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Arsenal’s luck went from bad to worse as Liverpool collected their first win at the Emirates when a fluke Aaron Ramsey own goal and a cool slot from Luis Suarez gave them all three points.
Liverpool certainly looked the better of the two sides, with cries from the crowd for under pressure Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to buy some players after the recent loss of captain Cesc Fabregas and the imminent departure of French international Samir Nasri who played in the game.
The visitors took the lead in extraordinary circumstances when Miqual’s clearance hit the chest of Aaron Ramsey and looped over Szezney and dropped into the net. There was a hint of offside from Suarez who had played the ball into the box but the referee allowed the goal to stand.
As the clock turned to 90 minutes, Raul Meireles teed up Suarez to finish the job for Liverpool and condemn Arsenal to their first home defeat of the season.
After a slow start to the second half Liverpool’s Martin Kelly found himself in acres of space on the right hand side of the box and thrashed a shot which went just over the bar.
With the rain falling down the game failed to spark into life, and link up play between Nasri and Walcott failed to deliver any final product, and a few minutes later Arshavin battled for the ball which the Liverpool players believed to be a foul, before van Persie’s shot troubled Pepe Reina who had to make a save with his foot.
Frimpong then steamed in wildly on Lucas who became the second Arsenal Premier League debutant in a week to see a red card. A late and clumsy tackle that could have easily been a straight red. Liverpool then stepped up a gear with sub Suarez and Downing both going close for the visitors, Vermaelen then added to the list of shots from distance for Arsenal.
Liverpool took the lead on 78 minutes and the game petered out before the Suarez killed the game off.
Arsenal were heavily depleted due to suspension and injuries were forced to start want away player Samir Nasri who is set to join Manchester City.
In the first half Emmanuel Frimpong set his mark out and went in hard on Charlie Adam inside a minute of the whistle; unfortunately for Liverpool the Scotsman wasted the resulting free kick. Frimpong eventually found himself in the book five minutes later when he wrongly tried to tussle the ball from Henderson after it had gone out for a throw in.
A great ball in from Stewart Downing was missed by Dirk Kuyt for Liverpool’s first real chance. Arsenal then had a penalty appeal after Martin Kelly challenged Ramsey and Arshavin fluffed the resulting free ball. Arsenal’s injury problems were then compounded when Koscielny‘s back went into spasm, and had to be replaced by the Spanish youngster Ignasi Miquel.
Scezney was then forced into a great save from Andy Carroll, who’s bullet header looked certain to hit the back of the net, who then had Dirk Kuyt go close from the resulting corner. Liverpool started to have more of the play with Jordan Henderson getting a header on target and Charlie Adam tried an audacious lob from the half way line a few minutes later.
Arsenals first real opening was when Emmanuel Frimpong had a shot from 25 yards out which had Pepe Reina scrambling to make a low fingertip save, Nasri then took his lead and had a shot from a similar distance whistle just past the post.
It was certainly end to end stuff as Downing became the latest player to have a shot from distance, before Nasri finished off the first half with a wild shot that went high into the stands.
Both teams looked bright and before the sending off there wasn’t much in it, however a combination of a bit of luck and clinical finishing from Liverpool saw them go home with all the points in the bag.
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