It was a nightmarish afternoon for English Premier League table toppers Arsenal as they were thoroughly humiliated by homers Liverpool at Anfield. The goals came in quick succession, starting from the very first minute of action, and the Gunners were incredibly four goals down by halftime. The Reds added a fifth shortly on the restart, with Martin Skrtel and Raheem Sterling each grabbing a brace. Arsenal’s consolatory goal came off a penalty kick. Here’s a summary of how the goals came:

•52 seconds: Liverpool 1 Arsenal 0. Steven Gerrard’s in-swinging free kick is of nightmarish quality for the Arsenal defence and Martin Skrtel is able to force the ball home from close range with his thigh.

•9 minutes: Liverpool 2 Arsenal 0. Arsenal’s defence is still on the bus. Flanagan gets played in behind in the right channel but Szczesny saves low at his feet. From the resulting corner Skrtel is left completely unmarked and he stoops to guide a looping header into the far corner over Oxlade-Chamberlain on the line for his second goal of the afternoon.

•16 minutes: Liverpool 3 Arsenal 0. From the halfway mark, Jordan Henderson sets up Luis Suarez, who squares the ball brilliantly for Raheem Sterling to tap in at the back post.

•19 minutes: Liverpool 4 Arsenal 0. Coutinho cuts Arsenal apart again with a glorious through ball for Daniel Sturridge to run clear and free on goal and roll in a fourth.

•51 minutes: Liverpool 5 Arsenal 0. Mertesacker and Koscielny are undone by a simple long ball over the top that sends Sterling running through on goal and, although his first finish is poor and saved by Szczesny, he calmly rolls in the rebound for his second goal of the game.

•68 minutes: Liverpool 5 Arsenal 1, Mikel Arteta scoring from the spot after Gerrard slides in on Chamberlain and concedes what is generally considered to be a needless penalty.

•Photo courtesy Telegraph shows Liverpool celebrating one of their goals . . . this afternoon at Anfield.

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