It wasn’t exactly revenge, but it was good enough for Arsenal, as the gunners came away with a 2-1 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup despite being the inferior side for most of the match, thanks to some help from match official Howard Webb.
Liverpool can blame Webb for favoring Arsenal on most of the 50-50 calls, not sending off Mathieu Flamini and denying Liverpool a penalty kick after Oxlade-Chamberlain dropped Luis Suarez in the box minutes after Suarez won a penalty and a goal for Liverpool (also deserved), making the most of a Podloski foul on him. However, Webb wasn’t brave enough to make the right decision in such a short time-span, and gave Arsenal a lucky break they didn’t deserve.
Despite wanting to rest his players going into the Champions League match against Bayern Munich, Arsene Wenger couldn’t afford to drop everyone. He gave Yaya Sanogo a start in which the young Frenchman didn’t do much, but it was his shot that was deflected of Steven Gerrard and allowed Oxlade-Chamberlain to score the opening goal, following a couple of misses by Daniel Sturridge who did everything right throughout the match until it was time to score.
Liverpool were the more dangerous team, but were often lacking patience in their build up, trying too hard to put someone in front of goal instead of using a little more short-range passing. The second half started with another excellent Liverpool chance, and a counter attack for Arsenal giving them a 2-0 lead as Podolski scored what seemed like a winner.
But from that moment the better team completely dominated the pitch. Steven Gerrard pushed more forward and Liverpool pretty much took out Arsenal’s midfield from the equation, as Mesut Ozil put in another horrendous display no matter where he was placed, and Arsenal were resigned to futile counter attacks, not trying to open things up too much. Suarez won a penalty kick which Steven Gerrard converted and shortly after another penalty should have been called, but Webb remained silent, Liverpool frustrated, and when it was all over, they were also out of the Cup.