Arsenal edged past Liverpool by a 2-1 margin at the glittering Emirates on Sunday night in what was an absolute cracking encounter in the fifth round of the FA Cup. The Gunners ensured they took revenge of the 5-1 humiliation at Anfield by knockings the Reds out from England’s oldest cup competition. Arsenal will now face Everton in the quarter finals as manager Arsene Wenger looks to end a barren run of about nine years without a major piece of silverware in the cabinet.
It was Oxlade- Chamberlain opened the scoring for the Gunners before he fed Lukas Podolski doubled the lead for the home side. Liverpool however fought back thanks to Steven Gerrard’s just around the hour mark but the home side managed to hold on to secure a famous win and progress ahead in the knockout competition, which has lost its sheen in the past few years. Here are the three things we learnt from the feisty encounter.
Arsenal showed more desire and hunger to win:
As evident from the general play and the entire course of ninety minutes, the home side showed more hunger and the desire to be on the right end of the score line. After resisting an early onslaught from Liverpool, when Sturridge surely should have scored, Arsenal settled down, cut aside their mistakes and built attacks of their own. It was the impressive Mathieu Flamini whom the Gunners had missed so dearly in the middle of the park, who broke Liverpool’s attacks time and again and covered every blade on the grass throughout the match. The defence was very solid too with the likes of Mertesacker and Koscielny hardly allowing Suarez, Sturridge or Sterling any kind of space in the final third.