2) Liverpool far more clinical than Arsenal
It might have easily been a game of two halves had Arsenal been more clinical in the final third. It was Liverpool who rushed out of the gates and tested the vulnerable Petr Cech in goal. Arsenal’s defence simply failed to mark the wide men for both goals and that is exactly how Jurgen Klopp’s men punished them.
In both cases, it was a ball to the man at the far post that did the trick. And in both cases, the said free player had enough time to trap the ball and pick his spot to find the back of the net.
On the other end, Giroud was pretty isolated in the first half and it was only the introduction of Alexis Sanchez for the second half that turned the tide in Arsenal’s favour. He provided the assist for Danny Welbeck’s sumptuous dink over Simon Mignolet before a Giroud header tested the Belgian goalkeeper again.
But that was all the Gunners could muster as Giroud hobbled off with a niggle that had slowed him down for most of the game while Liverpool substitute Divock Origi came on to change the game – first with a header that hit the post and then the final ball for Georginio Wijnaldum to score in stoppage time.
