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Our line-up differed little from that which won three points at the Hawthorns, with Rob coming in for Gio whose strong comeback has been a pleasure to behold, we'd miss his excellent free kicks. Also starting was Kanu, in for Francis Jeffers.
Cygan, Shaaban, Taylor, Parlour and Edu were still injured it seems and Ljungberg had not recovered from illness. That still left Arsene sufficient variations everywhere and he plumped for Francis Jeffers, Oleg Luzhny, Gio van Bronckhorst, Dennis Bergkamp and amazingly Stuart Taylor on the bench.
Liverpool started as if they were they were at Highbury to play football but after about five minutes they all dropped behind the ball and did little more than hoof out long balls to Owen. Riise had a shot that Dave saved low but the few pot shots they had during the half were all from range. We racked up nine corners to their none and the procession stats must have been about 65/35%. The match was as dull as their dreary black and grey kit, thanks to some very negative play by Liverpool.
Pires to Lauren whose fine cross in saw Pat win a corner. Gilberto fired wide with a half chance. Owen who looked a yard slow to me was caught offside from a welly out of defence and that was one of their better attacks. Fifteen minutes gone and we netted from what seemed to be a Campbell header that was deflected but Winter disallowed the goal for climbing by Sol. Pinocchio was out of his seat after a collision between Cole and Murphy to the inevitable response of 'Sit down Pinocchio.' Basically the first half was a succession of Arsenal attacks that ended with corners, all of which were taken by Rob or
Thierry, all of which were quite good. But Liverpool had a team of giants playing and defended well.
We played some good stuff in small patches but nothing too stunning. Pat began to impose himself as the half went on but even when our build up play was brilliant we got no more than just another corner for our trouble. The best chance came from a Sol Campbell header, inevitably from a corner, that was held well by Kirkland above his head. The anonymous Owen was replaced by Diouf with twelve minutes to go before half time.
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A late free kick on our left flank was bent wide by Cheyrou. We broke yet again through Lauren. The half had been one way traffic against some tedious Scouse defending. Wiltord had been quiet, Rob had become more evident as the half had worn on while Sol and Martin had been pretty well untroubled at the back. There was no way Liverpool would score from open play.
The Clock End were unimpressed by an early Gerrard tumble. Henchoz flattened Henry and Murphy kicked the ball away to stupidly earn himself a booking. The kick was moved forward by Winter giving Thierry the chance of a long range shot which Kirkland held. A big chance followed when Henry shot at Kirkland who did little more than block it out to Bob whose driven shot was tipped over by the keeper. Kanu to Henry, almost. Gilberto chopped, not seen by Winter and Liverpool went on to win their first corner of the match. Another fast break down our left. Kanu did well and won a corner. Henry did well to put Wiltord in but his shot was just wide, Sylvain had not had a brilliant match.
Liverpool had their only attacking spell to date and Cole was called upon to clear off our goal-line before Riise blasted over. Some confusion between Martin and Dave but Baros could only hit the side netting from a narrow angle. Twenty-five minutes to go and Dennis replaced Kanu. Another great Arsenal break following a full blooded Campbell tackle. Liverpool countered, Baros went down from Sol's tackle and the linesman signalled a penalty. It looked from my seat as though Sol got a large slice of the ball and it happened in front of the Liverpool fans. Winter was well behind the play on the other side of the pitch, but he took it on advice from his assistant who was either M (BFR?) Atkinson or T Kettle. Either way no doubt one of them will be picking up a generous bonus on their next visit to Old Trafford.
Murphy slammed the spot-kick home in the top corner. 0-1 and it was the only way they could have got into the game. We had twenty minutes left to make them pay. Dennis fired over directly from a Pires corner, shooting from the edge of the area. Another corner was won as Henry headed on. Campbell got a yellow card following yet another corner, I don't know what for.
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The volume was now cranked up by the home fans and there was a wall of noise that lasted until the final whistle. Cheyrou was replaced by Traore, with Riise moving further forward. Murphy chopped Cole on a run down the line and Henry took the free kick. At the other end Lauren held up a dangerous Scouse break. Henry to Jeffers - almost. Six minutes to go when Gio replaced Rob. Henry offside. Baros replaced by Biscan. We continued to attack to the last with Dennis looking somewhat wasted on our right flank.
Murphy shot wide during the four minutes added time and we should have won it when Dennis played in Ashley down the left. Cole in turn hit a fabulous cross which picked out Gilberto coming in down the right channel, but his golden opportunity went wide of the near post as we in the West Stand were out of our seats in anticipation of three points.
We could have, we should have.