THERE were enough hard-luck stories to fill a library for Arsenal as Mo Salah stole a point.
The bullet-ridden Gunners ended up with a completely makeshift back four, having seen Liverpool skipper Virgil Van Dijk escape an early yellow card only to equalise Bukayo Saka’s early opener.
Through in a decent penalty shout against Ibrahima Konate and it was no wonder Mikel Arteta was left with a feeling of intense frustration on a day when his team were passionate and the Emirates throbbed with sound.
The result left Arsenal five points adrift of leaders Manchester City, who are a point ahead of Arne Slot’s men.
Saka, who was outstanding on his return from injury, and Mikel Merino twice put Arsenal in front – but they were pegged back both times by a Liverpool side who rode their luck and kept their heads in this hostile environment.
By the time Salah struck on the break ten minutes from time that Arsenal backline read Thomas Partey, Ben White, Jakub Kiwior and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
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Gabriel and Jurrien Timber both limped off injured as Arteta’s sicklist grew longer.
With William Saliba banned and Martin Odegaard still out injured, there was relief that Saka was passed fit after a hamstring injury.
And there were clearly no after-effects as Saka opened the scoring with an outstanding ninth-minute strike.
From Ben White’s lofted through-ball, Saka made haggis meat out of Andy Robertson, first out-pacing the Liverpool left-back then cutting inside him with a nutmeg.
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With Robertson flailing on the ground, Saka walloped a vicious shot into the roof of the net, beating Caoimhim Kelleher at his near post and sending the Emirates into rapture.
Saka became the youngest Gunner to reach 50 Premier League goals.
And this after Liverpool should have been reduced to 10 men, captain Virgil Van Dijk first pushing, then twice kicking out at Kai Havertz off the ball.
Somehow, VAR Michael Salisbury is said to have deemed the offence ‘petulant not reckless’ – if Arsenal were enraged by that, their tempers were not improved when the Dutchman equalised in the 18th minute.
A Mikel Merino error had just given Mo Salah a clear sight of goal, the Egyptian blazing wide.
But from a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner, Luis Diaz nodded on at the near post and Van Dijk stooped to head home, nipping between Gabriel and Thomas Partey.
Merino missed an excellent close-range chance and Salah, full of sauce and sorcery, cut inside again to shoot narrowly over.
It was one of those belting, breathless matches where all the Super Sunday hype and ‘best league in the world’ chat seemed entirely justified.
Arsenal thought they should have had a penalty when Ibrahima Konate made a clumsy lunge at Gabriel Martinelli but Salisbury decided he won the ball.
With Saka irresistible, Alexis Mac Allister was booked for hauling down the Arsenal skipper.
Slot’s men had been pinned back for a lengthy stretch before Arsenal seized back the lead late in the first half.
Declan Rice delivered a fizzing free-kick from the right and Merino headed past Kelleher.
The VAR delay to check on offside was lengthy and tense.
Salisbury probably averted a riot by deeming Merino marginally onside – Van Dijk, ironically providing the decisive toenail.
After the break, Diaz nutmegged Partey and slipped past White but converged Raya at the near post, the ball cannoning off the woodwork.
Gabriel, who had just gone down for treatment after a foul by Darwin Nunez, was forced to limp off soon after – Arteta now without both of his first-choice centre-backs as Jakub Kiwior was sent on.
Slot made a triple change – sending on Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Kostas Tsimikas – and the visitors were beginning to exert some pressure on Arsenal’s makeshift back four.
That backline was depleted even further when Jurrien Timber – who had passed a late test to start – pulled up lame and was replaced by youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Arsenal had been showing an insatiable appetite for hard graft and seemed back in control, just as they were suddenly caught with their pants down.
Alexander-Arnold delivered the killer through-ball which released Nunez and Salah, both hurtling down the left.
With speed, movement and intelligence, Nunez picked out the cut-back for Salah to side-foot home and celebrate with the gleeful Scousers in the corner of the Clock End.
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Saka and Martinelli were withdrawn in favour of Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri and everything about Arsenal was looking threadbare and open to exploitation.
But on 90 minutes, Havertz had the ball in the net just as ref Anthony Taylor had blown up for a foul by Kiwior.
Liverpool impressed at Arsenal, but it was a match Jurgen Klopp probably would’ve won
By Jordan Davies
ON the face of it, Liverpool continue to go from strength to strength with Arne Slot’s tenure still in its infancy.
Away at Arsenal as title contenders — with a formidable record at the Emirates having won four of their last six there — the Reds fought back, not once, but twice to earn an impressive point to remain four clear of the Gunners.
Nine games in, Liverpool have seven wins, 22 points collected and sit in second in what is one of the club’s best ever starts to a Prem campaign.
Nothing to sniff at there, and that is without mentioning three straight wins in the Champions League and a 5-1 Carabao Cup third-round thumping of fellow top-flight side West Ham.
So to even attempt to pick flaws in Slot’s start with a run that solid would come across needlessly pedantic, deliberately nit-picky.
But, and there is a but, given the standards Liverpool have set in these early months, it needs to be said: this draw in North London was a massive missed opportunity.
And to go one step further, maybe this is a game Jurgen Klopp would have found a way to win?
It has been a long time since Arsenal have gone into a game feeling so vulnerable defensively with world-class centre-back William Saliba missing through suspension.
Full-back Riccardo Calafiori was also out injured, usual right-back Ben White began the game at centre-half and midfielder Thomas Partey started on the far right side of the defence.
And then, in a chaotic second half, both Jurrien Timber and Gabriel limped off, forcing Gunners boss Mikel Arteta to swap around his back line THREE times by the 76th minute.
And yet, despite all of that, a Liverpool side boasting attacking talents like Mo Salah, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo were hardly making the home fans sweat with a peppering of the Arsenal goal.
It was not until a Klopp-style counter-attack from back to front in the 81st minute did the visitors properly test the home defence.
But even that finish was a tame one — Salah tapping in past David Raya into an almost empty net.
And with nine minutes left plus seven minutes injury time, the expected onslaught for another, to nick all three points — the tally-ho approach — never came.
Not Klopp’s heavy metal style, more pleasant folk music with a ukulele in a country pub.
You get the impression that Slot was delighted with this outcome.
For large parts, Liverpool were defensively sound, gave very little away and snuck away back to Merseyside with a point tucked under their arm and a bloody nose avoided.
Yet it was in these sorts big blockbuster matches that Klopp and Liverpool thrived over their nine-year romance, full of excitement, thrills and last-gasp wins that earned them a Prem trophy in 2019-20 and plenty more down-to-the-wire chases with Manchester City.
And with Arteta’s Arsenal on their knees — quite literally in some cases — and hanging on for dear life, these are the moments in title races that require a bit of crazy, not caution.
A Klopp team of the past would have gone completely and totally Kloppy, throwing men forward at will, blasting their opponents away and forcing the ball into the net through passion and thunder alone, regardless of how open it left them at the back.
Slot is not this sort of coach.
He is measured, considerate, calm. Good qualities, but not always needed in do-or-die matches that ultimately determine where you finish in May.
It is hard to say if this will come back to haunt Slot, who still insists on avoiding any use of the phrase ‘title contenders’ despite clearly being title contenders.
With Aston Villa and Manchester City visiting Anfield over their next five Prem outings, we will see whether the Dutchman can loosen the leash and let his team grab games by the scruff of the neck instead of playing it safe.
Because as we have seen in this league, going for broke often rewards you — just ask the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola.
Fortune favours the brave.
Slot needs to discover his own version of that if he is to truly emulate Klopp and transform this Liverpool side into one capable of seizing moments when they matter most.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
