Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool: Reds battle from behind to share spoils

Will Rooney reports from the Emirates Stadium.

Transcript

00:00Full time here at the Emirates and the two Premier League title hopefuls couldn't be separated, they finished Arsenal 2, Liverpool 2.

00:10Liverpool rode their luck at times, certainly in the first half they were well below par, they were improved in the second half.

00:18Arsenal for me probably deserved to win, I thought Liverpool in the first half were particularly poor.

00:26But they showed the battling qualities that are going to be needed in a title race,

00:32probably the biggest winners today are Manchester City because they stay top of the table,

00:37they stay ahead of Arsenal and they stay ahead of Liverpool and they're the ones to get at this early stage.

00:42But as I say, Liverpool struggled in the first half but Kyle Saka took the lead in the ninth minute,

00:48he latched on to Ben White, long ball, beat Andy Robertson maybe a little bit too easily,

00:54cut in size and finished beyond Kwame Keleher.

00:58Liverpool got themselves back level nine minutes later through Virgil van Dijk,

01:03Trent Alexander-Arnold whipped a corner in, flipped on by Luis Diaz and there was Van Dijk to head home,

01:12they thought Liverpool might be able to build a little bit of momentum but it was quite the opposite,

01:18it was all Arsenal for the rest of the first half and they deservedly went ahead at half time,

01:24just before the interval through Micheal Moreno, really poor foul from Luis Diaz,

01:30knowing how strong Arsenal are at set pieces, he gifted them a chance and they took it,

01:38a great ball in from Declan Rice and Micheal Moreno headed home.

01:42Second half, Liverpool were better but to be honest, even in the second half they were better,

01:47they struggled to create a lot of chances for Liverpool,

01:49neither did Arsenal actually, they didn't really create any gilts-head chances

01:52but Arsenal had a few injuries at the back, Gabriel and Jürgen Timber had to go off

01:59and Liverpool took advantage, Darwin Nunes latched on to Trent Alexander-Arnold, long ball,

02:05pulled it back from Mo Salah, he composedly finished his first real chance of the game

02:10to net his 163rd Premier League goal moving him joint 8th,

02:15alongside fellow Anfield legends Robbie Fowler in the all-time Premier League top scorer list.

02:21Arsenal thought they'd netted a winner late on but it was a judge that Kai Havert had committed the foul

02:29on Ibrahima Kanate and on the balance, as I say, I think Arsenal were the better team

02:35but those were the battling qualities that Liverpool needed away from home against a team like Arsenal.

02:41Ibrahima Kanate was magnificent today, Virgil van Dijk as well, the two centre-backs were excellent.

02:47I thought the midfields of Liverpool were poor, Alexander Calister had probably one of his worst games as a Liverpool player

02:53but Liverpool, they take it, they move on and after playing him this week against Leipzig,

03:00they come here and it's another tough game and they've got another tougher way to hit Brighton on Wednesday

03:06this time in the Carabao Cup where you would think Arnold Slott will make changes

03:10and then they've got Brighton at home after that in the Premier League.

03:14I think a lot of fans before this game would have taken a point even though Arsenal did have a few injuries

03:21and obviously Williams' leave was suspended but overall, I think Liverpool will head back to Mazerside happy

03:28and there's Arsenal too, Liverpool too.