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Arshavin, Suarez, Lallana: Liverpool’s Premier League goal-fests remembered

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Eleven years ago today, Liverpool were involved in one of the most extraordinary matches in Premier League history when they played out a heart-stopping 4-4 draw against Arsenal at Anfield, a match in which Andrei Arshavin scored each of the visitors’ goals.

Although Yossi Benayoun scored a stoppage time equaliser to rescue a point for the Reds and put them back on top of the Premier League, it was a result which ultimately harmed their title ambitions as Manchester United ended the 2008/09 season as champions, four points clear of Rafael Benitez’s team.

While the goals certainly flowed at Anfield that night, the Reds have still been involved in higher-scoring Premier League clashes. On the anniversary of that dramatic draw, we remember some of Liverpool’s most net-bulging games in the division’s history:

Liverpool 6-2 Tottenham, 8 May 1993

Towards the end of an inaugural Premier League season which neither Liverpool nor Tottenham would care to revisit (they finished sixth and eighth respectively), they played out a high-scoring affair at Anfield.

Ian Rush and John Barnes had Liverpool two to the good at half-time before Teddy Sheringham scored almost straight from the start of the second half. A Stuart Nethercott own goal quickly restored the Reds’ two-goal lead before Steve Sedgeley narrowed the deficit again on 77 minutes. There was no nervy late finish, though, as Liverpool piled on the goal in the final five minutes through a Mark Walters penalty, Rush and Barnes. [via lfchistory.net]

Among the Reds’ substitutes that day was an 18-year-old prodigy by the name of Robbie Fowler, who would have to wait until the following season to make his Premier League debut.

Liverpool 7-1 Southampton, 16 January 1999

By 1999, Fowler had gone from teenage hopeful to Liverpool scoring centurion as he helped himself to a hat-trick when Gerard Houllier’s Reds went to town on relegation-threatened Southampton.

Fowler’s second goal that day was his 100th for the Reds and made it 3-0 before half-time, with Dominic Matteo also on target in the first half. He completed his treble just after the interval and Jamie Carragher soon netted to put Liverpool 5-0 ahead. Egil Ostenstad’s reply was scant consolation for a beleaguered Saints side who conceded twice more to Michael Owen and substitute David Thompson. [via BBC]

Such was the chasm between the teams at Anfield that BBC reporter Dave Woods wrote: “It could, and should, have been double figures for Gerard Houllier’s men who were just in a different league”.

Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal, 21 April 2009

Two years after Arsenal won 6-3 in a League Cup tie at Anfield, the teams served up another goal-fest on Merseyside, this time with the Reds pursuing a first Premier League title in 19 years.

Such thrills didn’t seem on the cards at half-time, with Arshavin’s goal the only one in the first half, but Fernando Torres and Benayoun quickly turned the game on its head shortly after the interval. A quickfire brace from Arsenal’s Russian playmaker saw them retake the lead midway through the second half and Torres equalised once more. Arshavin completed his remarkable haul in the 89th minute but it still wasn’t enough to ensure victory for the Gunners as Benayoun struck in added time to cap an epic 4-4 draw. [via BBC]

Incredibly, it was the second time in eight days that Liverpool played in a match ending 4-4, having also done so in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea the previous week.

Cardiff 3-6 Liverpool, 22 March 2014

On Liverpool’s first visit to the Cardiff City Stadium it was the hosts who were playing in red, their home colour at the time, and it turned out to be a rather eventful trip to the Welsh capital for the Merseysiders.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Cardiff twice took the lead but were pegged back on both occasions (by Luis Suarez and then Martin Skrtel) to leave the score 2-2 at half-time. The Liverpool duo both doubled their tallies before the hour mark and Daniel Sturridge’s 75th-minute goal killed any hopes of a Cardiff comeback. Jordon Mutch pulled one back for the hosts before Suarez completed his hat-trick by teasing David Marshall prior to finishing to the net. [via BBC]

It was a match which typified Liverpool during the 2013/14 season – sensational in attack (101 Premier League goals), kamikaze at the back (50 league goals conceded).

Norwich 4-5 Liverpool, 23 January 2016

Two seasons later, Jurgen Klopp had replaced Brendan Rodgers in the Liverpool dugout but the Reds’ tendency to get roped into high-scoring bouts against promoted teams remained.

Roberto Firmino opened the scoring on 18 minutes before Norwich took charge, racking up a 3-1 lead by the early stages of the scond half. Just as Liverpool stared humiliation in the face, though, Jordan Henderson quickly pulled a goal back before Firmino equalised and James Milner restored their lead. Sebastian Bassong looked to have salvaged an equaliser in stoppage time but, with the clock on 95 minutes, Adam Lallana crashed a bouncing ball to the home side’s net to cap a frenzied 5-4 victory and even more frenzied celebrations with Klopp and his team-mates on the touchline. [via BBC]

More than four years on, each of Liverpool’s scorers at Carrow Road that day is still at the club.

Liverpool fans, what are your memories of these high-scoring games from the Reds’ Premier League history? Let us know in the comments section below!

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