(Football news) It was a case of two points dropped rather than a point gained for Arsenal who drew 2-2 against Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League, despite a stellar first half performance. The Gunners looked set to secure their first win at Anfield since 2012 when Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus gave the Gunners a 2-0 lead in the opening 28 minutes. However, Mohamed Salah managed to half the deficit in the 42nd minute and scored a late equaliser through Roberto Firmino in the 87th minute to secure a point.
It was a thrilling fixture that saw Mohamed Salah miss a penalty and Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale produced two fantastic saves to prevent Salah and Konte from scoring the winner in stoppage time. Arsenal secured a point at Anfield for the first time in seven seasons but given their start to the match, it seems like two points lost and could give second place Manchester City a realistic possibility of defending their crown. The Gunners remain six points clear at the top of the table but City have played a game fewer and will welcome Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on April 26.
Speaking after the match, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said “It was a little bit typical for us this season and for Arsenal as well, it was a completely open game. They scored with the first situation and not too long after they scored the second one and our problems were big enough but we made them even bigger. But then the reaction was good, it was a spectacular game in the end. How we cannot win it, I don’t know, with the chances we had.
“It’s a point and a good reaction from the two goals we conceded, that’s positive but I’m caught in between. I have no problem with drawing and for Arsenal, it’s a super important point because if you draw these kinds of games, you’ve got a good chance to become champions. You cannot always be super, super, super convincing. They were good but they would agree they could or should have lost this game today. They didn’t so the point is probably better for them.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said “Wow. A really intense game. We started brilliantly, controlled the game and scored the first goal, and the second goal was a beautiful action. The game was under control until we conceded a really sloppy goal. Then the game changed momentum. We lost control after half time, lost far too many simple balls and it became a very open and chaotic game which they love.
“They could have scored three or four, missed a penalty and Aaron (Ramsdale) made a couple of great saves. But we had some big breakaways and could have scored two or three. In the end, the result is fair. The lesson is from the first 35 minutes and how we played coming to a ground like this and what we did. But we have to continue to do this regardless of the crowd and the result to go and look for a third and fourth goal.”
On Liverpool’s strong home form: “I haven’t seen anyone do it in this Premier League season, nobody. They beat every big team here and could have been 4-0 up vs Real Madrid after 20 minutes so it’s extremely difficult. They are going to have moments and we did deal with them. Our goalkeeper played a big part. We could have taken three points – if we played like we did [at the start] for another 15 minutes the game would have taken a different trajectory – but we didn’t, and we have to take the point. We move on and try to convince them to play like they did for the first 35 minutes and we will win a lot of games.”
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