Ten-man Arsenal have beaten Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield this afternoon to leapfrog them into second place in the Premiership. Thierry Henry scored with a penalty on the stroke of half time, and Fredrik Ljungberg added a second following a surging run in the 53rd minute. Two minutes later, Liverpool pulled one back through a Jari Litmanen header but Arsenal managed to hold on for an impressive win.
After a tepid opening period, the game sprung to life with a controversial red card shown to Arsenal's Giovanni van Bronckhorst for diving in the Liverpool penalty area in the 36th minute. The Dutchman was running alongside Stephane Henchoz but seemed to merely lose his footing and fell over. Referee Paul Durkin showed him his second yellow card without hesitation and Arsenal were reduced to ten men for the eighth time this season. Speaking after the game, Durkin insisted that he had made the right decision but admitted: "I think that it's (diving) one of the main problems in the game at the moment and referees are going to get one or two wrong over the course of the season."
Just before the break, Henry converted a penalty which was awarded after Ljungberg was brought down by Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek. Ljungberg increased Arsenal's lead in the 53rd minute, meeting Robert Pires' cross with a powerful finish. Litmanen handed some hope to Liverpool with a headed goal two minutes later, but Arsenal held on in the face of intense pressure to record their first league win at Anfield since August 1992.
Earlier today, Chelsea came back from an early scare to beat Bolton 5-1 at Stamford Bridge. Kevin Nolan put Bolton ahead after just two minutes but Eidur Gudjohnsen levelled against his former club on 41 minutes before setting up Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink just before the break.
Boudewijn Zenden increased Chelsea's lead in the 56th minute to make it 3-0 and put the game beyond Bolton. Colin Hendry put the ball in his own net under pressure from Gudjohnsen in the 76th minute and Frank Lampard sealed an impressive win three minutes from time.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
