Premier League — Arsenal vs Liverpool: Arsenal yet again failed to hold on their lead in big occasions as Liverpool twice equalised to return with a point from their north London trip on Sunday.
It was a scintillating atmosphere at the Emirates Stadium where visitors Liverpool arrived with a perfect away record this season while the hosts’ confidence was dented after last weekend’s embarrassing 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth.
The gunners were playing in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation with a makeshift defence excluding suspended centre back William Saliba and other injured defenders like Calafiori, Tomiyasu and Tierney.
Holding midfielder Thomas Partey started in the right back position with Jurien Timber in the left, while Ben White and Gabriel filled the central defence. Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli’s return to the starting line-up were a positive boost for the hosts, while new signing Mikel Merino kept his place in the first eleven along with regular starters Trossard, Havertz and Rice.
The match of the season so far?
Enjoy the highlights from @Arsenal 2-2 @LFC pic.twitter.com/i0pQRZI45U
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 28, 2024
Liverpool also made several changes in their squad that emerged victorious against Chelsea a week ago. Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz both were recalled to accompany Mo Salah in the three men forward line while Alexis Mac Allister was deployed in the midfield alongside Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch.
The first blood was drawn by Arsenal in the 9th minute when Ben White provided an inch perfect pass over the top of the defence for the run of Saka who took the ball in his stride ahead of left back Robertson, cut inside and unleashed a left footed strike into the roof of the net beyond Kelleher’s reach.
However, the parity was restored within 9 minutes when Alexander-Arnold’s inswinging corner received a glancing flick from Diaz and Virgil Van Dijk was the first to react among the crowd to head the ball into bottom right corner to make the score line 1-1 in the 18th minute. A penalty appeal was ruled out by referee Anthony Taylor in the 32nd minute when Martinelli was sandwiched between two Liverpool defenders. The VAR also upheld the initial decision.
Arsenal have been extremely dangerous from set pieces this season and the same proved yet again when in the 43rd minute, Declan Rice’s curling free kick found Mikel Merino inside the box who peeled off his marker and headed straight into the top of the net from the edge of the six-yard box to score his first goal for the gunners and putting them back in front just before the interval.
Though it was an evenly balanced competition in the first half, the scenario changed after the restart. Defender Gabriel sustained an injury and Mikel Arteta was forced to replace him with Jakub Kiwior in the 54th minute that made the already vulnerable looking defence shakier. Keeping the same issue in mind, Arne Slot introduced attacking players like Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo to enhance the attacking penetration. Liverpool improved their ball possession and control to press Arsenal to become more defensive.
Arteta’s headache intensified in the 76th minute when he was again forced to withdraw Jurien Timber after the Dutchman was unable to continue following a knock. Teenaged midfielder Myles Lewis-Skelly took the role of temporary left back as there was no other recognised defender left in the Arsenal bench.
Then in the 81st minute, Arsenal’s trembling stopgap defence was eventually exposed when Alexander-Arnold lifted a beautiful ball over the top of the defence for Mo Salah who pulled off and instead drove towards the penalty spot with an onside Nunez latched onto the delivery instead. The Uruguay international drew two defenders towards him before slipping a pass across the face of goal for Salah who showed great composure inside the box to fire a first time left footed shot into the bottom left corner.
In the 90th minute Arsenal thought to have scored a dramatic late winner but a foul was committed in the build-up and Liverpool were awarded a spot kick instead. Both the sides got a few half chances during the closing stages but the score line remained 2-2 till the final whistle.
Meanwhile, in the other results of yesterday, Crystal Palace defeated Tottenham 1-0, Chelsea defeated Newcastle 2-1 and West Ham United got a 2-1 victory against struggling Manchester United.
After nine rounds of play, Manchester City lead the table with 23 points, followed by Livepool and Arsenal who have 22 and 18 points respectively.
