Arsenal:
            Almunia
Hoyte Toure Djourou Traore (Connolly 87)
 Walcott (Diaby 73) Cesc Song Denilson
      Aliadiere Baptista

The first action of note came after 3 minutes when Cesc Fabregas tried a chip forward over the advanced defence and Julio Baptista was bundled over as he tried to get it. The free-kick, 5 to 10 yards outside the Liverpool box, was a bit of a farce as Baptista knocked it square to the right for Kolo Toure to hit, only he tipped it a bit too far and Kolot wasn't ready. More work required on that one.

Moments after, Mark Gonzalez made a good sliding tackle on Theo Walcott only to end up skidding along on a fully-bent knee. He managed to get up quickly but went down again clearly in a lot of trouble. It took a good while for him to be stretchered off. Looked nasty. It forced Rafa Benitez to strengthen his side with Luis Garcia coming on. Turns out Gonzalez had a 6 inch laceration and severe bruising but no break or, one presumes, ligament damage (which was what looked like the most likely thing at the time - hard to see where the laceration came from).

Johan Djourou did well to make a legal challenge on Bellamy after he was put through in space in the inside left channel, then gave the ball away cheaply forcing Kolo to clear from the box when the cross came in. From the resulting throw the ball came to Guthrie outside the box on their right but he sliced his shot very high and wide.

Moments later Gerrard found space in the box and nodded a cross goalwards, probably looking for Fowler rather than going for goal. Manuel Almunia probably had it covered but Toure got there first to clear well with his head.

Then on 15 minutes Warnock put a dangerous low cross in from their left and Almunia did really well to come out and snuff it out.

18 minutes in, Alexandre Song dithered in midfield, allowing an opponent to steal the ball but he got back really well to make amends with a crucial tackle, Toure being on hand to complete the clearance. From the throw, they got the ball to Gerrard who drove the ball goalwards from 25 yards but it was an easy save for Almunia.

No pressure whatsoever from Arsenal since that early free kick. On 24 minutes Walcott tried to go it alone but ran into trouble and got dispossessed by Warnock.

On 25 Bellamy got forward down the right, got to the goal-line, and tried to cut the ball back for Fowler who was in loads of space by the spot, but Toure read it and was in position to intercept.

Then on 27, Aliadiere beat the offside trap to get onto a typically terrific through ball from Cesc. He took the ball down with his first touch and shot quickly with his second. Dudek made the save but Aliadiere was persistent and got to the loose ball first to knock it in. Once again we'd scored against the run of play with a magnificent breakaway goal for 1-0.

Suddenly we started taking the game to Liverpool more. But on 32 minutes they broke forward with Fowler on the right after Baptista gave the ball away trying to do too much on his own. Fowler missed the opportunity to put Bellamy (?) free on the far side but won a free kick when Song brought him down from behind (and got booked). The free kick was driven in low through a crowd (Aurelio, I think). Almunia dropped to his right to make the save but Garcia was first to get to the ball as it ran loose to Almunia's right, and when he fired a low cross in Fowler was on hand at the near post to score with a cute backheel for 1-1.

On 38 Gerrard did brilliantly to skip past a challenge on the goalline on their right and drove the ball towards the near post. Almunia was alert to save by the post and fortunately Bellamy had chosen not to try to get a foot to it.

Then on 39 we won a free kick in a central position, maybe 25 yards out, thanks to Baptista behaving more like a girl than a beast. This time he didn't give the ball to Toure. Instead he curled the ball beautifully over the wall and high inside the right post for 2-1, Dudek was rooted to the spot when you'd have thought he'd at least have tried to get to it. Can't take anything away from the Beast though, another great goal in what was shaping into a terrific game.

Cesc's mistake gave Bellamy a chance to break forward but Djourou did well to race across and make a challenge.

A minute into the 6 of injury time, Traore did well to win a corner on the left. Cesc swung it in, Dudek came for it at the near post but got nowhere near. I don't suppose either Hyypia or Song was expecting the ball to get to them level with the far post but it did, hitting the former and bouncing off the latter (maybe his arm but it wasn't up and he clearly knew nothing about it) and into the empty net. 3-1 again and you'd got to think that Benitez might have regretted his promise to play Dudek in all the domestic cup games.

Atkinson fed Bellamy down the left but again Djourou kept with him, forcing the Welsh striker to cut back inside and feed Aurelio whose low shot went straight at Almunia.

Then 5 minutes into injury time, Baptista coming forward down the middle played a one-two with Aliadiere to his left. The Beast may have been slightly offside when Jeremie played the return ball but the linesman gave him the benefit, and Baptista took it gratefully as, unmarked thanks in part to the defence not playing to the whistle, he knocked the ball easily past Dudek for 4-1.

Arsenal started the second half knocking the ball around nicely. 5 minutes after the break Garcia played a long ball which got Bellamy through, but Almunia was alert to it came out of his box quickly to clear. His positioning's been excellent these 2 games.

On 55, Aliadiere latched onto a ball into the right side of Liverpool's box, touched the ball then got brought down by Hyypia - a crazy challenge given that the striker was heading out of the box at the time. Baptista, being on a hattrick, got the ball for the penalty and hit it high to Dudek's right. Not right in the corner but not an easy save... Oh well, Dudek had to do something right eventually.

3 minutes later, Baptista did have his hattrick. Traore did well to win the ball by our corner flag, and gave the ball to Cesc who hit a great long ball up that wing for Aliadiere to run for. He beat Pauleta on the touchline easily, then threaded a perfect square pass for Baptista, taking 2 defenders out of the equation and leaving the Beast in loads of space a couple of yards outside the D in a central position, with plenty of time to settle himself and drill a low shot inside the left post for 5-1.

Aurelio had a very long range shot on 63 which went straight at Almunia. 4 minutes later a cross from our right was nodded back to Gerrard who hit a stunning volley from the edge of the box, which flew inside Almunia's left hand post giving him no chance. 5-2.

Then Garcia got unlucky as he went in high for a challenge on Hoyte, who didn't see the Spaniard coming at him from the side. It looked another nasty injury and the sub had to be subbed off. While we were waiting for him to be put on the stretcher, Abou Diaby made his long-awaited return from his own nasty one, coming on for Walcott.

Aliadiere battled brilliantly in the box, chesting a long ball down then beating Pauleta and Hyypia to set up a chance which he hit a yard or two wide of the far post.

On 78 Gerrard won a free kick 10 yards or so outside the box, knocking the ball past Song then running into him before Song could get out of the way (not that I'm saying it wasn't a free kick). The Liverpool captain hit a good shot, taking the kick early while Almunia was still on his post trying to line up the wall. The keeper reacted superbly, getting across to the middle of the goal in time to tip the ball onto the bar. But when the resulting corner from their right was cleared to the other wing, Pauleta hit a great cross which Hyypia nodded past Almunia for 5-3. Maybe the home side were starting to believe. Moments later Gerrard hit another long range effort which swung well wide.

But on 83 Hoyte won the ball by our right corner flag and whacked it the length of the pitch up the touchline for Aliadiere to run onto. Pauleta was with him but once again he was left for dead by Aliadiere's skill and pace. He brought the ball towards goal along the goal-line, spotted Baptista making an unmarked central run, and set him up for a tap-in (which he thundered in from 6 yards). Amazingly, that was the end of the scoring. Moments after the restart, Liverpool had the ball in the net but it was rightly ruled out for offside. Carragher had a shot from just inside the box which Almunia tipped over the bar. Toure tried to get in on the action (and why not) with a run forward - he got into space in the box but Baptista's unselfish return ball was cut out, and the game ended with another wayward effort from Gerrard who, to be fair to him, was pretty much having to do it all himself.

No question that this was a terrible performance from the home side, so perhaps one shouldn't get too excited.

Aw, sod that.

What more can you ask of a team full of youngsters and fringe players? Great performances all over (apart perhaps from Song, who may not have had as terrible a game as we've seen before but seemed to be constantly conceding fouls). Who to pick out positively from the Arsenal side? Well Baptista, obviously. His and Rosicky's signings in the summer were exciting because they came as finished articles, and finished articles with an eye for goal. Rosicky's been good but far from prolific, and Baptista hadn't shown his true self until now. In these 2 games they've shown what they can do, and tonight the Beast was excellent all-round as well as scoring 2 belters and 2 goals created by nice combinations with Aliadiere (who also set up one of the belters). Which brings us to Aliadiere. I've been wondering, publicly, why we persist with him rather than try the likes of Stokes Lupoli or Bendtner all of whom have been scoring much more freely. Well, if he plays like this all the time we'll be begging him to stay. A good goal, 3 assists, and a whole load of trouble caused for Pauleta in particular. He won't always be facing Pauleta but you never know, perhaps Wenger was right after all. Wouldn't be the first time.

Of the players we know less about, Denilson didn't shine but didn't do much wrong, and Traore looked very handy indeed. Almunia, as I said above, showed no sign whatsoever of the shakiness which his name has become associated with.

Marvellous. Tottenham next in the 2 legged semi. As I understand it the dates are still up the air. The first leg was supposed to be tonight, then provisionally scheduled for next week... but they have an FA Cup replay to fit in too so it might get put back further. Looks like we have some congestion coming up, but on this showing we've got 2 squads capable of winning a domestic cup. Only 2 of tonight's starting 11 started on Saturday (and neither needed to).