Match report: Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal

Liverpool cruised to a 5-1 victory over Arsenal at Anfield to send the Reds nine points clear at the top of the table as they made it 20 matches unbeaten in the Premier League.

Roberto Firmino bagged his first hat-trick in a Reds shirt with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane also getting amongst the goals.

The result sends Liverpool ten points clear of Manchester City, who travel to Southampton on Sunday prior to the heavyweight clash at the Etihad between the two title rivals.

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Arsenal opened the scoring through Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who snuck around to the back post to fire home his first league goal for Arsenal from close range in the ninth minute.

Firmino found himself fortunate to latch onto a loose ball in the penalty area only six minutes later, levelling the score with a trademark no-look finish.

The Brazilian snatched the ball high up the pitch almost immediately after the restart, taking on three men before slotting past Bernd Leno to make it 2-1.

Sadio Mane grabbed the third when Andy Robertson lobbed a fantastic diagonal ball towards Salah from the half-way line, with the Egyptian setting up his counterpart with his first touch to lay on a chance Mane couldn’t pass up.

Salah found the net himself on the stroke of half-time when he won and converted a penalty, firing hard into the centre of the goal and almost through Leno to make it 4-1 before the break.

Dejan Lovren was awarded a penalty midway through the second-half when he was shoved in the back by Sead Kolasinac, and Salah gave up penalty duty to allow Firmino to get hit hat-trick.

The Reds were content to contain and counter for the remaining 20 odd minutes of the match, never looking under threat from Arsenal’s possession but immediately looking a danger when they got the ball up the pitch.

The result sets Liverpool up perfectly for what will arguably be their biggest game of the season when they travel to Manchester City on Thursday evening.

 

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Source: anfieldhq.com