Liverpool FC 1-2 Arsenal FC: Story of our season

Suarez controversy, hitting the woodwork, lots of possession and chances and the dropping of the points. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? This is yet another match that Liverpool FC should have won.

The Reds were missing the services of talismatic captain Steven Gerrard following a hamstring injury suffered in an International tie for England against Holland in mid-week. Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez started up top as a lone striker for this one as English striker Andy Carroll was forced to start on the bench for this tie.

Chances were in the premium in the early minutes of the game, but Luis Suarez got into a good position and was controversially adjudged to have been fouled by Pole goalkeeper Szczesny, hence earning a penalty for the reds. Despite Charlie Adam picking up the ball and putting it on the penalty spot, it was instead Dirk Kuyt who stepped up and took the penalty under orders from the bench. The Dutchman had his penalty and his shot off the rebound saved by a stunning double stop by Szczesny.

But Liverpool continued to pile on the pressure and were rewarded on the 23rd minute mark. Jordan Henderson found space on the right wing and delivered a cross into the box, only for French defender Laurent Koscielny to turn it into the back of his own net. It was a game that the game was waiting for and Liverpool continued to pile on the pressure on an Arsenal side playing with a high defensive line.

But there was a twist in the tale, as the visitors equalized 8 minutes later after a delicious ball from Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna found Van Persie, for the Dutchman to head into the back of the net for his 24th goal of the season. The fact remains, however, that veteran Jamie Carragher should have done better to hold off Van Persie from scoring, with his positioning awful in the build-up to Arsenal’s equalizer.

Following that goal, neither side managed another breakthrough until stoppage time in the second half, with Alex Song’s delightful lobbed through ball finding Van Persie, only for the Dutchman to lash it past Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina for the winner in the 92nd minute of the game.

Starting Lineup for Liverpool FC

(4-2-3-1) 25 Reina 03 Jose Enrique 23 Carragher 34 Kelly 37 Skrtel 14 Henderson 19 Downing (Bellamy – 88? ) 20 Spearing (Carroll – 90? ) 26 Adam 07 Suarez 18 Kuyt

Statistically…

… we did quite well. We worked the ball well, we passed it around well and more importantly, we restricted Arsenal from playing their signature passing game. Realistically, the two goals that they had were the only 2 clear cut chances that they really created.

We had a lot of openings – but like Arsenal – we lacked in clear cut chances, often opting to shoot a tad early/being tackled somewhere in the box. But the stats show that although Liverpool had more shots, Arsenal were the ones who actually had more shots on target, getting 7 compared to Liverpool FC’s 4.

Another startling fact: Liverpool had 12 corners. Arsenal FC had 0.

Come on you Reds!