Where's your famous atmosphere?

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
12 Dec	3:00 PM	P	Liverpool (A)	2	1	Win

Much has been made in the media of Arsenal's inability to get a result when it really matters; defeats where we have effectively shot ourselves in the foot in Manchester twice, followed by a home humiliation at the hands of Chelsea. It is for that reason that yesterdays's turning of the tables on Liverpool should be celebrated.

Perhaps not too widly, but if you can't enjoy not just the victory, but the manner of it, then by my reckoning, you're probably watching the wrong sport. Thirteen months had passed since our previous "Big Four" win at Chelsea and seven years since our last at Anfield, Robért Píres' winning goal on that day a thing of beauty, but surpassed by the winner yesterday. Every football club has their own Bogeyman; ours is Didier Drogba, in the space of just 180 minutes at Anfield, Andrey Arshavin has ensured that Carragher and co will be having nightmares about him for the forseeable future.

I guess you could say that Liverpool are at a low ebb at the moment, as I alluded to on Friday, and so victory was less than surprising. But at the same time, Liverpool are- nominally at least- part of the "Big Four" and had we lost the game, you can guarantee this morning, the epitaphs would have been all over the media for us, once again calling into question our big game temperament. Especially off the back of the points dropped at home by both Chelsea and Manchester United. I don't think you can have it both ways, so obviously I was delighted when the final whistle blew just past 11 PM yesterday evening.

Yes, I didn't get to see the game as it happened, I was out in the sticks yesterday afternoon- or, more politely, at my mum's celebrating my youngest sister's birthday. Despite a promise of lunch by 2, it was actually lunch by 4 and it wasn't till gone nine, that my other sister finally deposited Jo and myself at our front gate. Which was a bit of an arse, I have to say. Having received a text from Luke during the game, I decided to switch my phone off and try and avoid the result till I got home, which I did.

It was, perhaps, a little surprising to me to see Liverpool begin with 2 holding players in midfield, I think it also betrayed the fragility they must be feeling at the moment. Our line up, I guess, was more or less as expected. I think Theo only made the starting line up as he's in better shape than Eduardo and more battle hardened, if such a phrase can correctly be applied to him, than Carlos Vela.

Liverpool were quickest from the blocks and the first half proceeded in quite a distressing fashion for Arsenal, we couldn't get anything going going as Mascherano led the charge from midfield. Torres was clean through early on. Luckily for Almunia and Arsenal, his shot was more of a backpass and then Howard Webb has clearly been watching Steven Gerrard of late, deciding that he had gone to ground too easily when Gallas produced one of those clumsy legs he does from time to time. Perhaps if Steven Gerrard had then focussed on his football, rather than self pity and falling to the ground whenever an Arsenal player was in the same postal area as him, Liverpool might have held onto their lead. But he didn't.

The lead that Liverpool claimed, just as Arsenal seemed to have absorbed the threat, came via a series of mistakes. The first was an exceedingly generous free kick award for a foul on Gerrard by Denilson. The next came as Almunia, plumbing ever deeper depths whenever he pulls on the shirt these days, went to punch the corner and succeeded only in flapping it straight to Dirk Kuyt, who directed his shot through a sea of players, past William Gallas on the goal line, whose view was surely obscured by an offside Lucas Leiva. I forwarded through the rest of the half, disgusted by what I had seen. All Arsenal had offered in the first half was a Samir Nasri run and shot wide.

It transpires that I am not the only one disgusted by what I'd witnessed, as the manager tore into his players at half-time, telling them they were "not fit to wear the shirt". It has been said before that the manager doesn't believe in getting the big stick out too often, but on this occasion it was certainly merited. More than that, it did the trick. Arsenal came out for the second half like a team that meant business and with the half barely into its fifth minute got a game changing equaliser. It came with an outrageous slice of fortune, the kind that perhaps has gone against them in the past. A quick free kick was worked wide to Samir Nasri down the right, his cross in flicked off Jamie Carragher and into Glen Johnson. He couldn't sort his feet out in time and so the Gooners down that end of the ground were treated to the sight of Reina motionless as the ball rolled past him and into the corner of the net.

Not ten minutes the later, the game was won. And if the first goal was all about luck, then the second was all about the brilliance that oozes from Andrey Arshavin. Another cross from the right and another "epic fail" from Glen Johnson in attempting to deal with it. But he couldn't have imagined, not in his worst nightmares, what was going to follow, as Arshavin pounced on the ball, cutting inside and, in one movement, unleashing a venomous drive in off the near post. As Andy Gray said in commentary, three Pepe Reina's wouldn't have saved it. Even Arshavin looked a bit shocked by what he had just produced.

We might then have expected a stormy last half hour from Liverpool, but it never materialised, a team that might have been looking to shut the game down from that point now had to chase it, but they couldn't muster a shot in anger. That said, the clown currently donning the number one jersey for Arsenal did his best to provide them with a lifeline, brainlessly and poncily punching at balls he should have been catching.

On another day, perhaps Liverpool would have mustered the belief to create more than they did, but then on another day, perhaps Arsenal might have been able to dismantle Liverpool on the counter. In April, Arshavin scored four, but did not finish on the winning side, yesterday one was enough for him and we are, most definitely back in the title race. As for Liverpool; as I said to our security guard, and resident Scouser, Colin on Friday night, "Remember this; even if you beat us, on Monday morning, you'll still be crap".

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