Arsenal 2 - 1 Liverpool: Oxlade-Chamberlain, Fabianski and Sanogo shine

It felt so so good at the final whistle yesterday getting one over Liverpool (especially as I can't stand Brendan Rodgers and considering the 5-1 thumping we received by his side last weekend) to secure our place against Everton in the next round of the FA Cup.

The 2-1 win yesterday evening certainly does us credibility as we proved not to be overcome by Liverpool's attacking threats in the likes of Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling and Coutinho. Considering the way in which we collapsed straight from kick off back at Anfield, the players were more aware defensively this time around and we were able to launch decent counter attacking moves. Boosted by the return of Flamini, Fabianksi's inspired performance, and riding our luck at times maybe, we ultimately did ourselves justice.  

I felt Jack Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were our two best performers (probably only performers on the day) up at Anfield and Chambo gained a starting place in the side for the FA Cup tie. He was in good form again yesterday scoring our first before setting up Podolski for the second, although a risky tackle sent Suarez to the ground in the second half, but Howard Webb deemed it a fair challenge.

His pace and threat on our attacks caused Liverpool's defence problems; he's been a much welcomed return since being sidelined through injury and particularly as Walcott won't be back until next season.

Mesut Ozil has improved since his dip in form.

Wenger handed Fabianski a start with Szczesny rested, which meant Viviano kept the bench warm; our loanee keeper is still looking to feature for us since joining on loan from Palermo back in August. I'll be posting about Viviano's disappointing year soon.

Anyway Fabianski was in fine form between the sticks denying Sturridge very early on (as Liverpool looked to pick up where they left off the week before) and Suarez on a few occasions as well - the Uruguayan has failed in three attempts to find the back of Arsenal's net this season, after the summer where he was apparently set to move to the Emirates Stadium. Fabianski continued to show safe hands throughout yesterday's match getting behind efforts from Suarez and Coutinho as Liverpool looked to find a second goal upon closing the deficit. Gerrard's penalty, which gave Liverpool their goal, sent Fabianski the wrong way but it was well placed right into the bottom left hand corner of the goal, giving our polish stopper no chance even if he had gone the right way!

Fabianski is rumoured to be leaving in the summer for more first team action and his heroics in the cup game will certainly help his cause. When called upon he has proved himself this year but opportunities have come few and far between with only a bad injury to Szszesny likely to give him a regular first team opportunity.

Lukas Fabianski is second choice to Wojciech Szczesny, still ahead of
Emiliano Viviano and Damien Martinez. 

However Yaya Sanogo was perhaps the biggest surprise yesterday. The France Under-21 striker was given the nod over Giroud and Bendtner (Park rightly not even given a place on the bench) and he did very well in leading the line. I was not looking forward to seeing his name on the team sheet and I can't say I was that impressed by his two previous efforts when he appeared once in the Premier League and Champions League against Fulham and Fenerbache before facing time out injured.

But he warmed into yesterday's match showing glimpses of why Wenger signed him. He played his part in our first goal too as looks to prove himself. He chested down Ozil's cross and did well to get in a shot on goal which unfortunately hit Gerrard but fortunately for Chambo, the ball rebounded to him and he made no mistake blasting past Brad Jones in the Liverpool goal. Sanogo had some good touches and was linking up well with his team mates and is fully deserving of the praise by Wenger after the match.

So we will now go on to play Everton at the Emirates on March 8th. I much prefer a home tie obviously but Everton will be no easy task. They've been doing well this season considering the departure of David Moyes but Roberto Martinez has steered them to sixth place so far in the Premier League.

Our next match is of course against Bayern Munich so let's take things just one game at a time before worrying about the FA Cup quarter-finals. The likes of Giroud, Gibbs and Wilshere were all rested on Sunday, and home advantage gives us some boost but we go into this game on Wednesday night as the underdogs. Bayern Munich are the holders of the UEFA Champions League and top the Bundesliga table, but we did very well in beating Liverpool in the FA Cup, and with support of our own fans at the Emirates, Wednesday night could go either way. Let's just hope we haven't lost the game after 20 minutes!

Taking his chance: Yaya Sanogo (credit: SkySports)