Gunners set for second after Liverpool thrashing

The 4-1 victory over Liverpool was a peculiar one during which the visitors at no point looked like the side that hadn’t conceded an away goal in more than nine hours.

Arsenal were relentless from the off – not too dissimilar to the 5-1 loss at Anfield last year – and first to every ball as Liverpool were unable to get out of their half in the first 15 minutes.

The hosts seemed to carve them up at will, forcing them into mistakes with their high defensive line which squeezed the room the Reds had to play in.

By a combination of some misfortune and a Simon Mignolet on top form in the opening exchanges, Arsenal couldn’t find the back of the net and slowly Liverpool got more and more into the game as the clock reached the 20-minute mark, taking advantage of the spaces Arsenal left between their goal and their defense.

Arguably the key moment of the match took place at this point – Phillippe Coutinho found Lazar Markovic one on one with David Ospina in the Arsenal goal and instead of taking the shot himself, the Serb laid it off for man of the moment Raheem Sterling, who should have had an easy chance to score into an open goal. While Markovic arguably took the correct option, his pass was massively overhit and the chance went a-begging.

Had Brendan Rodgers’ side scored at this point it would have been a totally different match, but what followed in eight crazy minutes before the half-time interval was a hammer blow (or a gunshot wound) to Liverpool’s Champions League aspirations.

Liverpool were made to pay the price of their lackadaisical defending as Hector Bellerin, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez found the back of the net to leave the Reds 3-0 down at half-time for the first time in 20 years, having last experienced that ignominy against Southampton at The Dell in 1994.

The Reds got one back through a penalty in the second half before Olivier Giroud restored the three-goal balance with his sixth goal in as many successive matches, but the match was over as a contest before the half-time whistle was blown.

The result leaves Arsenal two points ahead of Manchester City, having played a match more but with a reasonably easy draw for the rest of the season.

The win was also their ninth consecutive in the Premier League at home, the first time that feat has been managed since they moved from Highbury a decade ago.

For Liverpool, Wednesday’s FA Cup quarter-final replay (and the possible semi-final against Aston Villa that would follow) presents their only real chance of redemption this season, as their Champions League hopes are hanging by a fine thread.

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