Man for man marking: Liverpool v Arsenal

Liverpool

pepe reina

Made another galling mistake, allowing Santi Cazorla's shot to go through him for the second goal. 5/10

glen johnson

Final delivery was lacking from wide and was often left exposed when Kieran Gibbs overlapped. 6

MARTIN SKRTEL

Marshalled Olivier Giroud easily throughout, and was always in the way of shots and crosses. 6

DANIEL AGGER

Spare man at the back and had to be constantly aware of Cazorla's intelligent running. 6

JOSE ENRIQUE

Forever a solid performer, the Spanish left-back did very little wrong throughout the afternoon.7

JOE ALLEN

Lacked the usual incision to his passing at times, but an otherwise tidy game from the Welshman. 7

NURI SAHIN

Solid, if uninspiring, debut. Needed to join in more often to counter Arsenal's organisation.5

STEVEN GERRARD

Tried too hard. Forcing a high tempo, gave the ball away for the opening goal. Set-pieces were poor. 5

FABIO BORINI

Italian forward started brightly but found getting in behind difficult and lacked a final ball. 6

luis suarez

Always at the centre of match incident but lacked much productive input, frustrating the home crowd. 6

raheem sterling

A livewire with confidence in abundance. Caused Carl Jenkinson lots of problems first half. 7

best off the bench

Jonjo Shelvey

Forced two good stops from Mannone late on 6

Arsenal

VITO MANNONE

Italian stand-in coped well with spell of pressure in the second half but had very little to save. 7

CARL JENKINSON

Nervous start but stuck to his task well against an inventive Sterling. Even ventured forward. 6

Per Mertesacker

Uncomfortable in possession, awkward when Luis Suarez ran at him. Won everything aerially. 6

thomas vermaelen

Stood tall to the threat of Suarez and looked to kick-start Arsenal in an attacking sense. 8

kieran gibbs

Had little trouble with Borini in a composed showing and looked to bomb beyond Podolski regularly. 7

mikel arteta

As always, did things with minimal fuss and kept possession ticking over. Booked for foul on Sterling.7

ABOU DIABY

Expertly broke up play, leggy runs gave Arsenal another dimension after such a long time out.9

santi cazorla

Super ball to Podolski for the first goal, at the heartbeat of everything and added the clinching second. 8

lukas podolski

Took his goal excellently. Strong running from deep made him a constant threat. Set up Cazorla's goal. 8

ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN

Always a tenacious runner, the England international did his defensive duties admirably 6

olivier giroud

Struggled to make an impact, missed glorious chance at 1-0. Cut a frustrated figure. 5

best off the bench

aaron ramsey

Neat on the ball and gave the side a pair of fresh legs. 6