Outstanding Gunners

Arsenal 4-1 Liverpool

Arsenal produced a truly exceptional performance against Liverpool on Saturday, full of hunger, desire, work rate and great skill, to brush aside their top four rivals with ease.

Such was the level of performance from the Gunners that every single player in a red and white shirt stood out as a man of the match contender.

At the back, Per Mertesacker was outstanding against the far quicker Raheem Sterling, playing up front for Liverpool in the first half and matching himself up against the big German time and time again. Mertesacker just refused to give the Liverpool man any room to utilise his superior pace, robbing him of possession on numerous occasions and winning the battle to stifle the Liverpool attack.

Up front, Olivier Giroud was equally outstanding, working tirelessly to close down the Liverpool defenders whenever they had the ball, creating pressure on the centre backs and goalkeeper throughout the game and in many ways, setting the tempo for Arsenal’s high pressing game, which almost yielded an opening goal early on, as Ramsey robbed former Gunner Kolo Toure and found himself through on goal, only to be denied by Mignolet. Giroud also showed his physical qualities against Liverpool, winning the battle against the physically imposing Sakho, outmuscling his fellow Frenchman time and time again, winning possession for the Gunners and becoming the focal pivot point up front, upon which so much of Arsenal’s attack relies.

Just behind Giroud, the two biggest signings in the history of this great club produced performances which proved many critics wrong. Alexis Sanchez has clearly been an outstanding signing, scoring and creating numerous goals in his first season with the club. Unfortunately his form had dipped over recent weeks and doubts remained over the Chilean’s ability to stand up in the big games and produce moments of brilliance which he has done with ease against the smaller teams. The jury has also been out on Mesut Ozil almost since he arrived in North London, with many not taking to his somewhat laid back and languid style on the pitch. Since returning from injury this season, the German has improved significantly but still there were those that described him as a luxury player who also never seems to produce in the big games. On Saturday however, both were magnificent, scoring one goal each and playing a large part in the other two goals scored by the Gunners.

The first goal came from an unlikely source in the shape of right back Hector Bellerin, but was beautiful in its conception. It all began when Ozil found space in the middle of the pitch, looked up and arced a wonderful pass out wide to Ramsey, finding the Welshman perfectly. Ramsey laid the ball back to Bellerin and the young Spaniard did the rest. The former Barcelona man may be a right back but showed attacking skill akin to a forward as he shimmied past Moreno beautifully, creating space for himself inside the area to unleash a wonderful curling shot with his left foot, right inside the corner of the goal to give Arsenal a well deserved lead.

Three minutes later and the Gunners doubled their lead, this time through Ozil. Arsenal had won a free kick on the edge of the box, just to the right and therefore favouring a left footed shot. Ozil stepped up, but rather than attempting to curl the ball over the wall and into the net, the German elected to aim for the side of the goal Mignolet was covering, in an effort to outfox the goalkeeper. It worked perfectly thanks to excellent execution. The shot from Ozil was point perfect, flying right into the corner of the goal and catching the goalkeeper out as he attempted to anticipate where the shot would go, taking just a half step to his left, before flying to his right but just missing out on getting his fingertips to the ball.  It was an excellent goal from Ozil, one which his overall performance richly deserved and should give him great confidence for the rest of the season and every time he faces a top team in this league.

Next up it was the turn of Sanchez. Only eight minutes after Bellerin had opened the scoring, the Chilean got in on the act. Excellent pressing from Arsenal won the Gunners possession once again, Ramsey played the ball forward to Sanchez and he expertly evaded the challenge from Toure, cutting inside the Ivorian, before unleashing an unstoppable bullet of a shot which flew right over Mignolet and into the back of the net. Such was the power on the shot that the ball hit the net and flew straight out again. It was a moment of brilliance in a big game creating sheer pandemonium at the Emirates. 3-0 up right before half time against a top four rival and the game was effectively over.

Although Liverpool did manage to score a consolation penalty with fifteen minutes left of the game, Emre Can’s sending off ruled out any hopes of an incredible comeback and with two minutes left in the game, Arsenal made sure of an emphatic victory thanks to Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman’s performance deserved a goal and he had been denied at the start of the second half, thanks to a wonderful save from his excellent header. However Giroud got his just deserts right at the end of the game, as he was released by Sanchez before cutting inside Toure and curling a sumptuous shot around Mignolet and into the corner of the net, to continue his great goal scoring run.

This was a wonderful, wonderful performance from Arsenal. The whole team came together as one to show how far they have progressed and how much potential they have for the future. While those who scored and created the goals on Saturday will take most of the credit, one man made it all happen. The likes of Ozil, Sanchez and Giroud may have dazzled on Saturday, but Francis Coquelin provided them with the platform to do so. The young defensive midfielder was phenomenal. He did much of the dirty work, covering every blade of grass on that Emirates pitch, sliding into tackles and breaking up play time and time again. It seemed every time an interception needed to be made, that man Coquelin was there to make it. By helping his team to win the ball back and win it back quickly, the Frenchman ensured the pressure on Liverpool was constant, with Arsenal pressing high and attacking quickly, suffocating their opponents.

Since coming into the team Coquelin has been outstanding and Arsenal’s performances and results have improved week on week. Significant progress has now been made and although the title is unfortunately just out of reach, the race for a second place finish is now really on. If they can continue to improve at this rate, anything is possible for this Arsenal side in the near future.