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23rd December, 2017: Five minutes Liverpool fans will never forget when they face Arsenal

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As we warm up to the exciting duel between UNAI’s ARMY and KLOPP’s CORPS, we take a journey back to an thrilling encounter between both teams on the eve of Christmas in 2017. It was a game that had many talking prior to it happening at the Emirates, mainly because of the timing: THE EVE OF CHRISTMAS. Fans and journalists alike got involved in the frenzy ahead of that encounter.

Arsene Wenger was in charge then of the Gunners while Klopp was still head coach. A cold winter night it was. And many Arsenal fans were itchy to see how Oxlade Chamberlain was now fairing after he had bid them adios. The Gunners line up had Peter Cech in post, and a 4-2-3-1 formation of Bellerin, Monreal, Koscielny, and Niles making the back four, Xhaka and Wilshere in front of the back four, and, Iwobi, Ozil and Sanchez behind Alexandre Lacazette. Liverpool also presented a similar formation with Mignolet in post , Joe Gomez, Lovren, Klavan and Robertson in front of the goalie, Henderson and Can in front of the back four and then Mane, Coutinho and Salah in front of striker Oliviera.

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The feisty encounter saw Coutinho score a delightful goal opening the goal bag of the night on the 26th minute. And it got the visiting fans screaming and up in a crescendo singing their club’s name LIVERPOOL almost drowning the home fans. On the 52nd minute after half time, R.F,B Oliviera provided a sleek assist to Mohammed Salah who put the Liverpool team a double league. Wenger was on the touch line and was apparently amazed about how that second goal was conceded, throwing his hands in despair.

But the gunners quickly responded in less than 10 minutes. Equalizing all two goals and getting ahead. That moment saw the emirates stadium go gaga. Hector Bellerin assisted Alexis Sanchez in the 53rd minute, making it 2-1, and then Iwobi saw his pass to Granit Xhaka converted making it a 4 goal game at the 56th minute. Ozil’s shot went past Mignolet after Lacazette provided him with an assist, making it 3-2 to the gunners.

What an eve it was to Christmas for the home fans, as the huge flags were waved highly amidst singing and shouting from them. But Emre Can quenched the joy of the home fans after his pass to Oliveira was converted by the striker.

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That night saw 4 shots on target out of 11 at goal from the Arsenal side compared to 9 shots on target from 14 at goal. The Gunners really had much of the ball as they enjoyed 54% of the possession as compared to 46% for the Liverpool travelling team.

On the 3rd of November, Liverpool will be travelling to the Emirates, though it won’t be, the Eve of Christmas, many pundits and fans expect it to be a goal laden game, but will it be exactly as that of 23rd November, 2017? We wait to see.

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