Arsenal Naik ke Peringkat Dua, Tekuk Liverpool 4-1
Arsenal Clincher to leave Liverpool Top Four Hopes in Tatters
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
London (B2B) - Arsenal naik ke peringkat dua klasemen sementara Liga Utama Inggris setelah mengalahkan Liverpool 4-1 pada pekan ke-31 di Stadion Emirates, London, Sabtu.
Arsenal kini ditempat kedua setelah mengoleksi 63 poin hasil dari 31 laga, menggusur Manchester City yang baru mengumpulkan 61 poin dari 30 laga.
Arsenal sudah mengguncang lini pertahan Liverpool di menit ke-2 melalui sontekan Alexis Sanchez memanfaatkan kesalahan Joe Allen dan Sakho. Kerjasama satu-dua antara Alexis dan Giroud nyaris berbuah gol jika tidak diantisipasi bek Liverpool Kolo Toure, seperti dilansir Yahoo! News.
Tim asuhan Arsene Wenger mencetak tiga gol dalam waktu delapan menit menjelang akhir babak pertama. Gol pertama Arsenal dibukukan Hector Bellerin di menit 37 memanfaatkan umpan Aaron Ramsey dari lini tengah.
Tiga menit kemudian Mesut Ozil mencetak gol kedua melalui eksekusi tendangan bebas yang bermula dari pelanggaran bek Liverpool Sakho.
Alexis Sanchez menambah keunggulan Arsenal di menit 45 memanfaatkan umpan Aaron Ramsey. Skor 3-0 bertahan hingga jeda babak pertama.
Pada babak kedua, Liverpool yang membutuhkan gol balasan memasukan Daniel Sturridge menggantikan Lazar Markovic.
Menit 55 penjaga gawang Liverpool, Simon Mignolet, melakukan penyelamatan gemilang menggagalkan bola sundulan Giroud.
Menit 63 dan 67, gelandang serang Liverpool Coutinho melakukan serangan bersama Raheem Sterling namun tidak berbuah gol. Joe Allen juga memiliki peluang di menit 72 usai menerima umpan Coutinho, namun tidak berbuah gol.
Liverpool akhirnya mencetak gol balasan melalui tendangan penalti Jordan Henderson di menit 76. Hadiah penalti tersebut bermula dari kesalahan Bellerin yang menjatuhkan Raheem Sterling di kotak terlarang.
Namun Liverpool harus bermain dengan 10 pemain ketika Emre Can menerima kartu kuning kedua setelah melanggar Danny Welbeck di menit 84.
Arsenal yang unggul jumlah pemain berhasil menambah gol melalui aksi Olivier Giroud memaksimalkan umpan Alexis Sanchez di menit 90. Hingga laga usai skor 4-1 tetap bertahan.
Kemenangan ini membuat Arsenal naik ke peringkat dua klasemen menggusur Manchester City. Arsenal mengoleksi 63 poin dari 31 laga sementara City 61 poin dari 30 laga. Di sisi lain, Liverpool tetap di peringkat lima klasemen dengan 54 poin dan berpotensi turun peringkat jika Southampton berhasil mengalahkan Everton malam ini.
London - Arsenal delivered a brutal lesson in fast-paced Premier League football to beat Liverpool 4-1 on Saturday, maintaining their faint title aspirations and almost certainly dashing their opponents' hopes of a top-four finish.
While Liverpool's defending was catastrophic at times, Arsenal fizzed with intent and three goals in eight first-half minutes from Hector Bellerin, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez and a late curler from Olivier Giroud secured a 10th Premier League win in 11 matches.
That moved them above Manchester City into second place on 63 points, four behind leaders Chelsea, who will be looking over their shoulders at their in-form London rivals even though Jose Mourinho's side have two games in hand.
Fifth-placed Liverpool, who netted a penalty through Jordan Henderson before Giroud's effort, now look out of the running in the battle for Champions League qualification after a second consecutive defeat.
A miserable afternoon for the visitors was capped off by a late red card for Emre Can and the result meant the gap to fourth place could be extended to eight points if Manchester United beat Aston Villa later on Saturday.
While much of the pre-match debate had focused on Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling's on-going contract impasse, within minutes of kickoff it was clear that more pressing issues lay with the visitors' defence.
Liverpool's back-three spent the opening minutes regularly gifting the ball to the hosts in dangerous areas and their only chance of the half was inexplicably wasted by Lazar Markovic, who tried and failed to pass to Sterling when through on goal.
The breakthrough came after 37 minutes when Bellerin was allowed time to cut inside the Liverpool box before curling a superb finish past Simon Mignolet.
Given their defending on the day it seemed remarkable that it was the first goal Liverpool had conceded on the road in more than nine hours after keeping six successive clean sheets.
Arsenal doubled the lead two minutes later when Ozil stepped up to curl a free kick around the wall and into the net and Sanchez smashed home from outside the box to make it 3-0.
The hosts would have increased their lead but for a stunning save from Mignolet to deny Giroud's header at the start of the second half before Liverpool were given a faint lifeline when Sterling was felled in the box.
Henderson squeezed his penalty past David Ospina with 14 minutes remaining.