[ad_1]
Arsenal ensured they may spend Christmas Day on prime of the Premier League as they held title rivals Liverpool to a pulsating 1-1 draw at Anfield on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta’s aspect took an early lead by means of Gabriel Magalhaes, however Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool degree earlier than the interval.
A draw was arguably the correct end result after each side flexed their muscle tissue to indicate why they’ve emerged because the main contenders to win the title.
Chasing a primary title since 2004, Arsenal sit one level away from second-placed Liverpool heading into the festive interval.
The workforce that has topped the Premier League at Christmas has gone on to win the title in six of the previous 10 seasons, however the draw on Merseyside was additionally a lift to the chasing pack.
Third-placed Aston Villa are degree on factors with Liverpool, fourth-placed Tottenham are three factors additional again, whereas champions Manchester Metropolis are six factors adrift of the leaders with a recreation in hand.
Liverpool are unbeaten of their previous 11 video games in opposition to Arsenal at Anfield.
Nonetheless, coming per week after their goalless stalemate in opposition to Manchester United, this was one other irritating end result for Jurgen Klopp’s workforce.
Arsenal weren’t utterly happy both.
Final season they led 2-0 at Liverpool however ended up drawing 2-2, a end result that began their collapse within the title race.
Their failure to carry on this time shouldn’t have had such a dangerous impression, nevertheless it was nonetheless a missed alternative.
Klopp had urged Liverpool followers to offer Arsenal the “correct Anfield expertise” after saying he was sad with the ambiance throughout Wednesday’s 5-1 rout of West Ham within the League Cup.
The German stated followers “not in the correct form” ought to give their ticket “to any person else”, however Arteta was nicely conscious of the maelstrom mendacity in wait.
Arteta likened the visceral Anfield expertise to being thrown round in a “washer.”
Responding to Klopp, the Liverpool devoted bellowed their ‘You’ll by no means stroll alone’ anthem as loudly as ever earlier than kick-off, however Arsenal took simply 30 seconds to indicate they had been unfazed.
A flowing transfer reduce open the Liverpool defence and ended with Gabriel Jesus’s shot deflecting simply over.
It was a warning and Arsenal took the lead after solely 4 minutes.
Martin Odegaard delivered an ideal free-kick into the Liverpool space and Gabriel rose to thump his header previous Alisson Becker from eight yards.
The Brazilian defender celebrated by cupping his fingers to his ears in entrance of the Kop.
Anfield was surprised however not silenced. Falling behind was nothing new to Liverpool, who had trailed in eight different Premier League video games this season and solely misplaced one among them.
Liverpool had been controversially denied a penalty by VAR when Odegaard dealt with within the space after slipping underneath strain from Salah.
Salah took it upon himself to make sure Liverpool weren’t left to rue that debatable resolution because the Egyptian conjured an excellent Twenty ninth-minute equaliser.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s raking move picked out Salah down the correct flank and he glided away from Oleksandr Zinchenko into the realm earlier than smashing a fierce strike previous David Raya at his close to publish.
An exciting half concluded with Arteta holding his head when Gabriel Martinelli shot extensive moments after Saka ran by means of on purpose however failed to complete.
Klopp’s males had the momentum after the break and Joe Gomez rifled inches extensive, whereas Harvey Elliott’s long-range strike deflected onto the publish.
They need to have been in entrance within the 73rd minute when a break from an Arsenal nook climaxed with Salah teeing up Alexander-Arnold, however the ball took a slight bobble and his shot cannoned again off the crossbar with simply Raya to beat.
Because the relentless Purple wave stored surging towards the Kop, Gomez’s effort drew an excellent cease from Raya, however Arsenal held on.
AFP
[ad_2]
Source link
