Liverpool line-up: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Skrtel, Gerrard, Cole, Mascherano (Lucas, 78'), Jovanovic (Maxi, 65), Kuyt, Ngog (Torres, 74')
Arsenal line-up: Almunia, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Clichy, Eboue (Walcott, 59'), Diaby (Van Persie, 76'), Nasri, Wilshere (Rosicky, 60'), Arshavin, Chamakh
In what really was a game that neither team wanted to start their season with it took quite a while to get going. Arsenal looked to have started the brightest but Liverpool threw counter punches shortly after. Almunia and Reina weren't really called into action but when they were it was a little hit and miss; they made some outstanding saves but also flapped at a couple of balls. The game did start however just before half-time when debutant Joe Cole found himself taking an early bath for a reckless challenge on Koscielny, leaving Martin Atkinson no choice but to produce the second red of the weekend.
Arsenal may have had the numerical advantage but found themselves behind shortly after the restart; Liverpool kept a tidy spell of possession with Kuyt and Johnson linking up before finding Ngog in the box, the Frenchman turned his marker and blasted it into the roof of the net. Some question marks were whether Almunia should have been beaten at his near post but for me it was just a pile driver from Ngog and a very good goal. As it normally when playing against ten men there doesn't seem like there is, Liverpool held their own and Arsenal failed to break them down. Although that is somewhat due to the fact that Arsenal rarely decided to play the ball out wide and stretch the play, making it easy for Liverpool to defend down the middle. The drama was to happen in injury time when a cross from Risicky was met by Van Persie only for it to hit the post and come back out into Reina's arms, but he somehow seemed to drop it and it fell into the net causing what could already be blunder of the season taking over from Tim Howard on Saturday. Gerrard nearly took the lead again for Liverpool but his free-kick was stopped by a great save from Almunia. The drama culminated in a second sending off when debutant Laurent Koscielny received his second yellow card for a handball just moments after receiving his first. Thus giving Roy Hodgson and Arsene Wenger a start of season point.
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