The numbers speak for themselves. Mohamed Salah does not only make hay against the Premier League’s lesser lights, he routinely damages Liverpool’s rivals in the so‑called Big Six. And so it was here. Yet again.
The first half had been a story of Bukayo Saka’s excellence for Arsenal. He scored a wonderful opener and, after Virgil Van Dijk had helped Liverpool back up from the canvas, there was a first Arsenal goal for Mikel Merino, the summer signing from Real Sociedad.
Mikel Arteta’s team looked poised for a statement victory in a game that they really could not afford to lose. Everything changed in the second half when Arsenal lost Gabriel Magalhães and then Jurriën Timber to injuries. Their defensive reserves were already close to breaking point. Now they snapped.
Liverpool did not create very much and there was the sense that Arsenal might be set for a backs‑to‑the‑wall triumph. But the visitors only needed to create something and, when they did, Salah made it count for a result that further swelled the feelgood factor under Arne Slot.
It was Darwin Núñez who played the final pass after a lovely ball up the inside right channel by Trent Alexander-Arnold and there was Salah to sweep home. Was there even a scintilla of doubt as to the outcome when the low cross reached him? The statistics show that Salah has 62 combined goals and assists in 73 appearances against Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and the Manchester clubs. It was his 11th goal in 15 league appearances against Arsenal.
The draw was a fair result, even if Arsenal would rage at the very end when Gabriel Jesus had the ball in the net. The referee, Anthony Taylor, had long since blown his whistle, although it was not entirely clear why he had done so in the moment. Perhaps it was for a foul by another substitute, Jakub Kiwior, in the buildup. Kai Havertz helped the ball over Caoimhín Kelleher and against a post but the play was plainly dead.
It would be wrong to fixate on that moment, however much the Arsenal fans chuntered on their way out of the stadium. Better from their point of view to salute the cut and thrust of the first-half performance, which was illuminated by Saka, who had returned after a hamstring injury.
It is worth dwelling on how he manipulated the space for the breakthrough goal, how he tied Andy Robertson inside and out with a touch of mesmeric brilliance. Saka’s first one had been to bring a long Ben White ball up the channel under his influence but it was all about the second; an impish nutmeg on Robertson with the outside of his left boot as he sliced inside. It even had a bit of stun on it, which opened up the shooting opportunity. Saka banged high inside Kelleher’s near post.
Liverpool were not down for long. Van Dijk had shown that he was up for the fight, clashing off the ball with Havertz at the outset, aiming two kicks at the Arsenal forward. Taylor called back the play for a free-kick yet he took no further action. Which was baffling. Van Dijk was a target for the home crowd thereafter.
Salah had wasted a half chance after a mis-control by Merino when Van Dijk put his head in where it stood to hurt to haul his team level. It was an inswinging Alexander-Arnold corner from the left and Luis Díaz was first to the flick-on ahead of Havertz. Van Dijk got the better of Thomas Partey in a crowded six-yard box.
Arsenal roared back, the intensity of their first-half performance really something; the same resoundingly true of how Saka played. Whenever he surged inside, the alarm bells sounded for Liverpool. He was frequently too quick and too tricky; always in control of the situation.
Arsenal’s second came from a free-kick routine they had road-tested in the 19th minute, Declan Rice whipping it over from the right, Merino timing his run. On the first occasion, Merino got into a tangle with Partey and the chance was lost. Now, with 43 minutes on the clock, he got it just right, the header swelling the net, Van Dijk’s boot found to have played him just onside after a chaotically long video assistant referee check.
Arteta was without the suspended William Saliba and the injured Riccardo Calafiori and his solution had been to start Partey at right-back, shuffle White into the centre and ask Timber, who passed a late fitness test, to fill in at left-back. But he had to reshuffle when Gabriel appeared to jar his knee in the turf and was forced off in the 54th minute and Timber later succumbed to cramp. Kiwior and Myles Lewis-Skelly were the replacements.
Liverpool sensed that there could be something in it for them. They kept the ball more easily in the second half and they pushed; their dominance in territorial terms pronounced. Confidence breeds patience in these type of situations and Liverpool have plenty of that after their start to life under Slot. They also have Salah.
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