Diaby Ended Red's Run

It's been a long time and I'm proud to say, I'm back writing again!

Finally managed to catch a match proper, on a weekday at an ungodly hour of 4am. Liverpool up against Arsenal, who've slumped to defeats at the hands of Man United and Chelsea.

And their respond to the defeats came just in time. On a night when Man Utd drew and Chelsea lost. In a surprising turn of event, Arsenal managed to claw their way back into title contention while Liverpool could only watch as the top three teams surging further and further away from them.

After a good run of results including 6 clean sheets in 7, a game at the Emirates still proved to be a challenged. The Reds have an abysmal record against Arsenal whether is it a home or away game and just the mention of 'Andrei Arshavin' would have many of you cringing already.

Once again, another visit to the Emirates and another empty handed trip down south. A lapse of concentration from Liverpool's defence was enough to give Arsenal the win. At the highest level of football, that was all that is required. A mistake and a reaction that is milliseconds slow.

Tomas Rosicky was able to provide after a good move down the right and his cross was met by an unmarked Abou Diaby in the 75th minute. He rose unchallenged in the Liverpool penalty box after evading some slack marking from substitute, Philipp Degen.

The Swiss, honestly, doesn't impress me at all for the longest of time. He replaced Jamie Carragher midway through the second half and there I thought 'Oh no, disaster waiting to happen'.

Sure it did.

He's not the fastest and prone to some niggly fouls throughout. He's constantly out of position due to his 'attacking' sense and 'just-run-forward' mentality. There was an occasion where Liverpool was nearly punished due to him running blindly forward leaving a huge gap behind.

Well let's be honest, Degen wasn't the only one who was bad. I guess I'm still not impressed with the performance of Maxi Rodriguez but I shall give him a benefit of a doubt due to his recent arrival and the need for him to acclimatise and familiarise himself with the team.

David N'gog proved to be a spectator throughout and when he's called into action during that one-on-one situation, he panicked and William Gallas was able to make a last ditch tackle. That was probably Liverpool's best chance.

Steven Gerrard, though posed some threat but wasn't able to impose himself. His attitude didn't help either. Don't know if it's me or he just struts around expecting perfect passes for him. One stray pass and he just flings his arms with disappointment like a kid with his toys taken away from him.

To be honest, a draw will be a fair enough result as both teams didn't look threatening at all and were not at their best. But Arsenal was able to compound on the slip-up in Liverpool's defence and made them pay. Who said Arsenal weren't clinical? This was a show of them playing not as beautifully as they always do and yet still win.