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| Luis Suarez's reputation not getting any better. |
Arsenal kept up their momentum today after a 2-1 victory over Liverpool.
After a blatant dive and conceding an own goal, you might have thought it wasn't going to be Arsenal's day, but they showed the same sort of resilience and fighting spirit that they had shown against Tottenham last week. Again Arsenal had to come from behind to win, with two superb goals from Robin Van Persie proving to be decisive.
Liverpool came out the blocks faster in the first half, and that early dominance paid dividends when they earned a penalty in the eighteenth minute. To call it controversial is an understatement. Suarez (surprise surprise) played a neat one two with Kuyt inside the penalty area, when Wojciech Szczesny seemed to trip the number seven up with his trailing leg. Replays show that Luis Suarez should be in the London 2012 Olympics for synchronised diving, fooling referee Mark Halsey. After a disagreement between Charlie Adam and Dirk Kuyt on who should take the penalty, Kuyt stepped up and forced Szezesny into making a sublime double save, maybe contender for save of the season.
However, this didn't stop Liverpool from taking the lead, when five minutes after the penalty incident, Laurent Koscielny made a hash of things at the back and scored an own goal. Jordan Henderson broke free down the right flank and whipped in a low ball into the near post. Instead of easily clearing it, Koscielny got his feet in a tangle and put it past Szezesny into his own net.
Arsenal had been uninspiring and had created nothing up until the thirty minute mark, when Bacary Sagna produced a delicious cross into the box for Van Persie to expertly head home. Arsenal didn't really deserve to go into half-time level, but the gunners haven't really had that much luck this season, and this may have been our piece.
The early stages of the second half never really got going, after Mikel Arteta suffered an early injury. In the sixty ninth minute Martin Kelly squandered Liverpool's best chance of scoring, when he missed a virtually open goal. Minutes later Theo Walcott also had a good chance to put his side in front, this time Pepe Reina producing a good save.
With Liverpool having most of the possession and becoming frustrated by not finding the net, the stage was all set for an Arsenal dramatic winner, and who else but Robin Van Persie to get it. Alex Song picked up the ball in the middle of the park, and clipped in a delightful ball for Van Persie to latch onto. Having beaten the off-side trap brilliantly, Van Persie found himself in a similar position to when he scored that memorable volley against Everton. This time he went for the near post, lashing away an unstoppable volley. A goal worthy of winning any match.
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