Arsenal opened their 2016/17 Premier League campaign with a massive home game against Liverpool. All the talk of inactivity in the transfer market was silenced for the excitement of seeing Arsenal play again. It won’t be silent for much longer as Arsene Wenger will surely have some explaining to do after a 4-3 loss to the hands of the Reds.
The match started out with both sides a bit nervous for the first fives minutes. Misplaced passes were a plenty. The teams were slowly warming into the game and it was clear for all to see.
After that, Arsenal took control as they began to high press the visitors. Arsenal settled into their possession football. The first shot of the match came from an interchange between Ramsey and Alexis on the left side, which resulted in a Ramsey left footed toe poke which was easily saved by Mignolet. Liverpool’s first chance came in the 13th minute which was a tame shot from the edge of the box from Clyne, which Cech dealt with easily.
After about 20 minutes, Arsenal were clearly the side on top. Ramsey tried an audacious chip from the halfway line in the 21st minute which harmlessly flew over the bar. After this Liverpool grew into the game. The ball was knicked off Monreal in his own half and lead into a dangerous counter which ended in a deflected Firmino shot that went wide. Then the visitors got their best chance of the match so far, with a quick attack which ended with an easy save by Cech. In the 25th minute, Lallana was booked for a poor tackle on Ramsey after Lallana had just been disposed of the ball.
Two minutes later, it became the Theo Walcott show. He earned a penalty after just getting to a ball in the box ahead of Moreno who was booked for his troubles. Walcott stepped up for the penalty himself but it was saved. His shot was to Mignolet’s right with good pace, but it was a good height for the Liverpool keeper to get two hands to. Just a couple minutes after that in the 31st, Walcott made amends. A brilliant tackle by Coquelin, who then played it wide to Iwobi who picked a beautiful ball across on the floor to Theo. The Englishman took a few touches and slotted the ball in the far corner, a fine finish.
After the goal, the game became even again as Liverpool saw more and more of the ball. In the 35th minute, Coquelin was booked for dragging back Mane. In the 39th a horrid Chambers’ pass set Liverpool on the break, but the attack fizzled out and ended with a tame shot from Wijnaldum. In the 41st, Lovren was booked for a tackle on Alexis who was running at the Liverpool defense. In the 43rd minute, Henderson fouled Iwobi about 25 yards from goal setting up an opportunity for Alexis who hit it into the wall; nothing came from the resulting corner. Finally, just when it looked like the Gunners would take a 1-0 lead into the half, young boy Rob Holding gave away a free kick about 30 yards from goal. Coutinho stepped up and placed it in the upper left hand corner with a fantastic strike, sending the sides into half time all level.
What the first half lacked in excitement, the second half made up for quickly. Liverpool came out of the half on fire. In just the 49th minute, a Coutinho flick started a great move, which ended with a great lofted ball in from Wijnaldum which Lallana brought down on his chest and slotted past Cech. Liverpool went on to dominate the match for the next 10 minutes. In the 55th, a wonderful long spell of possession ended with a low cross from Clyne which was finished off by Coutinho to make it 3-1 to the visitors. Iwobi was booked in the 57th for a tug on Mane. Just after this, Firmino turns Chambers inside out and crosses to Coutinho whose shot is well saved from Cech and Lallana puts the rebound just wide.
It went from bad to worse as within 2 minutes Iwobi was injured, replaced by Oxlade Chamberlin, and Ramsey was injured, replaced by Santi Cazorla. Just a minute after that in the 61st, Mane runs past the whole left side and puts a class left footed finish past Cech. 4-1 to Liverpool.
Just a minute later though, Oxlade Chamberlin runs down the left side, cuts onto his right and his shot takes a deflection and goes in, giving Arsenal hope. 4-2. The 67th minute saw Xhaka come on for Elneny to make his Premier League debut. Around the 70th minute a great ball put Coutinho through on goal, but he pulled up with cramps and wasn’t able to continue. He was replaced by Can. A few minutes later, Chambers finished a Cazorla free kick with his head making it 4-3 with 15 minuets to go.
Then Liverpool calmed down the game and saw it out professionally. Xhaka was booked in the 85th and Stewart replaced Wijnaldum in the 88th from Liverpool. The match ended 4-3 as boos rang out through the Emirates as the full time whistle was blown.
Coutinho has surely shown he is the brightest of all the players on the pitch. For Arsenal, it was truly a tale of two halves. The team dominated the first but was cut open in the second. The team seemed to fall apart and couldn’t deal with Liverpool’s pace and power in attack. The substitutions of Cazorla and Oxlade Chamberlin were promising as they were great after they came on. Other than that the rest of the team was subpar or average in their performances. All in all, it is the first match of the new season and it is a marathon not a sprint, but Wenger will find it hard to keep the supporters happy after a performance like this.
