplomb to make it 3-0. After the 3rd goal Arsenal manager, Arsenal Wenger substitued Sanchez and Chamberlain for Giroud and Lacazette. Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp then reacted by throwing in Sturridge who soon added a 4th goal after a fine cross from Salah. ‘I saw 11 outstandingly good individual performances. The performance was perfect and the result was the result of the performance,’ Liverpool manager, Klopp said after the game.
Manager Wenger who obviously looked devastated by the result said: ‘I think from the first to the last minute we were not at the level requested for such a game and not physically, not technically, not mentally were we at the level and we were punished and that’s basically it. You can of course analyse the chances we gave away, but I just think overall that the performance was not at the requested level.’
The international break cannot come at a better time for Arsenal team as the manager would hope that his players clear their heads and return to the club in two weeks time with a better performance against Bournemouth.
