Liverpool’s Cardiff victory came wit Suarez, Chelsea has disgraced Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.

Cardiff City 3 Liverpool 6:Reds run to Trophy

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers would not want to make a habit of it but he briefly put himself in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s shoes. And those of Manuel Pellegrini and Jose Mourinho for that matter.

“I know as a manager that when you are stood on the touchline, the thing you fear in a game is the opponent and their offensive threat,” he said. “That’s the thing that you fear most. You are playing against a team that you know can score from anywhere, any angle, and a team that can dominate the ball. It bodes well for us.”

There was empathy from the Liverpool manager but no sympathy. This was not Rodgers indulging in mind games to try and eke out an advantage in the title race but logic supported by the hard facts another irresistible attacking display churned out.

The milestones arrive with the same rat-a-tat-tat as the strikes these days. Liverpool plundering their highest tally in a Premier League season (currently 82 goals) and equalling the record of scoring four or more in a season 10 times.

Luis Suarez’s latest hat-trick means he is level with Robbie Fowler on most goals in a Premier League campaign (28) and, together with Daniel Sturridge, the SAS has now accumulated 50 goals in 55 matches in all competitions.

It is already fascinating to imagine what messrs Pellegrini and Mourinho will fathom to try and halt the juggernaut when they pitch up at Anfield on April 13 and 27 respectively for defining games.

If a sense of foreboding grips Liverpool’s rivals, then the progress Rodgers is overseeing was highlighted not simply by another emphatic scoreline but the sense of calm pervading despite his players twice falling behind.

To a generation of visiting supporters memories of calamitous defeats by Coventry in 1996 and 1997 and of Tottenham in 2002, which derailed championship charges, temporarily came flooding back as Jordon Mutch profited from a mistake by Joe Allen to score the first of his two goals and then turned provider for Fraizer Campbell.

Yet the visitors stuck to their beliefs. They passed and moved with purpose and passed some more until they tempted Cardiff out of position and then moved out of sight.

At one point Rodgers looked up and saw Steven Gerrard – who must reach the April 13 amnesty without another booking or face a two-match ban – at right back and Glen Johnson in midfield. This was evidence of a team in tune rather than some ramshackle, ill-disciplined display.

“You saw the calmness,” said Rodgers. “When I first came in there was always a panic. We played last-five-minutes-football with 70 minutes to go.

“There is now an inherent belief in the team. It doesn’t matter where you are on the field as long as you fill the spaces. That is one example of the strides we have made.”

There are countless others which merely emphasised the contrast with Cardiff, who are running out of positives. Solsjkaer clung to the fact that his side were no worse off in their fight for survival after 90 minutes than they had been at kick-off with West Brom, Sunderland and Crystal Palace all losing.

He also railed against the rulebook which decreed that Kevin Theophile-Catherine and Mutch, having received treatment after being receiving blows from a Suarez free-kick, had to wait for permission to come back on as Liverpool took the corner which led to their third goal.

“I said to the fourth official that Liverpool would score. It was the turning point,” said the Cardiff manager. What Solskjaer overlooks, however, is that it was not 11-9 at that point, but one versus one.

Skrtel gave Steven Caulker the slip to score his second goal of the afternoon having earlier touched home Philippe Coutinho’s pinpoint centre as Liverpool equalised for a second time just before half-time.

Fittingly, the final word went to the irrepressible Suarez. Having steered home Johnson’s cross for the first, dispatched Sturridge’s brilliant back-heeled assist for his second and returned the favour by teeing up his partner for Liverpool’s fifth, the Uruguayan might have spent the final moments coasting.

The clock had ticked to 96 minutes but he launched himself into one more duel with Juan Cala and scampered through to complete the scoring.

“I don’t think he even played that well,” said Campbell.

Cardiff  City vs Liverpool Match Stats

Cardiff City: Marshall 6, Theophile-Catherine 6, Caulker 6, Cala 5, John 6 (Daehli 65mins 5), Da Silva 4, Medel 6, Kim 5 (Zaha 65mins 5), Bellamy 6 (Jones 70mins 4), Mutch 7, Campbell 7 Subs not used: Turner, Whittingham, Gunnarsson, Lewis.

Booked: Cala, Fabio.

Goals: Mutch 9, Campbell 25.

Liverpool: Mignolet 6, Johnson 7, Skrtel 7, Agger 6, Flanagan 6 (Cissokho 70mins 6) Gerrard 7, Henderson 7, Allen 6, Coutinho 7 (Sterling 68mins), Sturridge 6.5 (Sakho 90mins), Suarez 9. Subs not used: Brad Jones, Aspas, Moses, Lucas.

Booked: Gerrard, Skrtel, Allen.

Goals: Suarez (16, 60, 90), Skrtel (41,53), Sturridge 75.

Attendance: 28,018.

Referee: Neil Swarbrick 7.

Man of the match: Luis Suarez

Cardiff City 3 Liverpool 6 Match Video

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Chelsea 6 Arsenal 0:Chelsea can beat up Arsenal bad

Arsene Wenger’s 1,000th game as Gunners boss ended in misery with the visitors being turned over and having Kieran Gibbs wrongly sent off for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s handball.

And having also lost heavily to Manchester City and Liverpool this season, Mertesacker came up with a theory for Arsenal’s abject displays against their rivals.

“I don’t know why, but it looks like we don’t fancy early kick-offs away,” Mertesacker said.

“It looks like we are going to have to apply to the FA to not play at 12.45 away. That would help us a lot.”

Goals from Samuel Eto’o, Andre Schurrle, Eden Hazard, Mohamed Salah and a brace from Oscar sealed victory for Chelsea.

Referee Andre Marriner has apologised for sending off Gibbs in error – with the suspension now likely to be handed to Oxlade-Chamberlain – who appeared to tell the official of his guilt to no effect.

Arsenal could appeal against any sanction against Oxlade-Chamberlain as it looked as if Hazard’s shot was actually going just wide, with Wenger hinting that they will.

Wenger said: “You would not like to see Gibbs suspended because he has done nothing.

“The first injustice would be that he had been sent off and then on top of that he would be suspended, (so) of course that would be wrong.”

This total humiliation of their closest rivals was Chelsea’s best result under Jose Mourinho in any competition in his two spells in charge and he believes it has buried any notion that he is a defensive coach.

The top four scored 17 goals between them on Saturday as the title race began to reach boiling point and Mourinho said: “I don’t understand where that reputation comes from. I have the record of goals in the Spanish league, the record of points in every league I have been in. I have had players winning Golden Boots.

“My teams have a lot of clean sheets. But that does not mean you are defensive. It means you defend well. The numbers are there for people to see – and the football. Some coaches have the stamp of attacking football, but why? Look at the numbers.

Mourinho also revealed that the reason he nips down the tunnel before the end of matches is to ring his wife to tell her the result.

He said: “Why do I go down the tunnel early? Because the game is over. My wife does not know the result and she is waiting for me to call. She is always in doubt – so if I can I give her the result two minutes before the end.”.

It is a fair bet that Arsene Wenger’s wife Annie was waiting rather a long time for the call from her husband on Saturday afternoon. “So, darling, how did your 1000th match in charge of your team go? Oh.”

How do Arsenal recover from this shattering result? How does Wenger? Have all those long cherished title hopes been finally blown away, exposed as they so often are with Arsenal as mere dreams and fancies?

We will find out tomorrow night against Swansea at the Emirates how they bounce back.

What had been predicted to be a tight, tense contest was effectively over inside 14 disastrous minutes for Arsenal.

First Samuel Eto’o picked up Andre Schurrle’s pass in acres of space, cut inside and fired home a lovely goal.

Then, two minutes later, Schurrle himself picked up on Santi Cazorla’s error to drill home. Eto’o departed then with a hamstring problem, his work done. But his replacement, Fernando Torres, set up Eden Hazard for a shot which Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain handled on the line.

In the first example of an afternoon of incompetence, referee Andre Marriner gave the penalty – but sent off Kieran Gibbs off. He later admitted his mistake.

Meanwhile, Hazard calmly rolled in the penalty.

By half-time it was four, as Oscar stabbed in Torres’ low cross.

After the break Chelsea eased off the gas against Arsenal’s hapless 10 men, but Oscar still rattled in number five after a dreadful error from Tomas Rosicky.

Chelsea new boy Mohamed Salah came on to score his first goal for the club and their sixth as he ran on to a masterful pass from the excellent Nemanja Matic, through a non-existent defence.

Mourinho said: “Matic has added stability to our midfield. He is not the type of player who plays only square passes. He can see the movement forward.”

Chelsea vs Arsenal Match Stats

Chelsea: Cech 7, Ivanovic 7, Terry 6, Cahill 6, Azpilicueta 8; Luiz 7, Matic 7, Schurrle 8, Oscar 8 (Salah, 67), Hazard 8, Eto’o 7 (Torres, 10)

Subs not used: Schwarzer, Lampard, Mikel, Ba, Kalas

Goals: Eto’o 5, Schurrle 7, Hazard pen 17, Oscar 42, Oscar 66, Salah 70

Arsenal: Szczesny 6, Sagna 5, Metesacker 5, Koscielny 5 (Flamini, 45), Gibbs 6; Arteta 4, Rosicky 5; Oxlade Chamberlain 4 (Jenkinson, 45), Cazorla 5, Podoloski 5 (Vermaelen, 23) ; Giroud 5

Subs not used: Fabianski, Sanogo, Kallstrom, Gnabry.

Booked: Rosicky

Sent off: Gibbs

Referee: Andre Marriner 4

Attendance: 41,614 

Chelsea 6 Arsenal 0 Match Video

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English Premier League Match Week 31 Results

Saturday, 22 March

Chelsea 6 Arsenal 0

Man City 5 Fulham 0

Norwich City 2 Sunderland 0

Newcastle 1 Crystal Palace 0

Everton 3 Swansea City 2

Hull City 2 West Brom 0

Cardiff City 3 Liverpool 6

West Ham 0 Man United 2

Sunday, 23 March

Tottenham 3 Southampton 2

Aston Villa 1 Stoke City 4

Barclays Premier League Match Week 31 Table

 

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