Sunday, 21st December, 2014
Arsene Wenger feels Arsenal's 5-1 mauling against Liverpool last season played a part today at Anfield, as the two sides played out a 2-2 draw.
The Reds started brightly at home and pushed Arsenal back, enjoying the lion's share of possession and chances.
But Liverpool had to wait until the 45th minute to take the lead, it coming through Philippe Coutinho drilling the ball home.
Arsenal hit back at once though after Mathieu Debuchy headed home in first half stoppage time, while despite Liverpool continuing to dominate, they then took the lead through Olivier Giroud in the 64th minute.
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Liverpool pushed to level, bringing on Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini, with the latter being sent off in injury time.
And the leveller did come, Martin Skrtel heading home from a corner to make it 2-2.
Liverpool had 65 per cent possession in the game and 27 shots on goal to Arsenal's five and Wenger admitted post-match that last season's events at Anfield had clearly had an effect.
"We had problems. Last year was a bit in our mind and we didn't play well enough. The second half was better", he told Sky Sports.
"We had a few chances overall and maybe it was a fair result.
"We weren't spontaneous in our game and played a little bit with the handbrake on. It is strange because three goals out of the four were scored in the last minutes", Wenger added.
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