The Premier League title race is undoubtedly heating up but it’s clear that Manchester City have easier remaining fixtures than Liverpool. While the defending champions’ only game against another member of the established big six clubs occurs when the Reds’ visit the Etihad next month, Liverpool must also face Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham.
There are inevitably better and worse times to play certain teams, depending on factors such as injuries and fixture congestion. Jurgen Klopp hinted at that when speaking in his press conference ahead of his team’s vital match against the Gunners.
“Arsenal are more rested than we are. We've played 12 since we last met, they have played six,” he said, with reference to the Reds’ 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium in January which secured their passage to the Carabao Cup final.
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But another hugely important influence upon a match can be the form of the two teams going into the fixture. This will be relevant in north London on Wednesday evening as Arsenal have won their last five Premier League matches while for Liverpool that figure stands at eight.
Only four or five teams each season have winning runs in the top flight which last for five-or-more matches so it’s understandably rare for two of them to meet when both are in such good form. Opta have revealed that the forthcoming match between Arsenal and Liverpool will be the first time this has occurred since the same teams played out a remarkable 4-4 draw at Anfield in April 2009.
There were definite similarities regarding the situations in which the two teams found themselves when that match took place too. Liverpool were second in the table, trying to chase down a team from Manchester, while the Gunners were fourth (albeit far more securely than they are now).
What perhaps made the score even more remarkable than it normally would be was that Rafa Benitez’ side had drawn their previous game 4-4 too. In that case it was in a Champions League match at Stamford Bridge which ended their European interest for 2009, as Chelsea had won the first leg 3-1.
Such defensive performances were far from par for the course for Liverpool at that point. The Reds only conceded 27 league goals in that campaign, leaving them with a goal-per-game average that has only been bettered six times in the club’s top flight history.
And 15 percent of the total league goals they let in occurred in the space of 54 minutes against Arsenal. What’s more, all four goals were scored by Andrey Arshavin, a player who averaged a goal every 272 minutes in the Premier League. Disregard this match and his record rises to 324 minutes per goal. The game was out of the ordinary on almost every level.
With Liverpool one goal down at half time, nobody would have guessed that the second half would unfold in such a ridiculous manner. The Reds have played 1,142 Premier League matches to date and this is the only one in which there were seven second half goals.
In the first 11 minutes after the break, Dirk Kuyt assisted headed goals for Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun to put the home side in front. But by the 70 th minute Arshavin had completed his hattrick, restoring the Gunners’ lead.
Two minutes later, a lovely piece of footwork and shot from Torres near the edge of the Arsenal box brought parity once more. However, as Liverpool were a point behind Manchester United having already played a game more, they definitely needed to win.
When Arshavin lashed the ball past Pepe Reina to become the first visiting player to score four goals in a league match at Anfield since December 1946, the jig was more-or-less up. There was still time for Benayoun to fire home an equaliser, but the point only drew Liverpool level with United while leaving the latter with two games in hand.
To make matters worse, the Reds clearly deserved to win. While the match pre-dates advanced metrics like expected goals, the shots on target count was 14 to four in Liverpool’s favour. Arshavin had converted every attempt on target his side had while at the other end Lukasz Fabianski made 10 saves.
The Reds have only had 14 shots on target in a league game five times in the 13 years since this match, and never against a side as notable as Arsenal. It seems nothing about this game will ever make much sense.
Having come into this fixture on the back of five league wins, Benitez’ boys rounded off their season with another quintet of victories following this incredible draw. But in terms of the title the damage had been done and they had to settle for being runners up.
If the current day Liverpool happen to draw against the Gunners this week, Klopp won’t mind too much if his side follow it with a streak of five victories as that will mean they will win at the Etihad. But the Reds’ boss will certainly hope that no Arsenal player has the best match of their career as Arshavin did at Anfield in 2009.
