Arsenal held at the death by ten man Liverpool
Arsenal were denied what would would have been a terrific comeback win right at the death. It was Martin Skrtel who rose high to meet a stoppage time corner to salvage a dramatic point for for the Reds. To be fair, it was no less that they deserved today as Arsenal were flat all throughout. The scoreline flattered out lads and the win would have been a classic smash and grab.
Arsenal had to endure a tough opening spell and were fortunate find themselves level at half time. Philippe Coutinho took advantage of the Red’s pressure and Arsenal’s lethargic start to put the hosts ahead. But less than two minutes later, it was Mathieu Debuchy who found himself in an unlikely position to head in the equaliser.
The Gunners started brighter in the second and managed to find the go ahead goal through Olivier Giroud after Cazorla’s neat cutback picked him out on the six yard box, but Martin Skrtel dragged ten man Liverpool level with moments to play. In truth, Arsenal were up against it for the most of the evening part but will still feel extremely hard done by to concede a goal so late into stoppage time. Tough pill to swallow for the lads, but a wake up call hopefully as well as they simply were not good enough today. The match ended 2-2.
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Arsenal were flat in the opening period and found themselves under pressure out the gate. Szczesny luckily didn’t have much to do for the most part, but was up to nearly every challenge when presented. He did brilliantly well to deny Markovic early on, but could do nothing about Coutinho’s goal.
In the second, he was guilty of a senseless rush of blood to the head which almost lead to a Liverpool goal. He had no business running out to meet Sterling (though he got away with a handball) and was lucky not to be picking the ball out of his net. His acrobatic reflex to deny Borini perhaps makes up for his error but could do nothing about Skrtel’s powerful header. We must take the good with the bad with Szczesny I suppose.
Defended well in that tough opening period I thought, tracking his runners and disrupting attack. The entire team could have done better to smother Liverpool and relieve some of the pressure, Gibbs included so his rating isn’t great. As the match progressed, Arsenal never really got a foothold into the match so Gibbs didn’t have his usual attacking fervor. He was involved on Giroud’s goal though (partially) so I guess you could say he took the chance he was given.
Found it really tough against the pace of Markovic and Sterling but handled it fairly well I thought. He was far from overun like he was against Swansea and showed real maturity on several occasions making sensible decisions to shield and crowd players out of it. Not too much I can take away from Chambers today that I can’t take away from the entire team. He does look to be progressing though and for that I tip my hat. Wasn’t really at fault individually for either goal, although it was sloppy play from him that gifted Markovic an opening early on.
Looked really shaky against the pace of Liverpool which is something I feared early on. He was lucky not to have been showed a card for bringing down Coutinho early on. He didn’t really press as high an quickly as I wanted him too early on either, and did very little to suppress Liverpool pressure. He improved marginally later on in the match and did enough in the end to bring his rating up just a tad. Disappointing from the BFG today if I’m honest, as it his job to ensure goals like Liverpool’s second never happen.
Had another solid match in centre back and turned up right when Arsenal needed him to score the goal. He was one of the few who attempted to press and got stuck in on a few tackles to relieve some pressure. He didn’t have much help though unfortunately early on. Looked really up for it unlike his teammates and there isn’t really much I can take away from him. Good determination on the header to score and drag us level as well.
Very naive on several occasions, flying into unnecessary challenges and finding himself on the wrong side of the ball. He picked up a needless yellow card early on and arguably couldn’t have gotten another for a flailing elbow (although it would have been harsh). Flamini has a bad habit of mistiming tackles leading to either a foul or the player getting beat. It causes Arsenal all sorts of problems.
One of the few positive today I though and did really well from a deeper lying central midfield role. He absolutely burst a lung on several occasions to get back and defend and disrupted several Liverpool attacks. it was tough match for him thanks to lackluster displays from his teammates but he did enough to earn himself his high rating. He worked ever so hard and attempted to make things happen, but wasn’t given much help.
Looked a bit over run at times today and is another who found the pace really difficult to cope with. Was guilty of giving the ball away cheaply on several occasions, but did make an effort to chase and win the ball back to be fair. Good work on the goal, but overall wasn’t his best performance today. He lost the ball too cheaply at times and didn’t really offer an outlet.
Never really looked too up for it today. Not particularly good or bad from Welbeck, just not very impactful. Credit to him for putting in a shift and attempting to apply pressure, but we didn’t see enough of him on the ball and driving at Liverpool. Arsenal didn’t really have much possession to be fair to him, but I would still would have liked to see him turn up in better positions. He wasn’t really effective holding the ball up either, so that was another disappointment.
Poor from his standards and looked a bit jaded. His work rate and endeavor remained the same but lacked his usual sharpness. He didn’t look nearly as dangerous as usual and credit to Liverpool for nullifying the threat. He was swarmed every time the ball was anywhere near him and looked a frustrated figure throughout. He will rest soon and return to his best soon I have no doubt.
Dreadful first, decent second. He was responsible for giving the ball way for Coutinho’s goal, but of course scored the go ahead at the other end. Can’t blame him too much in the end I suppose, although I was disappointed with his overall effort and hold up play. He did look dangerous on some occasions and had a few shots that worried Jones in the Liverpool goal so not an overall horrid display from Giroud.