Winners
Aaron Ramsdale
If you would have said to me when Gabriel Jesus scored the Gunners’ second of the game that Aaron Ramsdale would be the man of the match I’d have called you mad, but that’s exactly what happened. The England international stepped up in the biggest moments to save Arsenal a point.
Having taken a strong lead, the hope would have of course been to claim the three points. However, everything changed before half time and after a missed penalty and two goals, the saves at the end arguably will give the club a boost to build from as there remain just eight more matches this season.
The save from Salah’s deflected shot initially is out of this world and akin to the reach shown last season from James Maddison’s free-kick. However to dive backwards in the final seconds to stop Ibrahim Kojate was inspired.
READ MORE: Liverpool vs Arsenal highlights: Four-goal thriller earns Gunners a point after Ramsdale heroics
Thomas Partey
If you want to see what a midfield performance away at one of the big teams should look like, go back and watch Thomas Partey’s individual display. The Ghanaian showed exactly what Arsenal missed when he was absent from the home clash with Manchester City and Mikel Arteta will be praying he’s available for the trip to the Etihad in just over a couple weeks’ time.
The way in which he uses space to his advantage looks so simple but it takes incredible talent to pull it off. Liverpool players just couldn’t take the ball of him and he allowed for the rare escapes in the second half that could have secured the win.
Manchester City
The draw ultimately means that the title is now in the hands of Manchester City. There’s extra emphasis on the game between the two rivalling clubs on Wednesday, April 26, with the winner of this game having full control of the league with five games remaining.
Although City would have loved to have an even smaller gap to climb, Pep Guardiola discussed that dropping points in just one game can lose you the title. Liverpool know that better than anyone having surpassed 90 points on multiple occasions and still failing to claim the precious trophy.
Losers
Granit Xhaka
It will seem harsh to say this, especially considering that Granit Xhaka’s overall game outside of a single incident was really good, but the Swiss midfielder's reaction to Alexander-Arnold was one of the main reasons why Arsenal didn’t win at Anfield. At 2-0 up the stadium was dead, but the clash between Xhaka and Trent Alexander-Arnold resuscitated the ground in a very similar way to when Arteta and Jurgen Klopp had a spat moments before Sadio Mane scored the opening goal of a 4-0 win.
Arsenal had to learn from this and I am almost certain that this would have been spoken about in the lead-up to the game by Arteta. However, Xhaka couldn’t help himself but get sucked into the battle with the full-back.
Think back to Stamford Bridge and a confrontation with Trevoh Chalobah and Matteo Kovacic. Xhaka could be seen laughing off the moment but he simply couldn’t after a push from the Liverpool defender and from that the game swung 180 degrees ending with the two points being lost.
Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta has masterminded this entire process, he has improved as a coach to a level few expected him to reach this quickly. However, this fixture highlighted an area which could still do with some improvement.
With the game fully in the hands of Liverpool, the substitutions by the Spaniard were both too cautious and too late. Kieran Tierney came on with three minutes of normal time, watching on as his soon-to-be-replaced teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko was beaten by Alexander-Arnold for the equalising assist.
After Liverpool took off Fabinho, Jakub Kiwior came on for Martin Odegaard leaving Arsenal again level in midfield with the home side. With the benefit of hindsight it seems easy to say but perhaps swapping for Jorginho or even an Emile Smith Rowe or Fabio Vieira could have given the Gunners something more on the break?
Ben White
This was the performance of a player who was going to spend more than an hour on a yellow card against Cody Gakpo, Andrew Robertson and Diogo Jota/Darwin Nunez. White was naïve to dive in so early after losing the ball loosely and this opened up a weakness that, without Takehiro Tomiyasu, couldn’t be replaced by a substitute.
White’s passing lacked conviction throughout and his fractured link-up with Bukayo Saka had a negative impact on the winger’s overall contribution. White has been excellent this season, but this game was perhaps something to learn from for the England international.
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