LONDON --
When the end came, it was sudden, three goals flashing in without much warning in a seven-minute burst before halftime. With that, surely, the charge Liverpool has mounted since December was ended and their hopes of finishing in the top four disappeared.
If other results go against Liverpool this weekend, it will be eight points adrift with seven games of the season remaining. Arsenal, meanwhile, kept alive their vague hopes of an improbable title; it would still take an almighty collapse from Chelsea, but a seventh successive Premier League victory means they are in the form to take advantage should a slip come.
In financial terms, missing out on the Champions League shouldn't be too much of a blow for Liverpool. They only returned to the competition this season and cannot realistically have budgeted to be there next. But that does not mean there won't be consequences. As the wrangle continues over Raheem Sterling's future, it would surely be easier to persuade him to stay if Liverpool were in the Champions League -- and if Sterling follows Luis Suarez out of the club, how long before other stars begin to wonder just how much substance there is to the Liverpool project?
There will be attempts to paint this as a game of Arsenal domination, but the truth is that it was a strange first half that fell into three distinct phases. There were 15 minutes in which Arsenal pummelled Liverpool without creating much, there was a 20-minute spell in which Liverpool played some neat football and the match felt evenly balanced. And then suddenly Mesut Ozil produced two moments of brilliance and Arsenal started scoring goals. The second half had that sense of phoney war often seen when one side has a significant lead, players essentially going through the motions, knowing the game is won.
Liverpool seemed startled by the ferocity of Arsenal's pressing -- much as Arsenal had been by Liverpool's start at Anfield in the 5-1 defeat last season. Again and again Kolo Toure gave the ball away as he tried to pass it out from the back, although the fault was perhaps just as much in the midfield as it was his. With Lucas Leiva and Joe Allen playing in the deep central roles, and Jordan Henderson at wing-back, there was a sense that Liverpool's midfield was a little square, not offering the same variety of options as when the energetic Henderson plays centrally.
Once Liverpool settled, though, which took 10-15 minutes, they briefly looked the more threatening before the game lapsed into a tepid bout of midfield probing. The away side did have their chances, Philippe Coutinho laying in Lazar Markovic after 19 minutes. He could have shot but opted to square the ball to Raheem Sterling, only to shovel the pass too far in front of the England international.
And then, abruptly, came a goal of outstanding quality. Ozil, dropping deep to gather the ball in front of his back four swept a 50-yard pass wide to Aaron Ramsey, who knocked it infield for the onrushing Hector Bellerin. Liverpool's defense, caught off-balance, was still recovering as the full-back darted into the box and curled a finish just inside the post.
Ozil is a player who thrives on confidence and, just as he can fade from games he can suddenly seize them. Three minutes later, he whipped a free-kick round the wall and past the dive of Simon Mignolet to give Arsenal a 2-0 lead.
It was Arsenal's 20th goal from a set-piece this season -- more than any other side in the Premier League, which suggests at least one of the stereotypes about them is no longer true. Arsenal, having hit their rhythm, were irresistible. Fine work from Giroud dispossessed Coutinho, Ramsey laid the ball forward to Alexis Sanchez, who skipped by Toure and thumped a shot into the roof of the net.
That was the game, and Liverpool's season, over. Henderson did convert a 76thminute penalty to raise thoughts of a fightback, but they ended when Emre Can collected a second yellow card for a foul on Danny Welbeck and was sent off with six minutes remaining.
A superb finish from Giroud sealed Liverpool's fate in injury-time. It was not, of course, just this game; rather this defeat (probably) ended a process that was already almost complete when Liverpool lost at Manchester United in December. It has not been two defeats in their last two games that have undone Liverpool; it was that start of six defeats in their first 12 matches.
Arsenal also have cause to regret their slow start - five draws and a defeat in their first eight games -- but at the final whistle they are second in the table, four points behind Chelsea having played two games more. It's a slim chance, but the flame of their title aspirations still flickers.
