Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool: instant reaction

1-0 Santi Cazorla 19'
2-0 Aaron Ramsey 59'

Arsenal got back to winning by stifling Liverpool at home, and now are (at least until tomorrow) five points clear of the rest of the Premier League. After a few performances in a row that left just a little to be desired, a commanding win against the league's second-place team should be just what Arsenal need going into Westfalenstadion in the Champions League at midweek, followed by Old Trafford on Sunday.

The game started even, but as has happened again and again this season, Arsenal struck first, and it was on the counterattack. After about twenty minutes, Bacary Sagna made a run forward and crossed the ball into the box. Santi Cazorla found the end of it after a bounce, and headed sharply off the post. The rebound came back to Cazorla, and he put it in the back of the net. It was reminiscent of something like this:

Arsenal were sound defensively, but at the start of the second half they started to buckle a bit. They needed another goal, and they got it. Mesut Ozil laid off a pass to Aaron Ramsey at the top of the box with about a half hour left to play. He looked for passes, which weren't there, so he had a shot. Ramsey:

I've seen Kolo Toure drop off a bit, so I thought "why not try an effort from distance?" And thankfully, it went in.

From there, Liverpool looked a bit down, and aside from a late chance or two never really looked like they were back in the game. It's a great result for Arsenal, which should restore a bit of the good feeling in the fanbase after losses to Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea in the cup competitions. Now we face Dortmund again on Wednesday, this time in Germany, and then the ancient enemy Manchester United away on the weekend.