Match Review: Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool

Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah salvaged a point for the Reds as we had to settle for a draw in our gripping encounter at the Emirates.
 

Bukayo Saka – back from injury – stole the show in the first half with his sublime near post finish in the ninth minute. Liverpool then equalised through a corner which Van Dijk headed home.

Just before the first half came to its conclusion, summer signing Mikel Merino put us back in front with a bullet header from a sensational in-swinging Declan Rice free-kick.

Liverpool took advantage of our makeshift back line in the second half as Mohamed Salah grabbed the equaliser after a swerving pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold unlocked our defence.

After William Saliba's suspension as a result of his professional foul against Bournemouth, we could not afford to lose any more defenders. However, this was not the case as we had to adapt to second-half injuries to Gabriel and Jurrien Timber.

Saka makes it 50 in the Premier League

The game of the weekend kicked off in front of a bubbling Emirates Stadium atmosphere and the Arsenal faithful did not have to wait long before Saka netted the opener. After a wonderful long ball from out of position Ben White, Saka beat Liverpool left back Robertson for pace and chopped inside to his favoured left foot and made no mistake with the finish.

After missing the last two games through injury, it was some way to mark his return in our biggest game of the season so far. This goal was also his 50th in the Premier League, making him only the eleventh to do so for the club.

Van Dijk heads Liverpool back onto level terms

Our emphatic start was soon halted after a well-worked corner was flicked on by Luis Diaz at the near post and delicately headed in by Van Dijk from the 6-yard box.

We continued to pile on the pressure through our wide players who fancied their chances against the Liverpool fullbacks. It lookeddestined that we would re-take the lead after Merino chucked himself at a well taken free-kick by Declan Rice, but he could not get the attempt towards goal.

A game of set-pieces

After Liverpool captain Van Dijk's goal from a corner and a narrow miss from Merino following a free-kick, set-pieces looked the most likely way of another goal. This proved to be true after another pin-point free-kick from Declan Rice landed on the head of Merino which fired past Liverpool goalkeeper Kelleher. Our Spanish signing could eventually celebrate his first Arsenal goal after a lengthy VAR review for a potential offside.
 

Defensive Vulnerabilities

Immediately after half time in the 48th minute, centre-back Gabriel went down holding his knee. He tried to play through the pain but had to be withdrawn in just the 54th minute. This left us without both of our first-choice centre-backs against a deadly Liverpool frontline.

The swing in momentum was evident immediately as Liverpool began to incorporate their own style of play into the game which forced Arsenal to sit deeper.

Jurrien Timber also had to be replaced later in the game by academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly, in what was only his second-ever Premier League game.

It took until the 82nd minute for Liverpool to find an equaliser after a constant spell of pressure. Alexander-Arnold's drilled ball in behind the depleted Arsenal defence found Nunez who laid the ball off to Salah who was never going to miss.

As the game entered added time, we found the back of the net but Anthony Taylor had already blown the whistle for a foul by Kiwior in the build-up, which meant VAR could not intervene.

Ultimately, we had to settle for a fair point that keeps us third in the Premier League table, 5 points off the early pace of Manchester City.
 

Statistics and Facts

We have scored 7 goals from set pieces this season. That makes up 41% of our goals in the Premier League this season.

This result keeps our unbeaten Premier League run against Liverpool alive (W2 D3). This makes it our longest Premier League run without defeat since 2007-2011 (eight games)

Bukayo Saka has been directly involved in 10 goals (3 goals, 7 assists) in just eight games in the Premier League this season.

In our five Premier League games against Liverpool since the 2022/23 season, we have scored four goals in the opening 10 minutes.
 

Upcoming fixture

Our sixth and final game of October is away at Preston in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday 30th October

We take on Preston at Deepdale for the first time since January 2017 where we were 1-2 winners in the FA Cup.

Mikel Arteta will be looking to put together a cup run and win our first piece of silverware since his first season in charge in which we won the FA Cup in 2020.