The last twenty minutes was just insane. Liverpool needed a victory so they had to push forward, that suited Arshavin, Cesc and Walcott. So the game opened up in a big way

What an unbelievable and strange football match that we witnessed last night. Both teams wanted a good result and performance for different reasons.

Wenger made changes to the side that lost on the weekend to Chelsea. Apart from our striking options we started with a stronger and more balanced line up. Arshavin who was tactically left out against Chelsea was drafted back in on the left, with Samir Nasri replacing Theo Walcott on the right. Denilson replaced Diaby to add more bite to the midfield.

Liverpool started with a pretty strong and attacking team from the start, Steve Gerrard was out injured so Yossi Benayoun took his place in midfield.

Liverpool started on the front foot and didn’t allow our players any time or space to get their passing going. It only took Liverpool four minutes to threaten Fabianski’s goal. Fernando Torres beat Kolo Toure and Bacary Sagna on the left and attempted to curl the ball into the far corner but Fabianski got behind the misplaced shot.

Fabianski was kept very busy in the opening minutes, he parried a shot from Riera, then a few minutes later did a marvelous job of coming off his line to block Benayoun, he then got up to save from Arbeloa.

Liverpool kept coming at us, trying to take advantage of the inexperience we had in defence. Mascherano and Torres had long range efforts on goal, the latter’s tipped over by the much improved Fabianski. Liverpool were playing with such intensity, every player in red were chasing, hustling and harrying Arsenal players. Denilson gave it away a few occasions in the early stages which I think effected him as the game went on. Arshavin struggled to get involved and Cesc was being kept quiet.

Arsenal carved out their first chance on the half hour mark, Cesc Fabregas miscued a volley that flew just ahead of Bendtner who was lurking in the 6 yard box. If only Cesc could shoot the way he can pass, it was a fantastic chance to score against the run of play, well that wouldn’t be too far away.

Two minutes later the ball was heading into the Arsenal net after Daniel Agger glanced a header wide of Fabianski, luckily Samir Nasri was standing in the correct place to clear off the line, a let off. How long could Arsenal go without conceding a goal.

On 35 minutes the deadlock was broken but the surprise was that it wasn’t Liverpool to do it. Nasri robbed a Liverpool player on the edge of his penalty area, he drifted towards goal and flicked it into the path of Cesc Fabregas who managed to stay onside, Arshavin made the correct run into the box at the right time, Cesc being Cesc had the presence of mind to find the little Russian who side footed high past Reina for 1-0.

It almost felt like a game at the Emirates a few seasons ago against a lesser side. Arsenal dominating, miss chances or shots saved then the opposition score with their first attempt. I was thinking that we needed to score again because I couldn’t see our defence holding out for the rest of the game. Especially when Silvestre was looking far from convincing again at the heart of defence. Many times you could see confusion between Fabianski and Silvestre when a ball was knocked over the top.

Seconds after the restart Liverpool could have equalised, when Benayoun had a shot from inside the penalty area palmed away by Fabianski on the stretch, a great save.

Liverpool continued to knock on Fabianski’s goal but they couldn’t get through before half time. The second started much like the first, Liverpool went at us like men possessed. It didn’t take them long to get back on level terms. Bacary Sagna’s clearance was lacking in direction and distance, Kuyt picked it up and drove into the box, his cross landed on the head of Fernando Torres to power a header past Fabianski for 1-1.

Minutes later and the game was turned upside down, more slack defending by Arsenal contributed to our own downfall. Kieran Gibbs who was having a good game didn’t clear the ball sufficiently and Kuyt’s cross was headed in by Benayoun.

Riera struck into the side netting when Torres was in a very good position on 63 minutes.

Theo Walcott came on for Denilson who is having a difficult time in recent weeks. Cesc Fabregas dropped back into midfield and Nasri switched inside behind Bendtner.

Instantly we looked a more functional team. A few minutes after Walcott’s introduction Arsenal were back level once again. Arshavin nipped in front of Arbeloa and rocketed a 25 yard strike into the far corner of Reina’s goal. A fantastic strike. It reminded me of Thierry Henry’s goal against Manchester City at Highbury on Jose Reyes’ debut. We do not have many players in our squad who can strike the ball so cleanly.

The last twenty minutes was just insane. Liverpool needed a victory so they had to push forward, that suited Arshavin, Cesc and Walcott. So the game opened up in a big way.

Aurelio did not deal with a left sided cross and it fell to Arshavin who seems to have the knack of being in the correct place at the correct time. He fired in past Reina for 3-2. Arshavin’s first hat trick for Arsenal at Anfield.

Two minutes later Liverpool were level. Torres who caused Silvestre and Toure problems all night picked the ball up just outside the penalty area, he ducked inside and fired a low shot that Fabianski palmed into the back of the net. He hand wasn’t quite strong enough to keep out.

Bendtner had the ball in the back of the net with a left foot cross shot but he was flagged for offside.

Fernando Torres thought he had found the winner when his header was heading into the net until Kieran Gibbs headed off the line.

Theo Walcott looked sharp and dangerous when he came on, he has really stepped up in this second half of the season. In the 90th minute the ball was played to Walcott inside his own half with space ahead of him, my first thought was last seasons Champions League game until I saw Arshavin storming up on the left. Walcott’s pass was inch perfect and Arshavin was bearing down on goal. Left foot he fired it past Reina. 4-3, absolutely incredible. 4 chances, 4 goals. Surely that was the winner. Only a few minutes to hold on.

Without William Gallas, Gael Clichy, and a fully fit Bacary Sagna Arsenal could not quite hold on and our defenders did not deal with a high cross into the box, the ball dropped to Benayoun who was pretty shamefully unmarked inside the penalty area to fire in past Fabianski.

The referee decided that 38 minutes of injury time was needed but Liverpool couldn’t get the winner that Sky TV wanted and the referee had no choice but to blow the whistle.

It certainly was a half empty and half full result in the end. We were moments away from a famous victory but over the course of the match we could have conceded many more goals than we actually did.

Top gun of the day can only really go to one player, his all round performance has probably been better in recent games but a big game player can produce moments of brilliance and that is what did he on four occasions.