Bring on City: Liverpool 5 vs 1 Arsenal. Spellbinding Reds thrash Gunners in bold statement to rivals... and even goalie Allison grabs an assist before the assist.

This was a statement, as if we needed any telling. Liverpool are no pretenders, boy they look the real deal. They mean business.

It is easy to forget the Reds were still two points behind then leaders Manchester City, who now lie ten points adrift with a game in hand, as recently as December 5. How quickly the tables can turn. How brilliantly Liverpool are turning the screw. Here they turned, tightened and forced Arsenal into submission. Make no mistake, the 5-1 scoreline did the game justice. It really could have been anything Liverpool wanted it to be. Jurgen Klopp must have wanted a five star performance and he indeed got that with five goals as well.

Coming into this, Arsenal had the chance to temporarily leapfrog Chelsea in fourth with the Blues away at Crystal Palace on Sunday. But they had to surpass a test no team in the league have so far been able to profer solution to: besting an unbeaten Reds who came into this tie on a nine game winning run. Coincidentally, the Gunners were the last team to take points off Liverpool in the league, in a 1-1 draw at the Emirates in November. However, from the moment Mo Salah emphatically hammered home the fourth, at a raucous Anfield, from the penalty spot, it was three points in the bag. The Egyptian had won the penalty after Sokratis Papastathopoulolus had gotten too tight and brought the forward down in the box. It was a clumsy tackle in what was a nightmarish display in defence for the Greek international. He won't be the only one having nightmares about his shambolic showing at Anfield. It was sympathetic knowing Unai Emery only had the luxury of three changes to make in altering the course of the game. The whole first XI, bar maybe Alex Iwobi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, would have had little complaints if taken off. They were abysmal, uncharacteristically clueless in attack and feeble in defence.

 From the opening whistle of referee Michael Oliver , Arsenal looked uncertain at the back as passes went astray. Perhaps intimidated by the vociferous Anfield supporters who created a charged atmosphere. Liverpool had the better of the early exchanges. Left back Andy Robertson fizzed an inviting cross across the box but Sadio Mane was not on the same wavelength, Salah flicked just wide from a  Roberto Firmino shot, and then the opener. Against the run of play it came. A sloppy pass saw Liverpool lose the ball in their defensive third, with Alex Iwobi advancing down the left and providing a sublime cross to the far post where Maitland-Niles needed no second invitation to convert. Anfield was stunned in silence. Surely this was not the script they had expected to unfold? On the bench however, Arsenal coach Unai Emery barely moved. Did he know what was coming? Arsenal's opener was like prodding a sleeping lion with a stick. And back came Liverpool with a defeaning roar. The last thing you would want to do is hand Liverpool a route back into the game, but that was exactly what Arsenal did. Firmino made a promising run from deep and offloaded to Salah who saw his shot blocked. What followed next was calamitous defending. A mix up between Shkrodan Mustafi and Stephan Lichsteiner saw the former, as he tried to clear, smash the ball into the latter sending it trickling past Bernd Leno in the Arsenal goal and Firmino made sure for 1-1 tapping in from few yards. It was yet more poor defending from the Gunners but worse was to come. 

There was little danger until Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira sheepishly gave away the ball in midfield to Firmino. The Brazilian charged at the Arsenal backline who were now retreating, and within seconds served up some Brazilian magic. He dribbled past not one, two, but three challenges leaving the Arsenal defenders on their backside as the Anfield crowd got off theirs in anticipation. A precise low finish left Leno motionless. From an Arsenal perspective it was slapdash defending but Firmino still had a lot to do when he recovered possession. The slaloming run looked more beautiful with each replay. He made the Arsenal defenders lie on the green grass. The noise levels cranked up and Liverpool went for the kill. A cornerkick, conceded after a rash back pass to Leno by Lichsteiner resulted in an awkward clearance out of play, was only cleared as far as Robertson. His long diagonal ball towards Salah breached the porous Arsenal defence. The Egyptian cushioned it on a plate for Mane who finished with aplomb high into the net. It was route one football but yet more school boy defending from the away side. Arsenal were crumbling and needed to regroup, but all over the pitch Liverpool had boundless energy and too much quality. Maitland-Niles, Ramsey, Aubameyang, Iwobi up against Shaqiri, Firmino, Mane, Salah in the Red corner. The gulf in class was crystal clear. Watching the coherence, confidence and classy one-touch passing seemed like watching 'Barcelona 08' all over again. You know that film. The solid back four, well marshalled by Virgil Van Dijk--a Rolls Royce of a defender, had the Arsenal forwards under lock and key. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would surely have woken up fearing he was still in Van Dijk's grasp. Such was the dominant display of a Liverpool defence that has conceded just 8 goals in twenty games, they were pinging 50-yard balls even Paul Scholes in his hey days would have been proud of to kick-start attacks. One of such raking passes was released by goalkeeper Allison to Firmino, wide right, on 40 minutes. From the moment it landed at his feet, you could tell danger loomed. With Arsenal light at the back, a quick pass down the channel released Salah, who had made an intelligent run, in behind enemy lines. Sokratis who was caught the wrong side of the attacker, got too tight and succeeded in only bringing the forward down leaving the referee little option but to point to the spot. It was converted by that man, Salah for his 13th league goal of the season. One season wonder eh? 

All in 45 minutes. Arsenal had been blitzed, pummeled, and left on the canvas by a rampaging Reds in a stunning display . The hunger and ferociousness of Klopp's side was befitting of a side who are taking the league by storm. Did they hear of Tottenham Hotspur's surprise loss against Wolverhampton Wanderers? Most likely. But this Liverpool team don't need a second motivation. The 28 year wait for a League title is enough push. They kept on going for more in the second half as a deflated Arsenal barely offered any response. Roberto Firmino stepped up to complete his hat-trick and cap off a remarkable performance --perhaps his best in a Liverpool shirt-- after Sead Kolasinac inexplicably brought down Dejan Lovren from a corner. It was the final nail in the coffin, as Liverpool extended their lead at the top to nine points, pending Manchester City's result away at Southampton. 2018 has seen the Reds make giant strides forward and they capped it off with a giant display to head into the new year brimming with confidence, ahead of the titanic clash on Thursday against City. Who can stop them? Well this 5-1 hammering of the Gunners was a big statement to those attempting to.