Premier League - Liverpool deny four-star Arshavin

Eurosport - Wed, 22 Apr 09:41:00 2009

Andrey Arshavin scored four for Arsenal but Yossi Benayoun grabbed an injury-time equaliser to earn Liverpool a 4-4 draw in a Premier League thriller at Anfield.

Andrei Arshavin v Liverpool. FOOTBALL - 0

In an incredible match, Russian star Arshavin became the first man to score four goals in a League game at Anfield in 53 years - with Arsenal's only four shots on target.

He gave the Gunners the lead against the run of play after 36 minutes only for Fernando Torres and Benayoun to give Liverpool the advantage with goals within seven minutes early in the second-half.

Arshavin then struck on 67 and 70 minutes only for Torres to add his second two minutes later to level once more.

The Russian looked to have grabbed the points for Arsene Wenger's side by matching Julio Baptista's feat in the League Cup on this ground two seasons ago by scoring his fourth in the final minute.

But Benayoun popped up to scuff home a close range shot in injury-time to take Liverpool to the top of the Premier League for 24 hours at least.

The Merseysiders are ahead of Manchester United, who host Portsmouth on Wednesday, on goal difference but they have played a game more and will feel they have dropped two points regardless of the entertainment served up.

Rafael Benitez' side had 12 corners while the visitors had none, a telling statistic of the hosts' domination.

Liverpool had peppered Lukasz Fabianski in the Arsenal goal - with Samir Nasri clearing Daniel Agger's header off the line - before the visitors took the lead via some sloppy defending that characterised the night.

Javier Mascherano lost the ball in his own penalty area and Cesc Fabregas teed up Arshavin who smashed his shot in off the underside of the bar.

Dirk Kuyt was pushed to the right wing after the break, and from there played a part in Liverpool's opening two goals.

On 49 minutes, a poor clearance by Bacary Sagna fell to the Dutch workhorse who picked out Torres with his cross at the second attempt and the Spanish striker headed home his 12th goal of the season past the diving Fabianski.

Soon after Kieran Gibbs' clearance fell to Kuyt, whose cross was headed home by Benayoun at the back post as the Israeli nipped in ahead of Sagna.

But Arshavin levelled proceedings when he nicked the ball off Alvaro Arbeloa and dispatched a 20-yard shot past Jose Reina.

The Russian was gifted his hat-trick three minutes later when Fabio Aurelio failed to deal with a cross from the left. His intended clearance landed at Arshavin's feet six yards out and the shot went cleanly under Reina.

It was a short lived lead, however, as Torres was afforded too much space 16 yards out by Mikael Silvestre. Fabianski got a strong hand on the shot, but he still failed to prevent the equaliser.

Liverpool were pressing for a winner and Torres had a header nodded off the line by Gibbs before Arsenal took the lead after breaking from a home corner.

With the Merseysiders having piled men forward the ball dropped to sub Theo Walcott at the scene of his wonderful Champions League goal last season. He charged forward in similar fashion and teed up Arshavin who planted his shot past Reina at the near post with his weaker left foot.

Yet there was more to come. When Arsenal failed to deal with a header across goal and the ball dropped to Benayoun, the Israeli rescued a precious point for the Reds; and incredibly, for the second Tuesday in a row Liverpool fans would head home after witnessing a 4-4 draw.

Lee Walker / Eurosport

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  1. arsenal offense is fantastic...full of­ creativity...unstoppable especially on the short­ pass...but u need to improve on the defense and learn­ how to stop the long ball...match against liverpool and­ chelsea show the weakness part of arsenal team...u need­ to improve a lot and then gunners will become the­ greatest football club in EPL history.....

    From Bowink Yoe, on Fri 24 Apr 5:59AM

  2. Arsenal 4 life!!!

    Biggest surprise of the night =­ Arsenal starting more english players than liverpool!!!

    From lberkeley, on Thu 23 Apr 7:51PM

  3. Two of the best English clubs ever, 8 goals scored,
    4 ­ by a Russian
    2 by Spaniard
    2 by Israeli.
    Accept for­ Rooney, where are the English goal scores?
    Secondly,­ while everyone is talking about what an amazing game­ this was, why most people don't see it for worst­ display of defensive and goalkeeping of major league­ Football I ever saw. A 10 years old could have scored­ 5 out of 8 goals. The only bright spot is Arshavin,­ the rest were scary.

    From igor, on Thu 23 Apr 6:52PM

  4. well done arsenal! and omg andriy arshavin i was starin­ at him in shock when he scored his 4 goals a great lad­ and amazing talent well done arsenal you have a great­ lad on your hands from a girl boro fan

    From smiley123, on Thu 23 Apr 5:57PM

  5. Arsenal 4 life. Isn't it amasing seeing such talent­ from this young talented guys? watch out 4 the GONERS­ in this champions league. I pity Man u. The fear of­ ARSENAL is the begining of wisdom. GONERS 4 LIFE.

    From paul e, on Thu 23 Apr 5:26PM

  6. It was a thrilling match, nobody deserved to win.

    From fandetoure, on Thu 23 Apr 7:07AM

  7. this is the best season of epl ever . i thk u better­ relax and enjoy , if man u wins its ok not bcause they­ deserve it , but due to liverpools lack of consistency ­ and maybe benitez stubbornness of letting off babel and­ keane . oh well i thk dalgish will have a better impact­ on this super team, more tactical, for sure. anyway­ never write off Kops man

    From Gowtum, on Thu 23 Apr 2:50AM

  8. amazin game fp :D buuhh ur all goin on bout arshavin­ bein amazin ... nd he is a great player but against­ liverpool he didnt realy get much of the ball ... buh­ fp 2 him he can finish then :) his 2nd goal was a beaut­ :D poor header my caragher tho :/ buuuhh ... i think­ arsenal mightav jst about given man utd the title again­ :@ :@

    From zacharygleave, on Wed 22 Apr 11:23PM

  9. Arshavin is great.... good work from all the players..­ Very interesting game... :)

    From sasadelpiero, on Wed 22 Apr 10:26PM

  10. we have won the premier league go liverpool

    From mjjt11, on Wed 22 Apr 8:40PM

  11. good work arsenal. keep it up.

    From matselekeh, on Wed 22 Apr 6:01PM

  12. amazing game,amazing result.

    From ripped of, on Wed 22 Apr 5:11PM

  13. Aresenal were stitched up by that bald joke of a ref.­ where did 6 mins of extra time come from? and, Benayoun­ looks more like a rat than rats do.

    From PAUL H, on Wed 22 Apr 4:38PM

  14. well in reply to the comment that said liverpool have­ too many spaniards:your best player is a spaniard for­ god sake and if you didnt have nando (fernando torres)­ you maybe wouldnt be chasing for the title

    From smiley123, on Wed 22 Apr 4:37PM

  15. well arshavin well i have to admit i didnt notice him­ on the pitch at the beginning of the first half but he­ proved me wrong lol he was great along with fernando­ torres them 2 my favoutite players lol call me a glory­ supporter wll im not i support my hometown­ middlesbrough c'mon boro escape relagation please­ please please!!!!!x

    From smiley123, on Wed 22 Apr 4:35PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

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    From laurensmith213, on Wed 22 Apr 4:33PM

  17. WELL!!! WHEN MACHEDA SCORED LATE WINNER AGAINST VILLA,­ ALL MEDIA CAME UP WITH BIG HEADLINE,...MACHEDA RESCUE­ UNITED. WHEN HE SCORED AGAINST BLACK CATS, SAME­ HEADLINES, MACHEDA TO THE RESCUE...MACHEDA RESCUE­ UNITED...HOW ABOUT SCOUCERS WHO BEEN HELPED ON FIVE MIN­ EXTRA TIME AND RESCUED BY YOUSSI? GOOD HEADLINES EEENH.­ ENGLISH MEDIA ARE SO BIASED AAND DISGRACEFUL.

    From pimp, on Wed 22 Apr 4:20PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Get a FREE Playstation 3 at FREESONYPS3.TK . Just sign­ up and participate in a sponsor offer (LOVEFiLM etc.)­ Then just get some friends to do the same and­ you'll be sent a Playstation 3 80GB console for­ completely free. It's genuinely that simple, and­ has been approved by the BBC. Go on, go to­ FREESONYPS3.TK and get your free Playstation 3 now...

    From laurensmith213, on Wed 22 Apr 4:03PM

  19. Go ARSernal

    From oluseunayo, on Wed 22 Apr 3:59PM

  20. THATS THE WAY TO GO ARSENAL
    WHO EVER DOUBTED ARSHAVIN!!­ I LIKED HIS PLAY FROM THE FIRST MATCH HE­ PLAYED!

    MICHAEL _)__ BOTSWANA

    From Michael, on Wed 22 Apr 3:40PM
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