Mellor states his case

Sunday will likely live long in the memory of Liverpool striker Neil Mellor.

The 22-year-old's injury time volley against the Premiership champions handed The Reds a dramatic, but well-deserved, 2-1 victory at Anfield.

The striker's sublimely-taken right foot strike came from out of nowhere after Chris Kirkland's long ball forward was harmlessly knocked down in front of him near the edge of Arsenal's box.

The volley stunned the North London visitors, who thought they had done enough for a draw, and sent supporters in The Kop and around Anfield into rapturous delight, with only seconds remaining in the contest.

Mellor's winner is sure to give the youngster some vindication for being in need to prove he has the quality to lead the Merseyside club's front-line.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has been left with little choice but to thrust Mellor into action following an unfortunate rash of injuries to his first-choice attackers.

Djibril Cisse is out for the season after sustaining a horrific broken leg at Blackburn Rovers while Milan Baros and Luis Garcia are both currently sidelined with hamstring injuries.

The casualty list has prompted speculation that The Reds will delve into the transfer market in January and buy a new striker to help ease the current void.

Such talk would have been discussed with the thought that the likes of Mellor and Florent Sinama-Pongolle are not the answers, at least at this stage of their careers, to successfully provide Liverpool with much-needed goals in all competitions.

Mellor entered Sunday's match without having found a Premiership scoresheet in his career and only a handful of appearances in the past two seasons.

He even spent time on loan at Championship club West Ham United last term and was recently linked with a move back to his hometown with Sheffield United.

The big striker had little success in midweek when The Reds went down to an unfortunate 1-0 defeat in Monaco in the UEFA Champions League and concern was mounting over where Liverpool's goals would come from.

With the gloom seemingly gathering, Benitez chose to play Mellor with Sinama-Pongolle in attack on Sunday, though many would have likely pointed to the return of captain Steven Gerrard from injury as Liverpool's needed inspiration against The Gunners.

Benitez's game plan to partner Gerrard with Dietmar Hamann and Xabi Alonso in midfield proved decisive, especially by the way Liverpool dominated proceedings in the first half.

The home side's performance produced a fine opening goal from former Real Sociedad man Alonso, as Gerrard set up the Spain international to finish sublimely from outside the Arsenal box.

Mellor himself was unlucky to have been adjudged offside at one instance in the first half and had he been given the benefit of the doubt and shown more composure, the youngster would have opened the scoring himself.

The second half saw Liverpool attack the Kop end through a variety of players, despite Patrick Vieira finishing a sublime Arsenal move to make it 1-1 - a moment of play that was rarely seen from the visitors on the day.

Gerrard again showed spirit and class to try and break the deadlock, though the answer to a hoped winner seemed elusive again for Reds supporters, as the match drew to a close.

At that stage, few Liverpool supporters would have expected a sudden twist of good fortune to occur and even fewer to expect Mellor to be the orchestrator of such a moment of sudden joy.

Though some might say he was in the right place at the right time, Mellor still needed to make right connection when he struck his volleyed winner.

The dramatic finish looked to have injected an instant shot of much-needed confidence to all those connected at Liverpool and some will say it is a turning point in the club's Premiership campaign.

For Mellor, Sunday's winner is sure to give him belief he can make the grade as a Premiership striker and that he can do a successful job when called upon by Benitez.

It is surely not going to stop the links with a new striker arriving at Anfield in the New Year, but should Mellor add to Sunday's goal with more vital strikes in the weeks to come, then previous suggestions that Liverpool are currently thin in attack might prove a bit premature.