It was a game of extraordinary goals in last season’s encounter between English giants Arsenal and Liverpool, which saw the Gunners cruise to an easy 4-1 victory, with help from an exceptional Mesut Özil free kick in the first half.
It was a grim day in north London, but that didn’t stop the Arsenal, as young Spaniard Hector Bellerín scored the first of the three goals in the first half, all within eight minutes of each other, with a spectacular run before cutting inside and putting the Gunners 1-0 up.
Three minutes later, Özil doubled Arsenal’s lead in the 40th minute with a dazzling free kick, before Alexis Sánchez made it 3-0 with another great strike on the stroke of half-time. The fourth came from Frenchman Olivier Giroud in the 90th minute, to seal the club’s 10th league win in 11 games.
Arsenal host Liverpool on Monday evening at the Emirates Stadium and Mesut Özil talked through his free kick during last season’s game with Arsenal Player.
“During the warm-up I kept focusing on that corner and took five shots after the other.
“The practise went well and that’s why I thought during the game that it had gone well in the warm-up so I would surprise the goalkeeper.
“That’s how I scored the goal, and I was really pleased with it.
“It was a nice feeling. When you assist goals or score them yourself, it does you good but what’s most important is that we have success as a team and that was the case against Liverpool last season.
“We were really convincing, the whole team was very focused and played really well.
“I remember that we delivered a really convincing display.
“In the first half we decided the game because we had a high level of concentration and wanted to utilise our potential.
“We want to do that again this time. We’re at home and we know exactly how we can beat Liverpool. That’s what we want to do on Monday.”
Arsenal go into the game after getting their first 3 points of the season under their belt, in last weekend’s win at Selhurst Park over Crystal Palace, where Özil, in particular, had a good game – registering his first assist of the season.
