Premier League: Arsenal v Liverpool full-time report

Luis Suárez celebrates

Arsenal 2 Liverpool 2

The game of two halves is one of football’s oldest clichés but would not be lost on Arsène Wenger after this game.

The Arsenal manager watched as Arsenal were torn apart by Liverpool in the first half of their Barclays Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium before coming back for a 2-2 that proved the point. When they play well, Arsenal can be a match for most.

Liverpool, undoubtedly still smarting from the 3-2 FA Cup defeat to Oldham Athletic on Sunday, had a stronger line-up this time as they attempted to maintain what had been a decent run of form in the league.

However, a second look at those results showed that Liverpool had yet to beat a side from the top half of the table and had only one league win against Arsenal in their previous 11 meetings.

The majority of those matches had been tight affairs but Liverpool went ahead inside five minutes. It began when Bacary Sagna slipped and thereafter there were more banana skins than in a fruit and vegetable store as a succession of Arsenal players failed to deal with the ball.

Sagna's slip allowed Glen Johnson to run down the left. Thomas Vermaelen should have cleared his cross, but gets his feet in a tangle which allowed the ball to reach Daniel Sturridge at the far post. His shot was smothered by Wojciech Szczęsny but it finally fell to Luis Suárez, who drilled it home with the help of a deflection off Per Mertesacker to deceive Szczęsny in the Arsenal goal.

Theo Walcott had the chance to equalise two minutes later, but Pepe Reina saved, after which both sides took it in turns to hit and miss. Sturridge was put through on goal via an exquisite pass from Suárez but had to take it across the goal on his weaker right foot. That went well wide and it was much the same in the 11th minute when a shot by Olivier Giroud from inside the box missed to the right of the target.

Walcott was right on the target in the 18th minute with a curling shot that had Reina stretching to make the save in a game that was being stretched between both penalty areas that would have pleased spectators if not the two, tactically astute managers watching the opening 25 minutes.

Lukas Podolski delivered a cross that was aimed at Giroud but addressed “to whom it may concern” as it sought the deflection with Steven Gerrard putting out of harm’s way.

Daniel Agger nearly made it 2-0 when he got what amounted to free header at a corner in the 26th minute when Szczęsny was all over the place. Luckily for the goalkeeper, Podolski was in the right place to clear off the line.

Szczęsny, who had nearly let Sturridge in when he attempted a Cruyff turn from a backpass, went walkabout again – partly because the right-back had gone missing - when Jordan Henderson had Liverpool’s final chance of the first half, picking up the pass from Stuart Downing as ‘keeper rushed out from his six-yard box, thought better of it and then watched as the midfielder's chip into an empty net landed on the roof.

Arsenal took more of the initiative from the restart and Walcott should have scored in the 53rd minute, when he got in front of Johnson for the header but also under the ball and then the ball over the bar, but Henderson made no mistake to put Liverpool 2-0 just before the hour-mark.

Taking up the ball on the right flank, Henderson turned Mertesacker as he advanced into the Arsenal penalty area. His first shot, surrounded by defenders, rebounded but determination was rewarded with a touch of luck by rebound when the shot was saved and Henderson made no mistake with the second chance.

Giroud had been taking his chances in the past week and he was on the end of a floated free-kick four minutes for a headed goal that put Arsenal back in the game and then Walcott produced a stunning goal in the 66th minute.

A typically neat move by Arsenal allowed Giroud to set up Walcott for the pass and the England player delivered a fluent strike that left Reina stranded.

Arsenal were now in fluent stride now as Liverpool found themselves stranded in their own half for a spell. Jack Wilshere, Walcott and Giroud were pulling the strings and the Liverpool midfield and defence in all directions but Giroud could not find the right direction when a pass from Podolski left the striker with what looked to be a tap-in in the 88th minute.

Instead, perhaps thrown by the ball coming through the legs of Agger, he missed the ball.

Arsenal had made their point but Wenger probably knew it should have been three.

Paul Wheeler

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