Diaby clear to head past Pepe (Photo from fOTOGLIF)
Liverpool’s poor record away at Arsenal continued as the reds now only have one win in 12 years at the Gunners.
Aquilani failed to travel with the squad due to illness and Kyrgiakos was suspended after his Derby day red card. The reds welcomed back Martin Skrtel. The rest of the side was unchanged from the team that played with 10 men for over an hour at the weekend.
The game, was a true match of two halves. Very little action in the first half as both defences nullified each other. Chances for either side were rare and it was David N’gog who produced the first shot on target in the match, on 15 minutes, but it was a tame shot.
The second half saw an early substitution for Liverpool who replaced Jamie Carragher with Degen in the right back slot. Carra was on his third shirt of the game after spending most of his 54 minutes with blood pouring out of his mouth.
The reds had the better of the chances early on, but in the 75th minute a cross came in which found Diaby’s head. Degen can carry some of the responsibility for leaving the Arsenal player at the edge of the 6 yard box to give him a free header that Reina had no chance with.
The final 15 minutes involved Arsenal with all 11 men behind the ball, and at times inside their own box. Ryan Babel carved himself out an opportunity to lash in a shot but Almunia did well to tip the ball on to the bar.
As the clock ticked down the reds fired in a free kick from 10 yards outside the box. Fabregas, who seconds earlier had been booked for timewasting, raised his hands and stopped the ball heading goalwards. The ref failed to call the penalty or free kick (depending on your point of view) and seconds later blew the final whistle.
A few weeks ago I would have thought we would have had no chance here, but on reflection thought leaving the Emirates without a point was harsh.
Liverpool taste Premier League defeat for the first time in 8 games and concede their second goal. They will be hoping to start a new run afresh in the next league game against Man City.
Post Match Comments
Rafa Benitez
“It was a pity because in the last 20 minutes we were pushing hard and had chances.
“It was just quality in final third that made the big difference. The second half was much better and we could have got something.
“It’s important for us to have a good run of results. There’s a long way to go and we need to keep on going.”