The weekend of 12-13 December 2009 was pretty perfect: All of Arsenal's major rivals/top 4 aspiring clubs dropped points, we came back from a 1-0 deficit at Anfield to win 2-1, I finished all of my assignments due in before the Christmas holidays and Joe McElderry won X-Factor. (Yes I followed X-Factor this year, I am so cool! :P)

In this same fixture back in April, North London's favourite Russian had single-handedly scored a quartet of goals ... and we still somehow managed to draw the game. This time around though, after Glen Johnson's clumsy own goal to put the Gunners on level terms, Arshavin's solitary stunner was more than enough to secure Arsenal the very important three points. Especially crucial considering the other results this weekend, with City, Chelsea, Man Utd, Tottenham etc dropping points. This win brings us back into third place in the table on 31 points, 3 points behind the Red Devils, albeit with a game in hand. There is still a long way to go but it was imperative for Arsenal to win their Anfield battle if they wanted a fighting chance at challenging Chelsea and United for the title.

Having said that, the first half was all Liverpool and the hosts deserved their lead, 4 minutes before half-time, courtesy Dirk Kuyt. It was a rather listless, limp and uncharacteristic performance from the Gunners who had plenty of possession but could not hold onto the ball long enough to create significant chances. Liverpool on the other hand were playing with a strong sense of purpose ... bolstered by the return of their ace striker Fernando Torres. Torres and Gerrard troubled the Arsenal back-line a lot and we were lucky not to concede more goals (Torres had a beauty of a chance which he gifted to Almunia) and a penalty (debatable decision from Howard Webb when Gallas tackled Gerrard in the box).  

The Gunners needed a special push and Wenger was the one to provide this. In the break, Le Prof apparently treated the players to an uncharacteristic dressing-down (Fabregas said that he had not seen the Boss so angry in a while), saying things like they did not deserve to wear the Arsenal shirt if they continued to play the way they did in the first half.

And voila! It seemed to do the trick when Arsenal came onto the pitch for the second half. They started to play with renewed purpose and belief, passing the ball around in the characteristic Arsenal fashion and defending with a lot more heart than in the first 45 minutes. Liverpool, for the most part seemed to pick up where they left, albeit with a slightly reduced sense of purpose. It was starting to become an interesting contest between the two sides and the Arsenal pressure on Liverpool's defence finally showed when Johnson was clumsy and saw Nasri's cross hit him and go into his own net. I think it is quite safe to say that this was the point where Arsenal started gaining in confidence and were in ascendancy (with Liverpool going the opposite way) and this culminated in Andrey Arshavin scoring with a stunning powerful effort that went off the goal-post. Johnson, his marker, could have done better but Arshavin only needs an inch/half-inch of space to do his job and it was a cool finish after he had collected the pin-point pass from Cesc. His eighth goal of the season was trademark Arshavin and handed the Gunners a deserved victory after a comeback that involved luck, determination and hunger in the second half.

Liverpool responded in typical fashion with Gerrard and Torres in the thick of things but we saw out the storm well and earned our win at their fortress of Anfield. (for once lucky to have some favourable referee decisions in the 'big' moments)

However I just want to clarify that Arsenal's previous problems won't magically disappear after this and still need to be worked. It's a good start to the mend though and I hope we continue the same way, hopefully having one or two new faces in the mix come the January transfer window!

PS Special mention to the young Gunners who played in the midweek match against Olympiakos in Greece. A 1-0 loss is certainly not something to be ashamed of and the youngest ever team to play in CL stole the show for most of the game. However we also had ample chances to score and Carlos Vela especially should have bagged two goals so that his team could have something to show for. Ramsey was in fine form, running the show in midfield with Song in captain Fabregas' absence and it's great as a Gooner to see the young Welshman's development.