Arsenal against Liverpool at Anfield is a fixture steeped in history.
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Arsene Wenger and Brendan Rodgers are both under pressure to win on Sunday to get Liverpool and Arsenal back in the race for the top four and potentially the title.
Whenever these two sides play there seems to be some cause for fireworks and that’s no exception this weekend. This fixture down the years has certainly provided some real classics and unexpected results.
CaughtOffside taks a look at five brilliant Liverpool v Arsenal ties in anticipation of, hopefully, another classic on Sunday.
Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal – February 2014
What better place to start than last season’s crushing victory from the Reds.
Arsenal arrived at Anfield as surprise Premier League leaders but their title credentials were torn to shreds, stamped on and laughed at in just 20 minutes as a Liverpool blitz saw them go 4-0 up. The hammering allowed Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea to usurp the Gunners at the top of the table, a position which the North Londoners could never recover.
However, Arsene Wenger’s men were able to get revenge on Brendan Rodgers’ side just a week later when the two sides met at the Emirates Stadium in an FA Cup tie which Arsenal won 2-1.
Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal – April 2009
Andrey Arshavin was bought with the express plan of helping save Arsenal’s stagnated season and he almost single handedly did that when his side visited Anfield and he scored all four goals for the Gunners.
Arshavin struck first before Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun fought back for the Reds. However, the best was yet to come from the Russian who unleashed an almighty, swerving shot across the goal for his second and then another strike just three minutes later to put Wenger’s side back in front.
Torres scored once again to level it at 3-3 before Benayoun cancelled out Arshavin’s own injury time goal in the closing seconds for it to finish 4-4.
Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal – October 2003
This, along with the 0-0 at Old Trafford, was one of the few results in Arsenal’s 2003-04 unbeaten season that could have undone them.
Arsenal were suffering before the whistle with Patrick Vieira out injured and made a terrible start after Harry Kewell put Liverpool ahead on 13 minutes. Further chances were created and missed and the Gunners had Jens Lehmann to thank as they were still in the match at half-time.
The away side got back in the groove with a deflected free kick off Sami Hyypia before Robert Pires showed his immense talent with a striking a curling, dipping, bending shot from outside the 18 yard box that put his side 2-1 ahead and set them on their way to invincibility.
Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal – December 2000
Then Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier tried to play down the chances of his side winning the Premier League title that year. However, Liverpool had already defeated league leaders Manchester United earlier that same week and so when his side hammered Arsenal it reignited championship dreams on Merseyside.
The match featured a stunning opener from future Kop legend Steven Gerrard who was just 20 at the time before Michael Owen, Nicky Barmby and Fowler put paid to a poor Arsenal performance.
Liverpool didn’t go on to win the Premier League as they would have hoped, but Houllier did lead them to a hat-trick of triumphs winning the League, UEFA and FA Cups.
Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal – May 1989
This fixture can’t be mentioned without, possibly, the greatest of the lot, the greatest quite possibly in Arsenal’s history.
The Gunners and Liverpool came into the match as the top two teams in Division One, the two close that the match was effectively a title decider. Liverpool needed just to avoid defeat by two goals or more and they would be league champions for the 18th time.
The match had bee scheduled for earlier in the season but following the horror and tragedy at Hillsborough, the match was rescheduled and no suitable date could be found until after the FA Cup final the week before, which Liverpool won.
The North London side had been leading the Reds 15 points on the league table at one point but Liverpool were resurgent under player-manager Kenny Dalglish and there was a feeling the Gunners had thrown it away and missed their chance.
With the score 0-0 at half time the odds looked firmly in Liverpool’s favour until seven minutes after the restart when Alan Smith scored from a indirect Nigel Winterburn free-kick. The hosts complained Smith didn’t get a touch, which would have cancelled out the goal, but after several minutes of discussion the officials pointed to the centre circle.
As the clock went past 90 minutes, it looked like Liverpool had done enough but with just one minute of injury time left, Arsenal launched their final attack.
Lukic threw the ball to Lee Dixon who launched it into the Reds half. Smith headed on and it found Michael Thomas stampeding through the midfield.
Thomas raced into the penalty area, slipped the ball past Bruce Grobbelaar and with just 25 seconds to go, sent the Arsenal fans into bedlam.
The match was responsible for this classic commentary from Brian Moore: “For Thomas, charging through the midfield. Thomas, it’s up for grabs now! Thomas! Right at the end!”