Arsenal 4-1 Liverpool: New Wave

1-0 Hector Bellerin 36'
2-0 Mesut Ozil 39'
3-0 Alexis Sanchez 44'
3-1 Jordan Henderson 75' (pen)
4-1 Olivier Giroud 90+1'

Arsenal rode a late-first-half flurry of three goals to comprehensively defeat Liverpool in North London, possibly dealing the final blow to any hopes Liverpool might have had remaining of being able to secure Champions League qualification, and more likely simply ensuring that Liverpool won't be able to catch Arsenal, whatever else happens.

After the first ten minutes of Arsenal domination, the game evened out until the final ten minutes of the half. Hector Bellerin (a fullback, no less!) started the scoring with a very nice goal, carrying the ball into the box and finding a way to evade two defenders to curl a shot into the low far corner where Simon Mignolet couldn't get to it. Mesut Ozil followed up with a stunner of his own, taking advantage of poor positioning by Mignolet on a free kick to place a bending shot into the top corner. Alexis closed out the half by absolutely posterizing Kolo Toure, taking a touch to leave the former Arsenal man on the ground and helpless before blasting in a shot that nearly decapitated poor Simon.

Jordan Henderson converted a second half penalty earned by a poor Bellerin tackle on Raheem Sterling, but the Arsenal defense shielded the goal well for the remaining fifteen minutes, and Olivier Giroud scored a great goal in stoppage time to cement the win.

Arsenal are, for the moment, in second place in the league, and could remain there if Manchester City have a misstep on Monday and lose or draw at Crystal Palace. We're also ten points clear of Tottenham Hotspur at the moment (awaiting their game tomorrow morning), if that's something you care about. We're riding the crest of the wave right now.