Arsenal had just beaten Liverpool 3-1 away on 6 January when they had to return to the north west to play them again in the League Cup on this day in 2007. On this same day Arsenal signed a deal with Colorado Rapids owned by Stan Kroenke; Arsenal’s first venture into the USA and the first meeting with the man who eventually bought the club. I wonder if that influenced Mr Kroenke.
We normally have a video of a famous match on the Arsenal History Society blog each day and so I don’t normally write about it here, but this one is so good, I thought I’d mention it here as well. You can catch all the goals on today’s page.
The team was…
Almunia,
Hoyte, Toure, Djourou, Traore (Connolly 88),
Fabregas, Song,
Walcott (Diaby 74), Denilson,
Julio Baptista, Aliadiere.
Subs Not Used: Poom, Lansbury, Randall.
Jeremie Aliadiere ran on to Kolo Toure’s pass to score the first. After that Fowler scored for Liverpool. The commentators on TV suggested this was to be expected and Liverpool would now saunter on to a victory, but that first goal was a jolly good try by Arsenal, but this is Liverpool, and well, you know, Liverpool don’t muck about.
However a Baptista free-kick, followed by a Song goal, and then another from Baptista and it was 4-1 at half time. Baptista got two more and managed to have a penalty saved, with Liverpool picking up two compensation goals at the very end.
It was the first time in over 75 years that Liverpool had conceded six goals at home. Better still Arsenal had just beaten Liverpool 3-1 on the previous Saturday. Indeed Arsenal had now scored 13 in the last three games. Boring boring Arsenal all over again.
Of course Liverpool had their excuses, what with Gonzalez going off with a shin injury early on, although it should be remembered that it was Gonzalez who tackled Walcott and injured himself in the process, the silly blighter.
But it wasn’t just the score – it was the quality of the goals including a 25 yard free kick from Baptista.
The game came as part of a five match winning run in which Arsenal scored 17 goals, but it did not end up as the season we hoped for, after seeing all those goals go in. Three consecutive defeats in February and the same again in March knocked us out of the cups and down the league table. However we did still finish in fourth, eight points ahead of Tottenham who had to settle for fifth, so that was something. And we had the memories of those defeats of Liverpool.