Arsenal's Scintillating Attack Push Them Into Second

Match Review: Arsenal 4 Liverpool 1 - Premier League 04.04.15

The demons of last years mauling at Anfield have been banished in spectacular fashion. Liverpool found themselves on the wrong end of a Gunners blitz that saw three goals in eight minutes and killed the game before half time. It was a truly excellent performance from an Arsenal team that has found top form over the last month or two and could now be looking at securing a top two finish, never mind top four.

Surprisingly, Aaron Ramsey was chosen to start down the right, instead of Welbeck and Walcott. In my mind, Welbeck would have most likely would have started had he not picked up a knock on England duty and Walcott seems to be well out of favour and form at the moment. Aside from that one position, the rest of the team picked itself, with Özil and Giroud both in scintillating form.

So often in 12:45 kick offs, we start poorly and get worse, but this time we flew out of the blocks. It seemed Wenger had directed his players to aggressively press Liverpool's three centre backs and it worked brilliantly, penning the away side in and forcing them into risky passes. We won the ball back regularly and looked like we were going to overwhelm Liverpool. Our pressing should have resulted in a goal too, as Kolo Touré held the ball too long and was robbed by Ramsey. However, with Özil to his left and a clear sight of goal, the Welshman fluffed his lines and Mignolet made the save.

After around twenty minutes, we seemed to hit a bit of a wall. Liverpool worked their way into the game and had a period of ten minutes where they had us on the ropes. They too should have scored, after some slick passing carved us open and allowed Markovic a one on one with Ospina. Fortunately for us, Markovic tried to square for Sterling and wasted the chance. Whilst we were the better team, we needed to press home our advantage and take control of the game. But when we finally did, it came from an unexpected source.

Mesut Özil started things off with a wonderful ball out to find Ramsey down the wing. Bellerin came through on the underlap, took Ramsey’s lay off, left Moreno contemplating retirement and curled a stunning left foot shot into the far corner. The Spaniard has long been hailed as a future star, but this has been his breakthrough season. Even when Debuchy is fit again, I suspect he will find himself watching on until Bellerin dips in form or needs a rest. As modern right backs go, Bellerin has all the attributes necessary to be a really top player in his position.

The goal sparked us into life in a big way and suddenly Liverpool were struggling to cope again. After some beautiful passing Sakho could only clatter into Özil and leave us with a free kick in a tantalising area. Cazorla and Alexis have both scored memorable free kicks for us, but this time it was the German playmaker who stepped up and fizzed a glorious effort beyond Mignolet to double our lead. It was the perfect response to those who have sought to malign him from his first day in the Premier League.

Özil’s performances speak for themselves. Since coming back from injury, he’s been key to our good form and shown exactly why he was worth every penny of his transfer fee. The British media have an obsession with ‘passion’, ‘work ethic’ and ‘getting stuck in’ and Mesut Özil has been a victim of closed minded pundits who don’t like his demeanour on the pitch. The fact is that Özil covers the most distance of any Arsenal player nearly every game, creates goals, scores goals, keeps possession in near impossible situations and is by far our most intelligent player in football terms. But because he doesn't sprint around diving into reckless challenges like Scott Parker, or crash in 30 yard wonder goals like Ronaldo, he gets no credit. Ignorant, snide, dismissive pundits like McManaman and Owen can sit and throw rocks all they want, but Özil is a world class player and one of my favourite players to have pulled on an Arsenal shirt.

One player that has had no trouble winning over the media though is Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean has taken the league by storm and eight minutes after Bellerin’s effort hit the net, he showed Liverpool what they missed out on in the summer. Again our pressing forced a mistake, Bellerin intercepted and played a great first time pass to Aaron Ramsey. Ramsey’s first touch allowed him to lay it off to Alexis, who pulled Kolo Touré’s pants down before thumping the ball over Mignolet and into the net. Three sensational goals in eight whirlwind minutes and the game was all but over.

The second half was more sedate. We sat back and looked to counter as Liverpool threw players forward. It seemed that we were going to ease to the win until we had the obligatory Arsenal wobble and conceded a penalty. Bellerin was at fault, diving in and felling Sterling and may have been lucky to escape a second yellow in the process. It shouldn’t detract from what was a wonderful performance from the youngster and it was a mistake made because of inexperience and naivety. Ospina should have saved Jordan Henderson’s spot kick, but he allowed it to squirm under his hand.

Other Arsenal sides might have capitulated, but there is a steel and determination about this squad at the moment. We have a settled line up bar one or two positions and things have clicked into place for us. We were calm and saw the game out professionally and when Emre Can was sent off for a horrible hack at Welbeck, I think most Arsenal fans relaxed. There was even time for Olivier Giroud to curl in a 25 yard pearler to really rub the win in.

This win is a huge step towards securing a Champions League place for next season, sending us nine points clear of both Liverpool and Sp*rs and until City play, we’re all the way up into second. I think with Chelsea’s run in and points lead, a title challenge is pretty much impossible, but securing second is more than attainable, particularly with City looking like a team lacking stability and unity. Winning the FA Cup and getting second place would be a great season for us and a big step towards achieving the greater glory that Arsenal fans have craved for so long.

Teams

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Ospina, Bellerin (Y), Mertesacker, Koscielny (Gabriel 49’), Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey (Flamini 62’), Özil (Welbeck 73’), Alexis, Giroud
Subs
Macey, Walcott, Gibbs, Flamini, Rosicky, Welbeck, Gabriel

Liverpool (3-4-3)
Mignolet, Can (Y/R), Touré, Sakho, Henderson, Lucas, Allen, Moreno, Markovic (Sturridge 45’), Sterling, Coutinho
Subs
Jones, Johnson, Lovren, Sturridge, Manquillo, Borini, Brannagan

Player Ratings

Ospina - 7/10 - Made a good save from Can but should have saved the penalty
Bellerin - 8/10 - Despite the pen, he was electric and scored a brilliant goal
Mertesacker - 7/10 - Tussled with Sterling all game, probably honours even
Koscielny - 7/10 - Worryingly forced off with injury after half time
Monreal - 7/10 - Won’t lose his place to Gibbs any time soon
Coquelin - 9/10 - Immense, dominated the midfield
Cazorla - 7/10 - A few wayward passes, but also hilariously mugged off Coutinho
Ramsey - 8/10 - Did a great job down the right and provided two assists
Özil - 9/10 - Bow down peasants, Mesut is your master
Alexis - 8/10 - Stunning goal and gave their back three nightmares
Giroud - 8/10 - Along with Kane, probably the striker in the best form in the league
Subs
Gabriel - 7/10 - Solid, didn’t have much to do but did it well enough
Flamini - 7/10 - Ditto
Welbeck - 7/10 - Kept the Liverpool defence busy in the closing stages

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