The Gunners were thumped 5-1 by the Reds at Anfield last season, with Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge running riot, but will hope to exact revenge this weekend COMMENT By Richard Jolly In its own way, it was a title decider. Steven Gerrard didn’t slip and Demba Ba didn’t score. Liverpool didn’t concede three times in nine minutes and Luis Suarez didn’t cry. But it had a decisive impact on last season’s title race. Or it did for Arsenal, anyway. They arrived at Anfield in February on top of the league, a position they had held, on and off, for 128 days. They conceded four goals in the first 20 minutes. They departed defeated, 5-1, damaged and deflated. They lost the game to Liverpool and, a few hours later, the lead in the league to Chelsea. It gave Liverpool the momentum. It was the first in the run of 11 straight wins that took them to the brink of a first title since 1990. It marked the beginning of the end of Arsenal’s challenge – and, while some try to rewrite history to argue otherwise, they were true title contenders – and they have not topped the table since. Now they revisit Anfield on Sunday. If Liverpool have not recovered from the loss of Luis Suarez, Arsenal arguably have not recovered from the loss to Luis Suarez and co. The Uruguayan wrecking ball did not actually score, though he did hit the angle of post and bar with a typically audacious effort. But the early blitzkrieg was his speciality. Liverpool were ferociously fast starters when he was at his finest. Arsenal suffered psychologically. And it is instructive to compare the two Arsenals: the hugely impressive Arsenal of before their Anfield ordeal and the lesser side since then. Yes, Arsenal had already been beaten 6-3 at Manchester City but there were extenuating circumstances: two very late goals, Laurent Koscielny’s departure due to injury at 2-1 and a kick-off that was only 63 hours after the end of a Champions League away tie in Napoli. Yet when Arsenal travelled to Merseyside in February, they had plenty of evidence of progress. They had won a club record 11 successive away games in 2013. Indeed, they had the notable scalps of Borussia Dortmund and Marseille on their own turf. They had beaten Tottenham twice and inflicted a comprehensive defeat on Liverpool in London. They seemed to be coping with the pressure that comes with topping the table. Then consider the Arsenal that emerged from their Anfield thrashing. They have won some big games – the last five league games to finish fourth, for example – but their FA Cup semi-final and final triumphs against Wigan and Hull were nerve-wracking affairs. Arsenal battled their own self-destructive streak as much as their spirited opponents. If you, like Manuel Pellegrini, consider the Community Shield a glorified friendly, they are still waiting for a defining victory this season. They defeated a diminished Dortmund team who were in the relegation zone in the Bundesliga. They beat the early-season high-flyers Southampton, but only after they were reduced to 10 men when Toby Alderweireld limped off. Perhaps their best performance came last week against Newcastle but this particular United, like the Saints, had overachieved to get into the division’s upper reaches. They were not genuine challengers. GOALS GALORE | Only four sides have scored more goals than Arsenal this season, while Liverpools current goals per game rate of 1.1 is way down on the 2.4 they were averaging at this stage last season And since Anfield, there has been an ever-present threat of calamity. An inferiority complex against the best seemed entrenched. They were so cowed that, four days later, they barely attempted to beat David Moyes’ Manchester United in the dullest of stalemates. March’s 6-0 thrashing to Chelsea had a certain predictability and contained unfortunate similarities. Four goals down after 20 minutes on Merseyside, they were three adrift after 17 at Stamford Bridge. April’s 3-0 loss at Goodison Park continued the theme of defining defeats to their peers. Themes started to recur: set-piece struggles (Martin Skrtel scored twice on that February day), defensive deficiencies, Mikel Arteta’s unsuitability to the role of the holding midfielder and an open invitation to opponents to counter attack while too many of Arsene Wenger’s men were stranded upfield. Now, 10 months after their Anfield embarrassment, Arsenal need to prove they have finally put it behind them. Four months into this season, it is time they beat an elite club. That Liverpool, having suffered seven league defeats and only on course to post 50 points for the season, are scarcely an elite team any more ought to help. So, too, the form that has enabled Wenger’s men to win five of their last six games. Yet it would be a statement if Arsenal could return to Anfield, confront some of their demons – Daniel Sturridge and Suarez will not take the field – and play with the confidence and conviction they exuded in the first part of last season. To finally get Suarez out of their system, while he continues to cast a shadow over Liverpool.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 09:56:09 +0000
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