Red dawn leaves Rodgers purring

Liverpool 5 Arsenal 1

It takes a lot to out-quote Jose Mourinho when he is in full flight so credit Brendan Rodgers, therefore, not only for masterminding this clinical, surgical dismantling of league leaders Arsenal but also for putting one over on the Chelsea manager.

“Are you a small horse, a medium horse or a stalking horse?” Rodgers was asked in the wake of his most impressive result as Liverpool manager.

“Nah,” the Irishman fired back. “We’re just a foal.”

Like it or not — and Rodgers will not — this was the day the Premier League title race became a genuine four-horse contest although the aforementioned half of the field will presumably spend the coming days furiously denying that is the case.

Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, found himself in the unusual position of having to launch a furious case that Arsenal are still capable of winning the title even though, at the time he was speaking, his side held a five-point advantage over Liverpool and were actually two points clear in first place.

Has there ever been, in the Premier League era, a manager sitting top of the table this late into a season forced to respond to questions as if he were on the brink of relegation? Such is the bizarre face of the enthralling 2013-14 Premier League.

“We were feeble in every important domain of playing at the highest level: concentration, strength in the challenge, and naivety,” Wenger told French TV. “So from that moment on, it’s impossible to win a game when you’re playing at that level. We’ve been well rinsed twice now, and twice with an early kick-off away from home.

“But we have to ask questions of ourselves about this. Because when you’re playing in a big game and the first two free-kicks go in, it becomes very hard. If our confidence isn’t affected too much, I think it will come back and we’ll see a different Arsenal side against Manchester United on Wednesday night.”

The other “rinsing” to which Wenger referred was a 6-3 humiliation at Manchester City which saw the Gunners respond with a run of 20 points from the next available 24 but the manner of this reverse was arguably more devastating.

Martin Skrtel opened the scoring in 51 seconds, doubled the lead from another set-piece, before team-mates Raheem Sterling, twice, and Daniel Sturridge got in on the act to make it five. Mikel Arteta’s late penalty, conceded by Steven Gerrard, was the briefest and most meaningless of consolations.

“That was the best performance of the manager’s reign,” said Gerrard. “I am trying to think back of a performance — especially in the first half — that I can remember in the last 15 years. Maybe one or two in the Champions League got close but that was as explosive as it gets. That’s in the top three performances I’ve been involved in.

“You are talking about a side that is top of the league with world-class players, ones who are worth £42 million; Jack Wilshere, one of the country’s big hopes who we are looking to perform at a World Cup; Cazorla — a World Cup winner. We have absolutely demolished a top team there from start to finish.”

Yet still, Rodgers insists the best Reds performance for 15 years can’t be translated into championship credentials?

“According to Brendan, we are not,” smiled Gerrard. “Ask the manager. We do what he says and he says we are not in the title race, so we carry on pushing for top four and see where it takes us.

“We performed fantastically against Everton and slipped up against West Brom. The challenge now is can we get three points against Fulham. But we listen to what our leader says and he says we are not in the title race. So we go with that.”

LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Mignolet 7; Flanagan 8, Skrtel 9, Toure 6, Cissokho 7; Gerrard 8 (Ibe 75), Henderson 8; Sturridge 8 (Allen 65, 6), Coutinho 8, Sterling 8, Suarez 8 (Aspas 85). Subs not used: Jones, Alberto, Moses, Kelly.

ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Szczesny 6; Sagna 4, Mertesacker 4, Koscielny 4, Monreal 3 (Gibbs 60, 4); Arteta 6, Wilshere 6; Oxlade-Chamberlain 7, Ozil 3 (Rosicky 60, 5), Cazorla 5; Giroud 4 (Podolski 60, 6). Subs not used: Fabianski, Bendtner, Jenkinson, Gnabry.

Referee: M Oliver 7

Since Arsenal last won a trophy

* Arsenal have spent an incredible €273 million on new players.

* 52 of the 92 football league clubs have won a trophy.

* Arsene Wenger has earned approximately €76.4m in wages.

* The planet Mercury has orbited the Sun 32 times.

* London won the rights to host the Olympic Games, rebuilt Stratford and then hosted the event.

* Twitter has been created and gained 500 million users.

* Over 1,000,000,000 people have been born.

* Juventus have been relegated, promoted and won back-to-back league titles.

* Ex-Arsenal players have won 44 medals.

* Pep Guardiola retired as a player, became manager, won 16 trophies with Barcelona, took a year break, returned as manager and won two trophies with Bayern Munich.