Goal king Martin not smarting any more
LIVERPOOL: the right. Once he got the ball there was only one thought in his clever brain and his cross skimmed to Firmino who took all the time in the world before despatching his shot into the roof of the net. Wenger slumped back in despair in his dugout seat. Philippe Coutinho then found space just outside the box and let fly for the top corner only for keeper Petr Cech to save comfortably. But Cech had no chance as Liverpool scored a superb second five minutes before the break. Klopp’s assassins cut across the Arsenal back line and Firmino found Mane whose first-time drive bulged the net.
Cue the cameras to highlight Wenger, head down in total despair. And Liverpool should have heaped more misery on him in the 44th minute when Coutinho found himself in a one-on-one with Cech but shot tamely at his chest.
Five days on from the Leicester embarrassment and this was a totally different, transformed Liverpool side. Quicker, snappier and just too good for Arsenal who could not have been any easier to bulldoze down.
They were not only caught napping but comatose in a first 45 minutes of Liverpool mayhem. The hosts, in their wildest dreams, could not have envisaged catching Arsenal so cold ARSENAL: on a day when they went AWOL away from The Emirates much to the manager’s fury.
They finally responded after the break with Olivier Giroud climbing high to power in a header which Simon Mignolet palmed on to the bar.
Much better from Arsenal who had thrown on Sanchez at the restart, intent on clawing their way back into a game which had looked dead and buried at the break.
They pulled a goal back in the 57th minute when Sanchez slide-ruled through to Welbeck and he raced clear to clip beyond Mignolet. Wenger was up in his seat now. You just could not believe the change in Arsenal with Liverpool, for the first time, looking nervous and feeling uncomfortable on the back foot.
Yet they stood their ground, refusing to buckle under the Gunners revival and could have added a third when sub Divock Origi headed onto the foot of the post from James Milner’s free-kick with seven minutes left.
They did add that third in the dying seconds when Origi, after great hold-up work from Adam Lallana, fed across for Wijnaldum to drive gleefully into the bottom corner.