Match report
Full time: Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal
Liverpool are deserved winners of an extremely good game of football. The front three of Mane, Coutinho and Firmino were just brilliant, as was Adam Lallana, and Liverpool continue their outstanding big-game record this season. There will be lots of talk about Arsenal omitting Alexis Sanchez. It was a debatable decision, but it wasn’t why they lost this game. They lost it because Xhaka and Coquelin are a papier mache midfield, and because Liverpool were sensational in attack. Thanks for your company, night.
Updated
90+2 min Origi was actually offside when he ran onto Lallana’s pass, but it was still a brilliant goal.
Sanchez’s shot was blocked by Matip and deflected to Lallana, who held the ball and then flicked an outside-of-the foot pass out to Origi on the right wing. He played a fast low ball into Wijnaldum, who galloped into the area and crashed an emphatic first-time shot to the left of Cech. That was the most exhilarating goal.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal (Wijnaldum 90+1)
This is a classic counter-attacking goal.
Updated
90+1 min A great move from Arsenal, started by Sanchez, ends with the same player having a shot blocked in the area - and Liverpool break to score a third!
90+1 min There will be three minutes of added time. “It’s tempting to rail at Walcott for being disappointing,” says Charles Antaki. “Very tempting. But we’re in Lent.”
90 min Arsenal have fought really hard in the second half but they look beaten now.
Updated
87 min Klavan makes a fine sliding block from Perez’s first-time shot, which came after a nice through ball by Oxlade-Chamberlain.
85 min Arsenal are struggling to get any attacking momentum. There have been a few poor crosses and passes in the final third in the last 10 minutes, and there’s another from Theo Walcott.
84 min You can see why the referee didn’t send Can off. Walcott was fouled almost simultaneously by Can and Matip, and it only became clear with the benefit of replays that Can got him first.
83 min: Origi hits the post! It was an excellent flicked header from Milner’s inswinging free-kick. Cech was beaten and it bounced off the face of the post.
80 min Liverpool make a change: Divock Origi replaces the wonderful Coutinho.
78 min Can is leaving the field, but not in the manner he should be. He fouled Walcott, for which he probably deserved a second yellow card, and then spent ages rolling round. In fairness I think it was an injury, and eventually he limped to the sideline before returning to the field. Granit Xhaka was booked for questioning why Can wasn’t booked a second time.
Updated
76 min Xhaka, who has had a poor game, concedes a needless free-kick on the right wing. Coutinho curls a gorgeous ball towards Matip, who should score but mistimes his close-range header into the ground and that gives Cech the opportunity to save to his right.
Updated
74 min The wonderful Coutinho abracadabras some space on the edge of the box before driving over the bar. Arsenal then make their last substitutions: Lucas Perez and Theo Walcott replace Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud.
72 min The indefatigable Milner wins a corner down the left. It’s played short and eventually cleared by Giroud.
68 min Can is booked for a foul on Sanchez. This is a cracking match now: 60 per cent football, 40 per cent basketball.
66 min Firmino’s surprise through ball to Coutinho is just cut out by the stretching Mustafi. Great defending. Mustafi has been excellent in the second half.
65 min Mane escapes Monreal with some CGI footwork and finds Clyne, who splatters an optimistic shot high and wide at the near post. Mane has had a fantastic game, again.
Updated
63 min Bellerin’s low cross almost reaches Sanchez, with Clyne doing well to get in front of him and clear.
62 min This match is lurching back and forth, with Arsenal an attacking threat for the first time in the game. It’s richly entertaining if you’re into the whole neutral thing.
60 min A rapid break from Liverpool almost brings a third goal. Coutinho slides a dangerous ball across the six-yard box, and Mustafi does extremely well to boot it over his own bar rather than into the net.
Updated
59 min “Why bother watching this game?” says Benjamin Park. “This is Chelsea all over again. Lose, but possibly get a last minute goal as consolation. I’m heading to the cinema.”
Insert your own Groundhog Day joke here.
Updated
58 min “In the old days, all this footballers’-names-and-music stuff would have inspired me to come with a related All-time XI,” says Mac Millings. “In my dosage, all you’re getting is: Kasper When You Call My Name, It’s Schmeichel little prayer.”
‘Dosage’, indeed.
Sanchez made it in the inside-left position with a deflected through pass to Welbeck, who saw Mignolet coming and dinked it classily over him. That’s a lovely finish.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal (Welbeck 56)
Arsenal are back in it!
Updated
55 min Liverpool get another corner after some beautiful one-touch passing from the front three. It’s headed away but, bloody hell, Liverpool have played some football today.
54 min ... and it’s straight into the wall.
Updated
53 min Coutinho is fouled just outside the area by Mustafi. He has been marvellous today; so have Firmino, Mane and Lallana. Coutinho will take the free-kick...
50 min Firmino makes some room in the box with a delightful turn, lobbing the ball over Koscielny in the process, but then his shot hits Monreal and loses its sting as a result.
48 min Fine save from Mignolet! Monreal, in a deep position on the left, curled a cross towards the leaping Giroud, who strained every neck muscle to force a header towards goal. Mignolet dived high to his right to palm it up and onto the top of the bar.
Updated
47 min Mignolet does well to palm Sanchez’s left-wing cross away from Welbeck at the far post.
Updated
47 min “Hi Rob,” says Brendan O’Sullivan. “Our problems certainly aren’t helped by a major hole in front of the defence where Santi Cazorla should be. However, every season there’s always one long-term injury without which we would have won the league, so the story goes. A masterplan for a team that’s negated by a single injury isn’t a masterplan.”
Updated
46 min Peep peep! Arsenal begin the second half. Alexis Sanchez has come on for Francis Coquelin.
“Is the problem in front for the back four?” says Bill Hargreaves. “I have a feeling that if Arsenal had bought Kante they’d be first, too.”
Yes. Mind you, if Rushden & Diamonds bought Kante they’d probably be top of the Premier League.
Updated
Post-triumphalism “It says so much about Liverpool’s season (and my own sad, fragile state of mind) that I’m struggling to enjoy this,” says Matt Dony. “I’m already worried about Burnley at home next week.”
Half-time entertainment (with thanks to Wilson Beuys)
“The Xhaka Can reference made me want to draw your attention to her possibly lesser-known sister, (Tiki) Taka Boom. If possible, she has an even more magnificent voice, as evinced on The Undisputed Truth album, Method to the Madness.
“Composed by funk genius Norman Whitfield, the whole album is a treat, from the giant white afros on the cover and the opening spoken track where the band gets zapped up into space by aliens, to the title track and, above all, this magnificent tour de force, You + Me = Love.
“Masterful arrangement, non-stop funk and an astonishing singer—and just when you think it’s slowing down, it all kicks in again and keeps on going… for 11 minutes. Perfect half-time entertainment.”
Half time: Liverpool 2-0 Arsenal
The big-game specialists deservedly lead the big-game strugglers 2-0. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
44 min Coutinho misses a great chance to make it 3-0. The exceptional Lallana’s shot hit a defender before looping wickedly over the defence. Coutinho’s first touch to kill the spinning ball was glorious; his second was too close to Cech.
43 min Arsenal are suffering death by deja vu. It’s not nice to watch.
Liverpool built the attack patiently down the left through Milner and Wijnaldum, who then found Firmino on the left of the box. He held off a defender, kept his head up while doing so and played a lovely square pass across the box to find Mane in all kinds of space. He took a touch and smashed the ball hard and low past Cech. That was high-class football by any measure.
Updated
GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Arsenal (Mane 39)
This is a great goal.
Updated
36 min Mane turns smartly on the edge of the area before trying to chip Cech. It drifts a few yards wide. Liverpool have been sensational in the last 15 minutes.
34 min Coutinho nutmegs Mustafi and goes down in the D. The referee says play on. Arsenal are being run ragged at the moment and now Coquelin has booked for pulling back Lallana.
32 min Liverpool are starting to look really menacing on the counter attack. First Coutinho has a shot from 15 yards that is blocked and then Mane, after a masterful first touch, overhits a through pass to Clyne.
31 min “It’s the box-of-chocolates team again,” writes an unnamed reader. “You never know what you are going to get. Hammered by bottom of the division teams, masterful against the Premiership’s best. Mostly. Another ‘what could have been’ season. Maddening.”
I know, right. Same old Arsenal.
30 min A long punt forward from Cech comes back to Xhaka, who clatters the bouncing ball miles wide from 25 yards.
Updated
29 min Mane is butchered on the edge of the box by Mustafi. The referee plays a fine advantage, allowing Coutinho to lash a rising drive that is excellently tipped over by the diving Cech.
Updated
28 min Arsenal have lost some of their effervescence since conceding the goal, like a solemn dog that can’t understand why it keeps soiling the expensive rug.
Updated
27 min Sanchez is warming up now. What could it all mean?
24 min Giroud is moving gingerly and seems to have a problem with his right leg. Either that or he just wants to tease us, the big hunk. Arsenal have three men warming up, but Sanchez is not among their number.
23 min Arsenal enjoy a long spell of possession. The last time they did that they went behind from the resulting goal-kick. This time they get a throw-in.
22 min “I feel for you, Matt Dony,” says Simon Frank. “I couldn’t effing resist.”
Funk This.
21 min Oxlade-Chamberlain dinks a left-footed cross towards the far post. Mignolet, under pressure from Giroud, misses his punch completely and the ball goes behind for an erroneously awarded corner. No matter: the corner is cleared.
20 min Liverpool have been much the better team since the goal. Arsenal are in danger of being blown away before Alexis Sanchez has gone for his first token warm-up.
18 min “I’m looking forward to the commentary if the midfield gets really scrappy,” says Matt Dony. “‘Xhaka, Can, Xhaka, Can...’.”
17 min When the corner is only half cleared, Coutinho hammers a cross all the way across the area. Matip tried the old Nigel Clough finish behind his standing leg but the ball flashed past him.
16 min Can drills a great crossfield pass to Clyne, who wins a corner off Monreal.
12 min That will annoy Arsene Wenger so much. Arsenal started the game really well and then jiggered it all by conceding a needless goal. The moment the ball skimmed off the head of Koscielny and went through to Coutinho, they were in trouble.
Updated
This is a soft goal to concede, coming straight from a goalkick. It was allowed to travel all the way through to Coutinho, who headed it back to Lallana. He fed it wide to Mane, who drove a low cross-shot from just outside the area. It was missed by Coutinho in the middle of the goal but came to Firmino, who had danced into space at the far post and had time to control the ball before ramming a shot over Cech from six yards.
Updated
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal (Firmino 9)
Erm, about Arsenal starting the game well...
Updated
9 min Arsenal keep the ball for ages until Xhaka slightly overhits his lofted through pass to Monreal. They’ve started this game really well.
6 min Arsenal are sitting deeper than usual when Liverpool have possession, with nine behind the ball a lot of the time.
5 min The corner is half-cleared to Coquelin, who shoots straight at Mignolet from 22 yards.
Updated
4 min A good break from Arsenal. Bellerin scoots down the right and stands up a cross that is headed behind by Matip.
3 min “Rob, I know you’re doing a football blog,” says James Lane. “But did you happen to catch any of the cricket today? Phoar.”
Don’t.
2 min Milner’s cross pings behind off Oxlade-Chamberlain for an early Liverpool corner. Arsenal clear it at about the eighth attempt.
1 min Peep peep! After a lively rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, Arsenal kick off from left to right. They are in yellow; Liverpool are in red.
“No Sánchez?” sniffs Charles Antaki. “Let the post-mortems start here then, before the body is on the slab or even lying down. He’s downed tools, is in a huff, has let down his teammates, has had his head turned, has betrayed Wenger, and so on. Or maybe he’s like, y’know, unfit. And Arsenal are as perfectly capable of losing a game with him in as out.”
I’m surprised more managers don’t use specialist subs. Maybe using your best player from the bench is a bit extreme but there’s something in it. In a parallel universe, Theo Walcott is a world-famous specialist substitute.
Updated
“Rob,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “As part of the pre-game festivities are Jurgen Klopp and Arsene Wenger doing an interpretive dance involving passing the Crisis Baton back and forth, said cursed object being laid in the centre of the pitch by murdered saint Claudio Ranieri?”
I thought Aitor Karanka had just charged off with Crisis Baton? I just can’t keep up with all these bloody crises.
Pre-match reading
Team news
Alexis Sanchez has been left out, with Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud starting. Jake Humphrey isn’t impressed.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Mignolet; Clyne, Matip, Klavan, Milner; Can, Wijnaldum, Lallana; Mane, Firmino, Coutinho.
Substitutes: Karius, Moreno, Lucas, Alexander, Lovren, Origi, Woodburn.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Xhaka; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Welbeck; Giroud
Substitutes: Ospina, Gibbs, Gabriel, Ramsey, Alexis, Walcott, Lucas.
Referee Robert Madley.
Updated
Preamble
Hello. Liverpool and Arsenal are two of the eternal greats of English football, with 31 league titles between them, but the wait for No32 hangs over this game. In the first half of the season both teams committed the cardinal sin: they gave their fans hope. That has made the reality of the 2016-17 season - that they have a job on to finish fourth, never mind first - so much more dispiriting.
Forget all that. Let’s accentuate the positive instead: neither of these teams can defend, so we’re bound t-
Hang on, let’s try that again: both of these sides are superb in attack, so we’re bound to see some goals. The last two matches between the sides ended 3-3 and 3-4. Since the turn of the century they have also been involved in a 5-1, a 4-4, a 3-6, a 5-1, two 4-1s, a 4-0 and a couple of famous 4-2s. And a win for either team would put them third in the table. Just don’t mention the title.
Kick off is at 5.30pm.
Updated
