Premier League Picks Of The Week 31

Sports - Football - Premier League - Week 31

The 31st week of the Premier League action saw:

13 goals - most by Liverpool = 5
94 shots - most by Crystal Palace = 18
43 on target - most by Liverpool = 10
33 corners - most by Everton = 9
72 fouls - most by Stoke City = 13
11 yellow cards - most by Huddersfield = 3
1 red card - Charlie Adam for Everton
1 penalty- 1 scored (Milivojevic for Crystal Palace)

What a game! There were only four Premier League games on this weekend thanks to the FA Cup quarter finals. But there were still plenty of goals and controversies, as detailed below:

What a team! Crystal Palace are escaping the relegation battle, climbing out of the drop zone after their 0-2 win at Huddersfield thanks to former Hammer James Tomkins' opener from close range and Luka Milivojević's spot kick. Their first win in eight games took Roy Hodgson's men up to 16th thanks to the other sides' FA Cup commitments as mentioned above, whilst David Wagner sees his Terriers stay in 15th but just three points above the relegation zone after drawing a blank in eight of their last 11 league games. Man of the match Wilfried Zaha made a big difference and must have been so glad to be back for the Eagles - especially under these lovely, snowy, windy conditions! In the nine games without the winger, the London side failed to claim even a single point!

What a man! Liverpool's star and once again man of the match Mohamed Salah underlined his quality with a quadruple seeing the Reds thrash Watford 5-0 at Anfield without much effort. The Egyptian danced and pranced through, in, around and all over Javi Gracia's men, into the record books and to the top of the league scoreboard with 28 goals, and 36 in 41 games in all competitions. Roberto Firmino's remarkable back footer has to be mentioned as well! And Loris Karius kept another clean sheet. I am sure Jürgen Klopp could not have been happier - despite the weather! The Kop kept echoing and bouncing throughout. The Reds have averaged 2.2 goals per game under their German boss, their highest ratio at home in the Premier League under any manager. Just awesome. The win took the Scousers up to third and opened a seven-point gap over Chelsea in fifth. Geht doch!

What a goal! Bournemouth's Junior Stanislas' late free-kick winner condemned West Brom to their seventh consecutive league defeat, keeping them stuck rock bottom 10 points from safety with seven games to go. Jay Rodriguez hooked in Salomón Rondón's header to give the visitors the lead shortly after the break at Dean Court. But with under 15 minutes to go, man of the match Jordon Ibe bounced the equaliser past keeper Ben Foster and broke the Baggies down before the Cherries went on to win and break the visitors' hearts. Alan Pardew is surely in a dead-end job as I've been blogging nearly every week, his side having lost 24 points from leading positions in the Premier League this season, more than any other team. Eddie Howe meanwhile, is a much happier man, having watched his team pick up 16 points from losing positions in the league, more than any other side, and moving up to 10th with this win.

What the hell?! Stoke's Charlie Adam's red card was super harsh, especially under the difficult weather conditions and certainly helped Everton to their win. His team mate Xherdan Shaqiri wasn't happy and confused the French commentators with his protests, making them think he was sent off. The snow and the lines made the game unforgettable that's for sure! And despite the sad attempt by the Potters to make it even harder for their opponents by not clearing the snow out of the keeper's box like theirs, the Toffees ended on top thanks to Cenk Tosun's brace (69' & 84'), the win keeping Big Sam's men comfy on 40 points in ninth. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting's leveller (77') was spoilt by his injury and ended up being to no avail, Paul Lambert's men having recorded just one win in their last 12 Premier League games, keeping them stuck in 19th, three points away from safety.

My Predictions - Actual Results
Bournemouth 1:1 West Brom - 2:1
Huddersfield 2:1 Crystal Palace - 0:2
Stoke City 2:1 Everton - 1:2
Liverpool 3:0 Watford - 5:0

Games postponed due to FA Cup quarter finals:
Burnley v Chelsea
Leicester v Arsenal
Man City v Brighton
Swansea v Southampton
Tottenham v Newcastle
West Ham v Man United

Click here for last week's Premier League Picks.

All pictures, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match reports, MOTD, Twitter and SFR coverage.

LFC Crash Out Of FA Cup 2-3 Against WBA

Sports - Football - FA Cup - LFC 2:3 WBA

Liverpool crashed out of the FA Cup falling 2-3 against West Brom and ending their 19-game unbeaten run at Anfield with the video assistant referee (VAR) at the centre of the attention in the late kick-off Saturday evening. 

It was a frantic first half, Roberto Firmino chipping in the opener for the Reds from close range after just five minutes, before Jay Rodriguez thumped in the equaliser just 71 seconds later.

Four minutes after that, the visitors were ahead thanks to Rodriguez again, the former Burnley forward slotting home and Albion 1-2 up, Liverpool just watching. What is defending again?

With just under twenty minutes gone, Gareth Barry thought he had made it 1-3 off Craig Dawson's through-ball, only to be disallowed eventually for offside confirmed by the VAR Andre Marriner. Close call.

Halfway through the first half, Mohamed Salah was brought down in the box by Jake Livermore, referee Craig Pawson ignored the appeal, for the VAR to cancel his decision. Another close call but correct.

It was the first time a referee had referred to the new technology to make a final decision correcting the official's first call, it took over four minutes, Barry was booked in the process for his protests.

And after all that, Firmino missed the spot kick, his right-footed shot hitting the cross-bar.

Alan Pardew was forced to make two changes before the break due to injury, losing Kieran Gibbs and Hal Robson-Kanu, replacing them with Ahmed Hegazi and Matt Phillips respectively.

But the changes did not deplete the Baggies' game, quite the opposite, they stayed on top, confusing and destroying any kind of organisation and threat by the home side.

The VAR was called for a third time before the break, Rodriguez in an offside position when Dawson's cross-shot went in off Joel Matip, but was deemed not to be interfering with play, the own goal stood, 1-3.

It was a weird back-heel clearance attempt by the Red defender, keeper Simon Mignolet not exactly strengthening his case of his position in the team with an oblivious display, his defensive colleagues not much better though.

Liverpool conceded three goals in consecutive home games for the first time since January 2007, West Brom the first away team to score three first half goals at Anfield since Real Madrid in October 2014.

Jürgen Klopp looked surprisingly calm.

The second half was less frantic, more settled, Liverpool dominating with chances and possession, but West Brom never out of control.

The visitors' stopper Ben Foster kept strong, denying substitutes James Milner and Danny Ings and defender Virgil van Dijk late on.

The stats show who was doing their job: Mignolet 0-6 Foster in saves made.

Salah did pull one back for the home side with just over ten minutes to go, becoming only the fourth LFC player this Millenium to hit 25 goals after Michael Owen, Fernando Torres and Luis Suárez. Even in Daniel Sturridge's best season, he only scored 24. And it's only January.

That's the only positive-ish stat of the match, even Klopp conceded the Reds were just not good enough and West Brom deserved to win, not blaming the referee nor VAR as other managers would have loved to place the blame, that's for sure.

How quick the form has crumbled to bits for the German's side, after the ultimate high of beating the league leaders Manchester City, to losing against the bottom side Swansea and then this, another chance of silverware out of the window.

Next, the Reds travel to Huddersfield on Tuesday, who will dare to predict the result? How good or how bad can it get for the board to make changes? To buy? To invest more? What is consistency?!

If you want more, you have to do more!!!

Liverpool Goals: Firmino 5' & Salah 78'.

West Brom Goals: Rodriguez 7' & 11' & Matip OG 45'+2'.

Liverpool Team: 22 Mignolet; 18 Moreno, 4 van Dijk, 32 Matip, 66 Alexander-Arnold; 5 Wijnaldum, 23 Can (booked 61') (7 Milner 65'), 21 Oxlade-Chamberlain (28 Ings 65'); 19 Mané (14 Henderson 65'), 9 Firmino, 11 Salah. 4-3-3
Subs not used: 6 Lovren, 12 Gomez, 29 Solanke, 52 Ward.

West Brom Team: 1 Foster; 3 Gibbs (26 Hegazi 37' (booked 85')), 6 Evans, 25 Dawson (booked 83'), 2 Nyom; 11 Brunt, 20 Krychowiak, 18 Barry (booked 26') (5 Yacob 71'), 8 Livermore; 19 Rodriguez, 4 Robson-Kanu (10 Phillips 39'). 4-4-2
Subs not used: 9 Rondón, 13 Myhill, 14 McClean, 17 Burke.

HT Stats: LFC 1-3 WBA
Possession: 65%-35%
Shots: 12-5
On target: 3-2
Corners: 2-1
Fouls: 2-4
Yellow cards: 0-1

FT Stats: LFC 2-3 WBA
Possession: 69%-31%
Shots: 23-8
On target: 8-3
Corners: 6-2
Fouls: 5-9
Yellow cards: 1-3

Referee: Craig Pawson
Man of the match: Jay Rodriguez
Ground: Anfield
Attendance: 53,342

Click here for my previous LFC match report.

All pictures, facts and stats were taken from the BBC match report, Sky Sports app, Twitter and beIN sport live match coverage.

Wolves Stun Reds At Anfield

Sports - Football - FA Cup - LFC 1:2 WWFC

Wolves completed the perfect stunner by beating Liverpool 1-2 at Anfield, thereby eliminating them from the FA Cup in the fourth round.

It took the visitors just over 52 seconds to take the lead thanks to Richard Stearman heading in Hélder Wander Costa's free kick with poor marking by seven red shirts just watching on.

Paul Lambert's men dominated from then on, man of the match Costa menacing the Reds, and in the ninth minute ran right through them for the ball to end up just wide after a bit of a stumble.

Throughout the match, it seemed like Jürgen Klopp's men were just watching, not attacking the ball, not marking nor moving, making it too easy for Wolves.

And when Divock Origi lost the ball in his own half five minutes before the break, it was Costa again who pounced on it, broke out and away on the counter.

Challenged by Alberto Moreno, the 23-year old winger crossed the ball to Andreas Weimann who made no mistake of beating Loris Karius with a nice side-footer.

That took Liverpool to the break, 0-2 down, having not recorded any shots on target themselves, Anfield sounding anxious and angry.

Philippe Coutinho replaced Connor Randall after the break to bring more stability and threat to the home side and they did create more.

But it was nowhere near their usual pushing and pressing, making Wolves' marking job much easier, too many players staying static, standing, watching.

Both keepers did not have much to do, Liverpool over-touching, over-playing rather than moving and threatening, substitute Daniel Sturridge missing a couple of sitters.

The only notable save in the second half was made by Karius late on after another counter.

A couple of minutes after that, Origi headed a goal in off Sturridge, giving the Reds a glimmer of hope of a comeback with just under five minutes of normal time to go.

But it was too little, too late, and the huffy and puffy Merseysiders were well beaten for the third time in a row after going unbeaten at Anfield for 370 days before Saturday's loss to the Swans.

Here is my match report of their last match, defeat against Southampton in the EFL Cup semi final second leg.

The 8,300 travelling fans could not have asked for more from their side and the trip was well worth it watching Wolves, the deserved winners.

The three previous occasions they had beaten Liverpool in the FA Cup, they went on to win the trophy. Good luck to them!

Klopp's men are welcoming Chelsea to Anfield next, for their Premier League clash Tuesday evening, the last day of a very dry and dire January for the Reds.

Out of the EFL Cup... Out of the FA Cup... Just a two-point gap keeping them in the top four in the league... It couldn't get any worse... Could it?!

Liverpool Goal: Origi 85:22min.

Wolves Goals: Stearman 0:52min & Weimann 40:50min.

Liverpool Team: 1 Karius; 18 Moreno, 17 Klavan, 12 Gomez, 56 Randall (10 Coutinho 45); 5 Wijnaldum (booked 51'), Lucas (c), 53 Ejaria (23 Can 74'); 11 Firmino (15 Sturridge 65'), 27 Origi, 58 Woodburn. 4-3-3
Subs not used: 7 Milner, 22 Mignolet, 35 Stewart, 59 Wilson.

Wolves Team: 31 Burgoyne; 2 Doherty, 30 Hause (booked 48'), 5 Stearman (booked 29'), 16 Coady; 8 Saville, 14 Evans (booked 89'); 63 Weimann (10 Mason 77'), 4 Edwards (c), 17 Helder Costa (43 Ronan 67'); 9 Dicko (22 Bodvarsson 71'). 4-2-3-1
Subs not used: 6 Batth, 21 Lonergan, 26 Enobakhare, 55 Gibbs-White.

Match Stats: 1st & 2nd half LFC-WWFC
Attempts: 4-5 & 20-7
On target: 0-2 & 5-3
Offside: 0-1 & 1-2
Corners: 3-2 & 7-4
Fouls: 4-7 & 7-13
Bookings: 0-1 & 1-3
Possession: 79%-21% & 79%-21%

Referee: Craig Pawson
Man of the match:  Hélder Wander Costa
Ground: Anfield
Attendance: 52,469

Pictures and stats taken from the BBC match report and live coverage.

Click here for my previous LFC match report.

The Legend Downs The Beast

Sports - Football - FA Cup 3rd Round - AFC Wimbledon 1-2 Liverpool

Captain Steven Gerrard spared Liverpool the blushes and pain of an FA Cup Third Round replay with two goals against League Two side AFC Wimbledon at The Fans' Stadium Kingsmeadow, just days after announcing he was leaving the Reds at the end of the season, ending his 17-year professional career at the club.

The Reds took the lead in the 12th minute with a fine header by their 34-year-old skipper. But Wimbledon forward Adebayo Akinfenwa levelled nine minutes before the break being in the right place at the right time after the ball came off the crossbar.

Neal Ardley's side flourished after that, putting pressure on the visitors creating a load of chances, but it had to be Stevie G. again who gave Brendan Rodgers' men the lead, with a trademark free-kick from the edge of the box with just under half an hour to go.

It proved enough to send the Reds through, although it was a typically nervy, clumsy display, especially at the back. Gerrard played a more attacking role starting upfront in a 3-4-3 line-up, heading Javi Manquillo's cross into the bottom corner to open the scoring with their only clear-cut chance of the half.
Under-fire keeper Simon Mignolet looked shaky as ever and was unable to clear a George Francomb corner, for Barry Fuller to hit the bar and "The Beast" Akinfenwa to slide home the rebound. The 32-year-old 5ft 11in striker and Liverpool fan took most of the attention off the pitch and was THE star in the social media.

But it had to be the one and only Steven Gerrard to save the Reds, first clearing a Adam Barrett chance off the line early on in the second half, before curling a free kick beyond keeper James Shea to make it 1-2.

The Scouse skipper was denied a hat-trick by an injury-time goalline clearance from Callum Kennedy, but his double was enough to send his side through to the next round where they will face Bolton Wanderers at Anfield.
This entertaining encounter did evoke memories of Wimbledon's Crazy Gang's 1-0 FA Cup final win over Liverpool in 1988, but a lot has happened and changed since those times, both teams being a shadow of themselves compared to those glorious days.
The Reds are gasping for form and are looking for changes in all areas to improve their chances of getting anywhere near the top four this season, whilst Wimbledon, irrespective of this result, have reached new highs since their rebirth in the Combined Counties League in 2002 after five promotions saw them back into the Football League in 2011.

Line-ups:

AFC Wimbledon: 20 Shea; 27 Barrett, 33 Goodman (booked 70'), 17 Kennedy, 2 Fuller (c) (booked 61'); 7 Francomb (31 Sutherland 86'), 4 Bulman, 8 Moore (12 Pell 86'), 11 Rigg (14 Azeez 79'); 9 Tubbs, 10 Akinwenfa (goal 36') (booked 39'). 4-4-2
Subs not used: 6 Bennett, 23 Oakley, 26 McDonnell, 29 Harrison.

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet; 17 Sakho, 37 Skrtel, 23 Can; 19 Manquillo (3 Jose Enrique 71'), 50 Markovic (4 Toure 86'), 21 Lucas, 14 Henderson; 8 Gerrard (goals 12' & 62'), 9 Lambert (45 Balotelli 79'), 10 Coutinho (booked 76'). 3-4-3
Subs not used: 18 Moreno, 29 Borini, 49 Williams, 52 Ward.

Match Stats: AFC Wimbledon-Liverpool
Taken from the Sky Sports Football Score Centre App
Possession: 30.5%-69.5%
Shots: 13-22
On target: 4-9
Off target: 6-5
Blocked: 3-8
Passes: 171/266 (64.3%)-550/643 (85.5%)
Att. 3rd: 59/108 (54.6%)-155/204 (76%)
Key Passes: 10-20
Clear-cut Chances: 2-3
Crosses: 4/24 (16.7%)-4/15 (26.7%)
Dribbles: 3/11 (27.3%)-10/16 (62.5%)
Corners: 6-5
Offsides: 0-2
Recoveries: 66-51
Tackles: 20/23 (87%)-12/14 (85.7%)
Interceptions: 14-7
Blocks: 7-4
Clearances: 23-40
Headed Clearances: 8-28
Aerial Duels: 22/43 (51.2%)-21/43 (48.8%)
Blocked Crosses: 3-3
Saves: 6-2
Catches: 1/1 (100%)-1/1 (100%)
Fouls committed: 18-10
Fouls won: 10-16
Yellow Cards: 3-1
Red Cards: 0-0

Referee: Jonathan Moss
Ground: The Fans' Stadium Kingsmeadow
Attendance: 4,784

Cup double over Manchester: Kuyt k.o. United

Sports - Football - FA Cup - Liverpool 2:1 Man Utd

Liverpool did the double over Manchester, beating United 2:1 to eliminate them from the FA Cup after they had battled out a 3:2 aggregate win over their City rivals to reach the Carling Cup final earlier in the week.

It was not a quite as feisty affair at Anfield, roaring boos against Patrice Evra being the only dark clowd and reminder of the Luis Suarez racism row of the last meeting between the two rivals.

Liverpool had the upper hand early on with more chance before taking the lead accordingly thanks to a Daniel Agger header off a corner with United's goalkeeper David De Gea too busy pushing away Andy Carroll rather than covering his line and goal.

But the trend soon shifted with United pulling back possession, territory, chances and in the end a goal when Ji-Sung Park poked in the equaliser. 

It ended a fascinating first half which saw United's growing hold on the game reflected by the score line. But the second half panned out less fascinating but more hard work as both sides pressed but did not get much in the opposition's box. Liverpool looked more attacking, the changes reflecting that and showing clear intentions.

Both sides saw two penalty shouts denied by the officials, fair dues, both hand balls but inadvertent, impossible to get away from, good refereeing at both ends. 

The game continued frustrating, with more pressure by Liverpool, but all attacks dell to bits in the box, no close shouts or shots by either side.

With minutes left, Dirk Kuyt smacked in Carroll's cross-header off Pepe Reina's goalkick, giving De Gea no chance and Liverpool the lead. Kuyt's 50th goal for the club saw the Reds through to the next round of the FA Cup and deservedly so, King Kenny can be more than proud of his club's display and achievements over the last week.

Liverpool Goals: 1.: 20:04 min Daniel Agger (5), 2.: 87:20 min Dirk Kuyt (18).

Liverpool: Reina; Skrtel, Carragher (Kuyt 63), Agger; Kelly, Gerrard (Bellamy 72), Henderson, Enrique; Downing, Carroll, Maxi (Adam 63). (3-4-3)
Subs not used: Doni, Johnson, Coates, Shelvey.

Man United Goals: 1.: 38:38 min Ji-Sung Park (13).

Man United: De Gea; Rafael (booked 66), Smalling, Evans, Evra; Carrick, Scholes (Hernandez 76), Giggs (Berbatov 90); Valencia, Welbeck, Park. (4-3-3)
Subs not used: Lindegaard, Ferdinand, da Silva, Keane, Pogba.

1st & 2nd half stats:
Liverpool-Man United
Attempts: 5-3 & 9-5
On target: 3-2 & 4-0
Offsides: 1-0 & 1-0
Corners: 3-0 & 2-1
Free kicks: 6-5 & 5-4
Possession: 38%-62% (37.min), 43%-57% (FT)

Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
Man of the match: Dirk Kuyt

King Kenny's big return = defeat against Fergie

Sports - Football - FA Cup 3rd round - Man Utd 1:0 Liverpool

Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish had no happy return after seeing his side concede a penalty within half a minute, fall behind within two minutes and then go down to ten men with skipper Steven Gerrard seeing red just past the half-hour mark, all adding up and leading to a 1-0 defeat against their bitter rivals and league leaders Manchester United to kick them out of the FA Cup in the third round leaving the Europa League as the only possibility for silverware this season.

It was King Kenny's first game as caretaker manager, replacing booman Roy Hodgson just a couple of days ago after his 6-month short stint, just over 20 years after his successful reign as Reds manager which included three league titles, two FA Cups and a 4-0 demolition of United which nearly cost Sir Alex Ferguson his job.

So, hopes were not high but better. But a couple of decades on, the men, the teams and the match drew a very different picture.

Dimitar Berbatov went down in the box late after the slightest of semi-tackle-touches by Daniel Agger with hardly half a minute on the clock. Ryan Giggs took the spot kick nice, strong and confident, into the right corner, shaving past a diving Pepe Reina, United could not have wished for a better start.

Liverpool took a bit to come to terms with the early setback but made some fine one-twos, creating some good interplay, Fernando Torres, Maxi Rodriguez and Gerrard coming close whilst United hardly showed up at the other end.

But then it all went from bad to worse for Liverpool: Stevie G. slid in with both feet on Michael Carrick and was given a straight red by World Cup final referee Howard Webb, after a little delay with all the players surrounding him in protest.

In contrast to the penalty, the replays confirmed and made this decision much more clear cut, the skipper had to go.

Down by a goal and a man, Liverpool seemed to get a grip whilst United took more of a step back or the foot off the gas rather than going forward and putting pressure on and taking advantage of the extra man, although they nearly doubled the advantage just before the break when Jonny Evans headed Giggs' corner off the post.

Liverpool showed some fine team work in the second half, Fabio Aurelio pulling a great save out of Tomasz Kuszczak diving and keeping out the strong free kick shot from the top right corner.

Reina didn't have much to do after the penalty, apart from a couple of crazy minutes in the second half when he brilliantly kept out shots by Rafael, Berbatov and Patrice Evra in quick succession.

Liverpool fought on well after that but never got close enough, not quite there. But they can take some encouragement from the second half performance, as at half time many would have predicted a reverse of the last time Dalglish faced and nearly smashed and crashed Ferguson 4-0.

It didn't come to that and now the Reds have to be strong as ever, with their skipper suspended for the next three games including none other than the Merseyside derby - see what Kenny boy can do... Come back from retirement and make a return on the pitch just as he has off it???

Man Utd: Kuszczak; Evra, Ferdinand, Rafael Da Silva, Evans (Smalling 84); Giggs, Carrick, Nani, Fletcher (booked 9, Anderson 62, booked 64); Berbatov, Hernandez (Owen 75).
Subs not used: Lindegaard, Fabio Da Silva, Gibson, Obertan.

Liverpool: Reina; Agger, Aurelio, Kelly, Skrtel; Raul Meireles (Shelvey 60), Gerrard (sent off 32), Maxi (Babel 60), Lucas; Torres (Ngog 77), Kuyt.
Subs not used: Gulacsi, Kyrgiakos, Wilson, Poulsen.

BBC stats:
Man Utd-Liverpool
Attempts: 16-13
On target: 10-5
Corners: 11-3
Free kicks: 7-11
Possession: 42%-58%


Sky Sports stats:
Man Utd-Liverpool
Attempts: 17-12
On target: 9-4
Offsides: 4-2
Corners: 11-3
Free kicks: 7-10
Possession: 62%-38%
Passing Success: 84.1%-72.5%
Tackles/Success: 21/76.2%-32/71.9%
Territorial Advantage: 39.9%-60.1

Referee: Howard Webb
Man of the match: Dimitar Berbatov

FA Cup Match Summary: Arsenal 3-0 Burnley, All Arsenal

Sports - Football - FA Cup - Arsenal 3:0 Burnley

The best match, players and goals of the weekend all come from the Emirates this weekend. The Arsenal youngsters impressed in every way with three beauties of goals against Burnley, who had eliminated them from the Carling Cup in December.

Calos Vela, Eduardo and Emmanueal Eboue were all on the score sheet with Alexandre Song the provider to the last two, completing a truely sweet revenge.

Vela broke through and past the defence and delicately chipped the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper Brian Jensen after 25 minutes.

Five minutes into the second half, Song clipped a cross towards Eduardo at the back post who volleyed the ball back into the top corner across Jensen with the outside of his left foot (right picture).

With only six minutes to go, Song was involved again this time back heeling to the onrushing Eboue who fired past Jensen.

The much-criticised Arsenal side can be proud of the performance and if they beat Hull, they will meet Chelsea in the semi-final. It was a joy to watch showing the beauty of the game. Watching the replays again and again just made me wonder how a team that can create such quality is struggeling for a Champions League place in the Premier League. It just shows that it depends on the day - hopefully the Gunners will be rewarded for their display with some cup glory come May.

Image taken from skysports.com