Just as feared, Arsenal suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Liverpool at Anfield. The 4-0 hammering is the Gunners second away defeat in as many encounters after they lost to Stoke City last week, leaving them with three points out of possible nine, heading into the International break.
The North London club started the game in a very shaky manner as Arsene Wenger opted for a strange formation. Bellerin who has been suffering from a dip in form since last season was preferred at left wing-back ahead of new signing, Sead Kolasinac.
Rob Holding was also drafted into the back three ahead of Shkodran Mustafi. Danny Welbeck, too, was preferred ahead of our two French strikers, Olivier Giroud and Alexandre Lacazzette, as Sanchez returned to the starting line up.
Right from the kickoff, Jurgen Klopp’s boys imposed themselves on Arsenal, neutralizing the midfield and troubling the defence. It was only surprising that the Reds did not score within the first ten minutes.
Petr Cech put up a good show to keep the game level until the 17th minute when Firmino’s header was out of his reach. The goal was all the Merseyside club needed to realize that Arsene Wenger and his boys were no match for them. They consequently swarmed all over the toothless Gunners.
In the 40th minute, the Emirates club lost the ball inside Liverpool’s penalty box and Joe Gomez started the counter attack that lead to a well taken Mane goal. Rob Holding was particularly pathetic when Mane charged at him and made enough space to curl one in.
The first half ended with Arsenal not registering a single shot on target. In fact, they did not even trouble the Liverpool goalkeeper in any way. Wenger responded by replacing Aaron Ramsey with Francis Coquelin at the start of the second half, and one could hardly wonder what the French boss hoped to achieve with the substitution.
In the 57th minute, Bellerin who was partly responsible for the events leading up to the first goal was again responsible for the third. After an Arsenal corner, the Spaniard could not control the ball well and Salah stole it and ran away to beat the helpless Cech.
The introduction of Lacazzette and Giroud did not change much and at the 77th minute, substitute Sturridge headed home from a Salah cross to make it 4-0 and reaffirm the fact that Wenger has once again failed to address the problems bedevilling the North London club.
