Premiership Result: Arsenal 3 (Pires 25, Reyes 28, Fabrigas 90) Liverpool 1 (Gerrard 50)
Arsenal: Lehmann, Lauren,
Toure, Senderos, Cole, Fabregas, Vieira, Silva, Pires (Edu 67), Van
Persie (Bergkamp 67), Reyes (Aliadiere 86) Subs not used: Campbell,
Almunia
Liverpool: Dudek,
Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore, Hamann (booked, Smicer 67), Luis
Garcia, Gerrard, Alonso, Riise (Kewell 45), Baros (booked, Cisse 45)
Subs not used: Carson, Biscan.
FULL TIME: Arsenal 3 Liverpool 1. Liverpool can now finish no higher than fifth.
90 mins + 3: GOAL!!! Fabrigas puts Arsenal 3-1 up and Everton into the Champions League.
90 mins: End of normal time. 4 minutes stoppage time indicated.
86 mins: Arsenal substitution. Reyes replaced by Aliadiere.
84 mins:
Reyes claims a penalty, Graham Poll says play on. Liverpool are running
out of time now. Six minutes left and Arsenal are keeping Liverpool at
bay.
79 mins: Goal disallowed – Fabrigas ruled offside for Arsenal.
76 mins: Garcia played in by Cisse, but shoots narrowly over. Liverpool upping the pressure, Arsenal happy to play on the break.
75 mins: Cisse
almost scores from a wide position. Liverpool have just 15 minutes left
to score two more goals. The second half performance is an improvement
on the first, and shows what the Reds are capable of. May turn out to
be too little too late.
70 mins: Gerrard thunders a shot from 35 yards towards goal, saved by Lehmann.
67 mins: Double substution for Arsenal – Edu and Bergkamp for Pires and Van Persie.
67 mins: Liverpool substitution – Smicer for Hamann.
50 mins: GOAL!!! Liverpool pull one back, thanks to a deflected Gerrard free-kick.
45 mins: Double substitution for Liverpool – Kewell and Cisse on for Baros and Cisse.
Second Half
Half Time: Arsenal 2 Liverpool 0
45 mins +1: Baros escapes a second yellow after clattering into Lehmann.
35 mins: Liverpool
look stunned by the goals from Arsenal which came after a spell of
Arsenal pressure. Benitez has to rethink his tactics, because Liverpool
now need to score three goals.
28 mins: GOAL!!! Arsenal go 2-0 up with a goal from Reyes.
24 mins: GOAL!!! Unfortunately it’s a goal from Arsenal – excellent goal from Robert Pires, from the free-kick conceded by Hamann.
22 mins: Booking: Hamann booked for a foul on Vierra just outside the box. Arsenal free kick.
21 mins: Another shot at goal from Arsenal. Pires narrowly wide as Liverpool start to face a lot of pressure.
21 mins: Dudek turns a Lauren shot onto the bar and Hyppia clears the rebound.
19 mins: The luck evens out as Lehmann gets away with fluffing a save from a ‘daisy-cutter’ shot by Traore.
16 mins: Arsenal’s Pires claims a penalty, referee awards a corner. Cleared.
14 mins: Booking: Baros, for deliberate handball.
14 mins: Baros
has a goal disallowed for what the referee says was a deliberate
handball just before he knocked it in. Baros is booked (for the second
game in a row) for the offence.
13 mins: Fabregas blasts a shot at the goal that curls wide at the last second. It almost looks in.
12 mins: Riise
almost scores but is denied by Lehmann. Riise went for goal when a pass
could have been a better option – Garcia was unmarked on the six-yard
line.
10 mins: Jerzy Dudek
proves Wenger right – Liverpool are lucky. Dudek fluffed a save and the
ball was in the back of the net from Reyes. Jerzy was relieved though
to see the linesman flag for offside. Sami Hyypia had given the ball
away in the move that led to the goal.
Match kicks off.
Liverpool need to win this game and the final game of the season to
have any chance of fourth place. They also need Everton to lose both
their remaining games, including the one in midweek against Arsenal.
If Arsenal can take three points from their three remaining games then
they will only be able to be caught on points for second place. Their
goal-difference is superior to Manchester United’s, but four points out
of the nine available would make them second for sure.
Liverpool won’t play a red-shirted Arsenal at Highbury again. Next
season is Arsenal’s last at their current home, and to recognise their
tradition they are wearing their original colours at the ground next
season.