Arsenal 1, Liverpool 1 - Post Match Analysis

Apr 3 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

IF there’s one thing that meetings between Liverpool and Arsenal have proved in recent times, it’s to expect the unexpected.

From Neil Mellor’s 30-yard winner to the embarrassing 6-3 Carling Cup defeat, through to last season’s 4-1 win at Anfield after a 3-0 reverse at the Emirates, it’s been easier to pick a Grand National winner than predict how Rafael Benitez’s side will fare against the Gunners.

Yet the unerring consistency which the Spaniard has infused into his players in the Champions League ensured there was an air of the inevitable last night.

Another accomplished European performance and Dirk Kuyt’s valuable away goal helped Liverpool take a firm grip on their all-English quarter-final tussle.

Few have been as dismissive as Arsene Wenger about the value of Liverpool’s triumph in Istanbul three years ago.

But when the chance arrived to reorder what he perceives to be the Continent’s real football hierarchy, the Arsenal manager found Benitez stubborn to shift.

Sure, Liverpool rode their luck at times, particularly midway through the second half when referee Pieter Vink could easily have pointed to the spot when Kuyt tussled with Aleksandr Hleb inside the area.

Liverpool, though, deserved that luck for an outstanding defensive performance and the manner in which they dragged themselves back into the game after the self-inflicted wound of Emmanuel Adebayor’s 23rd-minute opener.

Kuyt merited his strike – the sixth of a profitable Champions League campaign ensuring Liverpool were only behind for three minutes – following a selfless performance that encapsulated the sheer hard graft Benitez’s side produced to emerge the more satisfied from an engrossing encounter that more than echoed their recent clashes with Chelsea in the competition.

The Gunners’ defeat of AC Milan in the previous round, when they made light of a first leg draw at the Emirates to win at the San Siro, demonstrates the menace of Wenger’s side.

So to does the fact Arsenal eliminated Liverpool from both domestic cup competitions at home last season.

But Benitez’s men will be hugely encouraged by a result that sets up another memorable European night at Anfield for the return leg next Tuesday. Quite simply, keep a clean sheet and Liverpool are in the semi-finals.

The first part of the trilogy – the teams meet again at the Emirates on Saturday in a Premier League fixture – was always likely to be tense, with neither side prepared to give much away.

As expected, Arsenal enjoyed the greater possession. But with Martin Skrtel the pick of an impressive rearguard action and Javier Mascherano underlining his importance with a typically tigerish midfield display, Pepe Reina had few genuine saves to make.

And even when the home side did find a way through, their own poor finishing and ill judgement prevented them regaining the lead.

History suggested Liverpool would be in for a tough evening. They hadn’t won at Arsenal since Titi Camara’s goal in 2000, losing six of their subsequent eight visits.

Their last cup win at the Gunners was way back in 1964 when Ian St John proved the match-winner, and had won none of their previous six away games to English opposition in European competition.

Benitez made two changes to his starting line-up, with Mascherano replacing Lucas in midfield and Fabio Aurelio coming for John Arne Riise at left-back for his 50th appearance for Liverpool.

There was little incident during a cagey opening 20 minutes, although Reina did well to redeem himself after initially being beaten to a throughball outside his area by Adebayor while Cesc Fabregas had to nick possession off the toes of Sami Hyypia following a perceptive pass by Xabi Alonso, surprisingly making his first European appearance this season.

Arsenal, and in particular Robin van Persie, then began to show signs of stirring into action. A clever run allowed the striker to beat Hyypia and the offside trap to Mathieu Flamini’s lofted pass but his stretching volley sailed over the crossbar.

Van Persie then forced Reina to turn the ball behind with a low drive, and from the resultant corner Arsenal went ahead on 23 minutes.

A rehearsed routine between Fabregas and van Persie gave the Dutchman a better angle to deliver a cross that, with Hyypia strangely caught on the backfoot, a criminally unmarked Adebayor headed gleefully in.

It was a poor goal for Liverpool to concede from a set-piece, an area from which Arsenal were keen to capitalise at every opportunity.

However, within three minutes the visitors were level with Gerrard the catalyst.

Accepting a pass from Fernando Torres on the left-hand edge of the Arsenal area, the Liverpool skipper turned away from Emmanuel Eboue and bludgeoned past Kolo Toure before striking a driven cross that, after a slight deflection off Flamini, Kuyt bustled home ahead of Gael Clichy.

The goal was the first Liverpool had scored away from home in Europe to English opposition since Steve Heighway netted at Arsenal’s London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in 1973.

And it settled Benitez’s side. Babel made space for a low shot that was safely guarded by Manuel Almunia while the Arsenal goalkeeper needed two attempts to grab Kuyt’s effort after Hyypia had headed back a deep Gerrard free-kick three minutes after the break.

Theo Walcott replaced the injured van Persie at half-time, and the speedy teenager roused the home team back into life with an ambitious 25-yard shot that flashed narrowly beyond Reina’s left-hand post.

Liverpool then had to call on every ounce of their European experience and a sprinkling of good fortune as Arsenal came again.

Skrtel hacked off the line on 65 minutes after Eboue connected with Walcott’s low cross from the left, the moments later referee Pieter Vink waved away strong home appeals for a penalty when Kuyt clearly wrapped an arm around a marauding Hleb as the Arsenal man burst into the area.

Fabregas fired a blistering shot wide, before being denied a certain goal by his own player 19 minutes from time.

In attempting to clear Adebayor’s left-wing cross, a stretching Reina palmed the ball straight into the path of Fabregas whose goalbound shot struck Arsenal substitute Nicklas Bendtner on the line.

To rub salt into the Gunners’ wound, Bendtner was then flagged offside; had the striker got out of the way, Liverpool would have been behind again.

With that, Arsenal appeared to run out of ideas and Benitez’s side ended the game the stronger.

The final whistle was met with a hushed silence save for the pocket of travelling away fans. A raucous Anfield now awaits.