KLOPP’S NEW
PREMIER LEAGUE MATCH ACTION Liverpool run riot to crush Gunners
LIVERPOOL dished out a mauling on Merseyside to leave Arsene Wenger and his shambolic flops utterly humiliated.
Jurgen Klopp’s men ripped Arsenal to shreds and could have won by a cricket score if it hadn’t been for keeper Petr Cech.
In the end, the Reds had to settle for just the four goals from Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Daniel Sturridge as they maintained their unbeaten and impressive start to the season.
Wenger, on the other hand, must wish he could go back and start the campaign again because he is facing a crisis already, due to familiar shortcomings in his team that he has failed to fix.
Wenger, who axed record signing Alexandre Lacazette, has seen his side lose two of their opening three league games and concede seven goals in the process.
Bottle
On this evidence it isn’t hard to see how – because the Gunners lacked fight, bottle and basic effort on an afternoon in which their attitude brought shame on the famous club.
This fixture has proved to be a belter down the years and fans of both sides had arrived at Anfield licking their lips in anticipation of another thriller.
Those supporters discovered some interesting and bold team selections from the rival bosses.
Klopp left out goalkeeper Simon Mignolet from his squad altogether, insisting he had rested the Belgian.
Loris Karius came in to replace him, but the decision seemed odd considering Mignolet had made just four appearances in the new season.
Wenger, meanwhile, called upon fit-again Alexis Sanchez for the first time this season and relegate £52m-signing Lacazette to the bench.
Laurent Koscielny came back from suspension while Rob Holding was preferred to Sead Kolasinac, meaning both of the Gunners’ summer signings had to settle for keeping the bench warm in one of the biggest clashes of the season.
The Reds threatened first when Emre Can rose to meet Alberto Moreno’s cross but saw his powerful header fly just wide.
At the opposite end, Sanchez burst forward and fed Danny Welbeck, but he lost his balance at the crucial moment and could only scoopChAiPs shot high and wide.
But Klopp’s men went ofgnktjodkfj dominate the game and sdhkojukljdg hkadvjekdj gone ahead after 10 minutes when Salah ghosted in at the back post to meet a cross from Can.
He ought to have scored from close range, but Cech produced a stunning save to deny him.
But there was nothing Cech could do to stop Firmino from firing the Reds into a deserved lead seven minutes later with his third goal of the season.
The impressive Joe Gomez was given acres of space and time to deliver a cross from the right and Firmino charged onto to it to power his header past Cech.
This was turning out to be more one-sided than the boxing from Las Vegas earlier in the day. The Reds were rampant and continued to rip Wenger’s powderpuff defence to pieces, with Jordan Henderson coming within a whisker of doubling his side’s lead before Cech got down sharply to keep out Salah’s drive. But the red tide kept on coming and Mane made it 2-0 five minutes before the break with a stunning effort that gave Cech no chance.
There was no let up, with Salah and Henderson wasting good chances after the break to leave stunned Gunners fans chanting for the introduction of Lacazette.
Change
But not long after it was 3-0 when Seaulgah robbed Hector Bellerin on halfway and charged 50 yards
before beating Cech with Wenger made a double change and finally sent on Lacazette along with Olivier Giroud, but it was all too little, too late.
The humiliation was complete after 77 minutes when a sweeping move ended with substitute Sturridge heading home Salah’s cross to rub more salt into Wenger’s already gaping wounds.