Liverpool 3 - 3 Arsenal

By Richard Butler

TWO POINTS dropped or one point gained? That is the question following this exciting draw at Anfield last night. 

Of course  it is disappointing when you concede a last minute equaliser. But over the 90 minutes there is no doubt that a draw was the most we deserved.

Two years ago we arrived at Anfield sitting on top of the league and were favourites to lift the title. But after a poor start that day we were blown away, 5-1. That result was the start of a mid-season collapse that saw us drop out of the title race. A couple of weeks later we lost 6-0 at Chelsea. After the opening twenty minutes last night, I feared a repeat was on the cards.

But this Arsenal side are made of sterner stuff. Not only did we twice draw level before half time, and all this despite not playing particularity well, but early in the second half we even managed to get our noses in front.

At that stage it looked as though we would go on to take a very important three points. But the longer the game wore on the more likely a Liverpool equaliser became, and although disappointing, it was not really a shock when Joe Allen scored in the final minute. It had been coming.

It is strange how often there is a late goal when we play Liverpool at Anfield. Of course none is more famous than the one Mickey Thomas scored in 1989, but in recent years there have been several.

We lost to an injury time goal in 2004; in the 4-4 draw in 2009 both sides scored in the last minute; in 2012 Robin van Persie scored a late winner; while last year Liverpool equalised in the 97^th minute. So we should have known what to expect.

Many fans were bemoaning the substitutions but hindsight is a wonderful thing. If we'd kept a more attacking line up searching for the 4^th goal and conceded, Arsene Wenger would have criticized for not shutting up shop.

He made defensive substitutions in a bid to shore things up and he gets accused of sitting back and inviting pressure. Unless we win every single game it seems some people will never be satisfied.

But it is hard to criticize anyone last night. It was simply one of the games of the season. From first minute to last it was played at a high tempo and was more like a basketball match. Real end-to-end stuff with a strange mixture of Champions League attacking coupled with Sunday League defending.

It led to an exciting game but possibly explains why English clubs have had such a poor recent record in the Champions League.

So while it has to be looked on as two points dropped, I prefer to look at the positives. Manchester City were held at home by Everton, Spurs lost and we are still top of the table with one game less for the others to catch us.

And what about the performance of Olivier Giroud. He gave a master-class in centre forward play. Okay so he missed an open goal in the first half, just after he had made it 2-2, but he did what all great strikers do; he made up for it with a goal of real quality.

The turn and finish to put us 3-2 ahead was the touch of a genius. Roberto Firmino, who had scored twice early on for Liverpool, tried a similar thing just before the break, but his effort hit the top of the crossbar. Giroud showed him how it should be done.

Of course we needed a fourth goal. I always felt we had gone in front too early. We were stuck in a dilemma; go for the killer goal or hold on to what we had. And once Christian Benteke came on I feared the worst. Not because he is particularly good or that he has ever done much against us in the past, but because it gave Liverpool an outlet.

So it was no real surprise when the big Belgium created the late equaliser, heading down for Allen to score.

If I am being over-critical I would say Petr Cech was slow reacting and should have pushed it around the post. But the guy has saved us so many times this season that that would be extremely harsh. So instead I will blame the wet pitch which added pace to the ball. And Hector Bellerin who was obscuring his view.

But despite the late drama many positives came from the performance. Aaron Ramsey once again showed how much more effective he is playing centrally. In the absence of Santi Cazorla, the Welshman has scored four times in 10 matches. From the same position, Cazorla has not scored in open play for more than a year.

The way he took his goal last night; the third man run into the area and instant finish, is what we miss when he is stuck out wide. As good as Cazorla has been I would like to see him pushed wide on his return, possibly in place of the off form Theo Walcott.

In fact since we lost Cazorla, Francis Coquelin and Alexis Sanchez to injury in November we have won seven out of nine matches in all competitions and lost just once. The squad, it seems, is far stronger than it was given credit for.

The emergence of Joel Campbell has been a major feature of those matches. Again last night he was magnificent. Adding creativity to work rate, his performances have meant that we have hardly missed Sanchez at all. In fact now that Sanchez is fit again it would actually be a risk to drop Campbell.

His two assists at Anfield showed exactly what he brings to the team. And rarely can a player have given so much for the cause. Giroud was awarded man of the match but Campbell was surely not far behind.

So another potentially tough away game is out of the way. But its straight on to another this weekend with the trip to Stoke City. It is extremely harsh of the fixture computer to give us these two away matches back-to-back in the same week, while City have two at home, but that is the way it is.

While traditionally we have struggled at Stoke, I am confident this time will be different. We now have a mental strength in the squad sadly lacking in previous years and we have the quality to get the result we need.

 

Often when we have been poor defensively this season we have really tightened up in the next match. I can see a much more cagey affair at the Britannia with us nicking it 1-0. Four points from these two away matches would be a great return and set us up nicely for the title run in.

So back to the question posed at the start: two points dropped or one point gained? I guess only time will tell.