Arshavin scores four as Arsenal hold Liverpool to amazing draw
Andrey Arshavin will never forget his first game at Anfield
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Tuesday, 21, Apr 2009 10:44
Liverpool saw their title hopes dented after they were held to a sensational 4-4 draw by Arsenal at Anfield.
A week after the amazing game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Liverpool fans were again treated to a heart-pounding thrill ride. But once again the result will not do their team any favours in their hopes of winning silverware.
Liverpool dominated the first-half, but fell behind to an Andrey Arshavin goal. The home side came storming back in the second-half and took the lead through goals from Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun.
In a game littered with defensive mistakes, Arshavin took advantage of an error from Fabio Aurelio to get Arsenal back on level terms. Arshavin found the back of the net again three minutes later to complete his hat-trick and give his side the lead.
Torres equalised for Liverpool once again, before Arsenal broke from a Liverpool corner and Arshavin unbelievably scored his fourth goal. But the drama wasn't over as Benayoun rescued a late point for Liverpool.
Torres looked lively early on as he outpaced Kolo Toure on the left-wing and found himself through on goal. But his attempted curler into the bottom right-hand corner was comfortably saved by Lukas Fabianski.
Fabianski was criticised for his performance in the FA Cup semi-final loss against Chelsea, but the Arsenal keeper did brilliantly to race out and smother the ball at the feet of Benayoun after the Liverpool winger was played through by Dirk Kuyt.
Arsenal started the game with five in midfield, but they were still over-run by Liverpool in the middle of the park and the Gunners could barely put two passes together early on. Fabianski was called into making another save as he tipped-over a Torres effort from the edge of the box.
It continued to be one-way traffic and Torres looked the most likely to score for the home side. The Spaniard stung the palms of Fabianski with a 25-yard shot, before Samir Nasri was forced to clear the ball off the line from a Daniel Agger header.
Despite being under the cosh for over half-an-hour, Arsenal took the lead after a mistake from Javier Mascherano.
The Argentinian dwelt on the ball inside his own penalty area and Nasri stole the ball off him before playing a neat pass to Fabregas, who slid the ball across the face of goal and Arshavin thumped the ball in off the bar.
The goal was harsh on Liverpool, who had dominated the first-half. They were kept out once again by an inspired Fabianski as he made another good save to turn away a Benayoun shot.
The Reds got their equaliser right at the start of the second-half and they got a helping hand from Bacary Sagna. The Arsenal defender's terrible attempted clearance fell to Kuyt, who clipped the ball into the centre of the penalty area and Torres superbly headed home.
More poor defending from Arsenal contributed to Liverpool taking the lead. Fabianski and Mikael Silvestre made a meal of a simple clearance and they put young Kieron Gibbs under-pressure and he tried to clear the danger, but only managed to pass the ball to Kuyt.
The Dutchman once again floated another ball into the Arsenal penalty area and Benayoun dived in for the header. Sagna looked to have hooked the ball clear, but instead it went towards the Arsenal goal and Fabianski was unable to prevent the ball crossing the goal-line.
Defensive mistakes seemed to be the story of the night as Arsenal equalised after 66 minutes. Alvaro Arbeloa was slow to collect a pass from Jamie Carragher and Arshavin nicked the ball off the Liverpool defender and went on to fire a stunning shot from 20-yards out.
The Russian international was in dreamland three minutes later when he grabbed a quite remarkable hat-trick.
Arshavin in truth was on the fringes of things for much of the game, but somehow scored a third goal when once again a dreadful attempted clearance inside the penalty area, this time from Aurelio, fell straight to Arshavin and he saw his shot go under Pepe Reina.
The Liverpool defenders were left on the floor scratching their heads, but in Torres they had a man on top of his game. The Spaniard scored his second goal when he collected the ball inside the penalty area before creating space with a dummy on Silvestre and then beating Fabianski.
Torres came agonisingly close to scoring his hat-trick, but watched Gibbs clear his header off the line.
Liverpool had a corner with only a minute of normal time left and they left only two defenders back in the search for a crucial winner. But Arsenal managed to break and the lightning-fast Theo Walcott drove into the Liverpool half before sliding the ball across for Arshavin and he drilled the ball past Reina.
Liverpool's title hopes looked to be in tatters, before Benayoun popped-up in injury-time to grab his side a draw after Arsenal failed to clear the ball from their penalty area.