LIVERPOOL, newsparviews, – With a strong showing in a tense 1-1 draw against Liverpool on Saturday, Arsenal established their title credentials and will lead the Premier League standings come Christmas.
With 40 points from 18 games, Mikel Arteta’s club, the runners-up from the previous season, has won five of their last seven games but hasn’t experienced success in a league game at Anfield since 2012. With 39 points, Liverpool is in second place, ahead of Aston Villa on goal differential.
“An unbelievable game of football, one of the most intense I’ve witnessed in 20 years in this league,” Arteta stated to the BBC. “For many moments we were on top, in the last 20 minutes we wanted it more, but a draw is a fair result.”
The leaders on Christmas Day have gone on to win the championship in ten of the previous fourteen seasons. Despite having played one fewer game, champion Manchester City is in fifth place.
“How strong are they, my god? Juergen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, stated of Arsenal, “The good news is we are good too.”
Going down early to a set piece in a game like this is difficult, especially given Arsenal’s speed. However, given the way we began the second half of the game, we ought to have scored.”We learn a lesson when we pass rather than fire four or five times. However, the game is fantastic overall.”
At Anfield, Klopp had asked supporters to turn up the volume following a few unusually quiet matches at the stadium in Merseyside.
The fourth minute saw Gabriel outsmart Cody Gakpo to head in a floating pass from skipper Martin Odegaard, giving Arsenal an early lead even if the supporters applauded.
“It was really loud from the beginning, they did their bit to generate that,” Arteta stated. “I love that our players could handle this, it’s not easy.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold found Liverpool striker Mohammed Salah with a precise long pass in the 29th minute, setting up a spectacular equalizer. Salah evaded Oleksandr Zinchenko with ease and then fired a hard left-footed shot into the net.
With his 151st Premier League goal, Salah moved up to 10th place all-time, and the home team had plenty of opportunities to score the winning goal.
After what looked to be an obvious hand ball by Odegaard, Liverpool were yelling for a penalty. Salah launched a fast-moving counterattack, setting up Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose shot hit the crossbar.
Virgil van Dijk’s back was used to divert an attempt wide by Arsenal striker Bukayo Saka in the final seconds, but both teams had to settle for a point, which was a good outcome for Manchester City.
Saka struck the defender close to the touchline, bringing down Klopp in the process, and in the first half, Liverpool lost Kostas Tsimikas due to what Klopp claimed was a broken collarbone. Tsimikas was helped off the field cautiously by medical personnel who were holding his shoulder.
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