Anfield Moments: Liverpool v. Arsenal

By: Ed | August 11th, 2010

Just a few to whet the appetite…

Or to send you into a fit of rage.

Some painful moments at Anfield when Arsenal comes to visit, but some moments of unbridled joy as well. A sampling, then:

Michael Thomas Wins the League Title at the Death

Objectively speaking, one of the great moments in top flight history. From the perspective of a Liverpool fan, absolute heartbreak. I don’t wanna talk about it. Worth watching the entire clip, though—it’s like a ten minute test of endurance. You know what’s coming, you don’t want to see it, but you’ll watch anyway.

Xabi Alonso’s First at Anfield

Let’s fast forward a few years for a better moment—can’t catch it in the clip, but great build-up, Gerrard’s layoff, and an arrowed strike for Xabi Alonso to break his Anfield duck. Fantastically, it wasn’t even the moment of the match.

Neil Mellor Wins It, Breaks Martin Tyler’s Brain

One of the best Liverpool goals in recent memory, and the best goal Neil Mellor will score if he lives to play 10 more lifetimes. An absolute scorching strike out of nothing to win it with one of the final kicks of the match—rarely do you see a side so absolutely deflated as Arsenal were after this one. If it wasn’t for Steven Gerrard’s Olympiakos heroics and the miracle in Istanbul, this would have been the goal of the season. Goodness.

Arsenal Hit Six in the Carling Cup

Sure, it’s the Carling Cup, but the last time Liverpool shipped six at Anfield was, unofficially, 1930 against Sunderland. Plus we get Andy Gray in vintage Andy Gray form, talking about how he was going to predict something that was going to happen after it happened. This was a comprehensive lashing by the London side just three days after they had defeated the Reds 3-1 in the FA Cup. Not one of the better efforts we’ve seen.

Peter Crouch Hat-Trick, Liverpool 4-1

Fast forward to 1:10 for Crouchie’s brilliance in Liverpool’s last league win against Arsenal in 2007. Hard to believe it’s been that long, but a fantastic day for the big man as he netted with his right foot, left foot, and his head.

Champions League Quarterfinal: Liverpool 4 (5), Arsenal 2 (3)

There’s so many things I love about this clip—mostly the way I watched the second half—I was in class and had to record the stream on my laptop, and once class let out I dashed to my office, picked up the computer, got in my car, and fired up the video in the passenger seat. One of the only times I’ve had the patience to watch a recorded version without checking the score, and it almost resulted in my Honda climbing a tree. So many great moments—Hyypia’s equalizer, Torres gets the go-ahead with a sublime turn and shot, Walcott’s unbelievable pace to push Arsenal ahead in the tie. Dodgy penalty for the eventual winner, but an absolutely breathless match. This one was on my DVR for a year until I moved, and I’m pretty sure my buddy still has it.

Andrey Arshavin 4, Liverpool 4

You know what you can do with that finger? And that f***ing shoulder shrug? My god, I’ve never been so pissed off watching someone celebrate a goal. Some brilliant goals by the Russian, yes. But infuriating stuff after he scored them. A few to pick out on the Liverpool side as well, although this was the one that signaled an end to Liverpool’s title intentions after a great March of 2009.

Nothing quite as dramatic last year, although Arshavin did hit another rocket to win it for Arsenal. As I mentioned, it’s been over three years since Liverpool defeated Arsenal in a league match—these dramatics are fantastic, but I’d take 1-0 ugly.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Miscellaneous, Premier League, Special Features

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Arsenal Tickets

hi
I have a good feeling on this upcoming match.
Galahad Threepwood

Ugh, Arshavin. What a toad.
steven.

i couldn't even bear to click on some of these lest i jump out of the window ..
Noel

Always so easy to forget just how good Crouchy was with his feet. Though perhaps it's just a trick of perspective, given the length of his legs.

You also made me remember just how much I miss Sami.
Ed

Re: Sami, I just realized how poorly I've failed on this blog for the 3,423rd time this week. But that arrowed header never gets old.

In the midst of the Joe Cole love-fest and predicting championships after Liverpool ran through Rabotnicki, I completely ignored Roy Hodgson saying that he tried to bring Sami back to Anfield this season. Would have been fantastic from a locker room perspective, especially with the club bringing in Danny Wilson. No better mentor than Sami Hyypia on how to do things right.

Anyhow, hoping that he returns soon, regardless of whether he's on the pitch or off.
Noel

I remember seeing that in passing somewhere, but honestly, I didn't give it a second thought: at this stage in his career, it wouldn't have been fair to try too hard to drag him back as a player, and might even have smacked of being a PR move. I'm not saying he's not still good enough to get minutes at Liverpool, but at the end of the day it's the deepest position in the squad and... yeah.

But hopefully he'll be back as a coach at some level in a couple of years.
Felegy

Gonna be a great game to kick off the campaign. There is no better time for you guys to be playing Arsenal as we are in disarray in back. Our keepers give every Arsenal fan anxiety attacks and regardless of who starts at CB it will be the first time that those two have played together in a "real" game; whether it be Koscielny or Djourou partnering with Verms.
Also, don't expect to see Fabregas or Van Persie in the starting lineup, or Song for the matter. Should be a high scoring affair, if you guys can't beat this disheveled Arsenal squad you might be in trouble against other big clubs. Will you guys be starting all your big guns with the recent International Friendlies?
Ed

Felegy, I have a hard time imagining a scenario in which the regular first-teamers don't play, even with the large number of minutes many of them accrued. There's too much going into it--it's the first time since the 2003-2004 season that Liverpool open at Anfield, Hodgson's first match in charge in league, Arsenal's been a bogey team in recent years, redemption from last season, etc. etc.

I'm hoping that the minutes played yesterday (and Tuesday for Lucas) don't have that much of an impact. We're likely looking at five starters that will have played significant minutes midweek--Johnson, Agger, Lucas, Gerrard, and Jovanovic.

Interesting to see how it's handled, though, and I'm with you in hoping that it'll be a great one.
Rosco

If I'm honest and unbiased I would say the 4-4 game. But I'm not, so opting for crouchy boys perfect hat-trick.

See thats poulson arrived. Thanks for the memories masch, will be sorely missed
Derekburke

cant wait for the season to kick off. but im very worried for the arsenal. the team is very lightweight at the back. Arsene seems to be waiting until after this match against liverpool to buy a defender. . i think he wants to see how the team gets on. but liverpool have played a few more games. i think they will be very sharp. and gerard is looking impressive. i hope we win but we are missing so many players again. we're missing way to much for the team to win at anfeild. we need to buy couple of players. given or loach, sakho, kompany. i think if we got these 3 players the arsenal could do seriuos damage this year. my starting eleven for sunday is

---------------ALMUNIA
SAGNA KONCIELNY VERMAELEN GIBBS

--------------FRIMPONG
---------NASRI WILSHIRE
EBOUE ARSHAVIN
------------- CHAMAK

WALCOTT , VELA, ROSICKY ALL TO BE USED AS IMPACT PLAYERS.
Jack

I just threw up.
Galahad Threepwood

Me too. I had to read that comment a couple of times before I realized it was from an Arsenal fan.
Ed

From thinking this is all so awesome, right?
vinnie

thanks to the lack of support for association football in australia, i could only watch the replay of the Champions League QF. And I managed to resist the temptation to check the score too!

I have a good feeling on this upcoming match, I believe records are meant to be broken; if my feelings are proven to be wrong, we will go downhill from there! *then again, i could be wrong again*
Ff_99

Cant wait until sunday. Will be a cracking atmosphere and hopefully a thrilling game. Both teams wanna gt off to a good start tho so it may be a tense affair. Im guessing 2-1 either way.