Arsenal vs. Liverpool

2-2, Premier League, Emirates Stadium, 2013-01-30
Giroud 65,
Walcott 67

Yet again we turn a poor first half performance into a brilliant second half performance... What is going on?! It appears as though we get an excess of confidence in the second half to turn games around with...

After no more than five minutes Liverpool scored through Suarez, whose shot took a deflection off Sagna. The following minute Walcott forced a great save out of Reina with a low and powerful shot. Giroud had two shots going wide in the first half while, after a corner, Vermaelen's shot was blocked and the ball made its way to Walcott, whose shot was saved by Reina. Liverpool ended the half  better as they had a header saved on the goal line by Podolski and Szczesny made a bad call in venturing way too far from the goal, fortunately Henderson's effort went over the bar.

But then came the second half and with it, as usual these days, a different-looking Arsenal team. A great interchange of passes between Podolski and Wilshere led to a great opportunity for the German, unfortunately his shot was blocked and Walcott's follow-up went over the goal. Then Liverpool scored again through Henderson, our defending was worse than terrible as we constantly failed to get a tackle in to prevent the goal. Podolski had a thundering shot wide right before we finally got back in the game twenty minutes into the half. Olivier Giroud, who is on quite a roll, headed the ball into the back of the net! Walcott won a free kick, Wilshere took it and the Frenchman met it with a resolute header! Two minutes later we found the equaliser, through the another man who is on quite a roll, namely Theo Walcott! It was a stunning shot from a somewhat tight angle, the Englishman somehow found the far corner. What is worth mentioning is that it was a brilliant assist from Giroud who quickly tapped it forward for Theo.
   Three minutes later Walcott came close to a reprise of his goal, but this time the shot went just wide. Mertesacker had a powerful header from a Cazorla free kick that went just over the top corner of the goal and Cazorla himself had a shot/cross almost met by Giroud, but instead it went wide. The Frenchman followed this up with a double-chance, first a shot from a counter attack saved by Reina and the following corner was headed over the bar. Giroud then had our final chance but as the goal stood wide open before him he missed the ball, obviously immensely disappointing. The very last chance, however, was Liverpool's as Santos missed a pass, leading to Liverpool almost scoring in the last minute. Fortunately they did not.

Considering the performance of the first half, this was obviously a good point gained. But at the same time we really need to start winning these bigger games, and we had some really good chances to do that this evening. Yet we did not and now we will just have to ensure a victory against Stoke on Saturday.

Injury Update:
- Gibbs received a thigh strain in the first half and will be out for three weeks.