Arsenal v Liverpool – Second half review: English Premier League (Part 2)
Following the injury to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jamie-Carragher-c17728, Liverpool adopted a totally defensive stance against Arsenal for the remainder of the second half.
Andy Carroll was unable to shrug off his knee injury, which he sustained in the early part of the second half and thus he was substituted to avoid any further complications by the Liverpool manager in the 72nd minute, as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jonjo-Shelvey-c19081 replaced
the ex-Newcastle United player.
Shelvey’s replacement meant that Suarez shifted to a much more direct role as Liverpool’s solitary striker, as the visiting team adopted a 4-5-1 formation with three central midfielders to deny Arsenal any time and space in front of their own penalty area.
This change worked wonders for Kenny Dalglish’s team, as Arsenal, who already lacked creativity and imagination in central midfield with Cesc Fabregas and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Samir-Nasri-c32360 misfiring, were forced to work even harder.
In the 73rd minute, Arsene Wenger went for broke, as well, as he introduced http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nicklas-Bendtner-c27726.
This changed prompted a shift in Arsenal’s mentality as Samir Nasri came in from the wing to play as a central midfielder alongside Fabregas, and, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Abou-Diaby-c3453, whereas Arshavin, and, Bendtner played on the wings with Robin Van Persie, as the solitary striker.
This new 4-5-1 formation didn’t work well for the Gunners until the 85th minute when Samir Nasri flicked on the ball towards, Van Persie whose first time finish was blocked by Pepe Reina.
It was a wonderful chance for Van Persie to give his team a late lead at their home stadium but Reina produced a magical save to deny Arsenal some late heroics.
However, Liverpool’s happiness was short lived, as the referee signalled eight minutes of added time at the Emirates stadium due to the time wasted on Andy Carroll and Jamie Carragher’s injury.
This added time worked as a bonus for both the teams but firstly it was Arsenal, who were awarded a penalty kick right at the death as Fabregas was brought down to the ground due to Jay Spearing’s tackle.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pepe-Reina-c29672. The Emirates stadium erupted in joy with Persie’s kick but a major part of the drama in North London had yet to come to the forefront.
Right after the kick-off from Persie’s goal for Arsenal, Liverpool were awarded a free kick near the Gunners penalty area.
Luis Suarez stepped up to take the set piece but his shot thudded into the Arsenal wall and took a deflection straight towards http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Emmanuel-Eboué-c12540 and the referee termed the Ivorian defender’s
push as an illegal one and gave http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 a penalty kick.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wojciech-Szczesny-c36998. The referee then blew the final whistle, as the match ended in
a one all draw.
Arsenal’s only goal of the match came through Van Persie’s penalty kick whereas Liverpool’s equalizer came through Dirk Kuyt’s last minute penalty kick, as well as the final score line at the Emirates stadium rested at 1-1.
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