Marvellously entertaining, packed full of great goals and lovely football. But also chock-full of some of the worst defending you will see in a long, long while.
Liverpool coasted into a two-goal lead through Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah but should have had four before half-time –
Sadio Mane criminally missing when it was easier to score.
In the space of just under five second-half minutes, Arsenal astonishingly turned the game around as Liverpool’s leaky back line took their turn, Alexis Sanchez scoring, Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet handing the Gunners an equaliser with a blunder, and then Mesut Ozil giving them the lead.
But Roberto Firmino levelled for Liverpool in as topsy-turvy a game the Premier League has seen all season, But title winners, either of these? Don’t think so.
Arsene Wenger was humbled 4-0 at Anfield in August, and said that defeat would hurt him for the rest of his life. After that humiliation, Arsenal had lost only three league games – two of those though were against Manchester City and Manchester United.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose name was roundly booed by the Emirates crowd when it was read out before the game after his summer move to Anfield, was surprisingly left on the bench by Jurgen Klopp despite recent impressive displays.
Early on Coutinho floated a drive just wide as Liverpool ominously probed. Then Andrew Robertson crossed from the other flank, and Firmino’s close-range header looked goalbound until Petr Cech pulled off a super save.
Arsenal’s first real effort saw wantaway striker Sanchez combine with Alexandre Lacazette to burst through, but Mignolet dived at his feet to save. Firmino then headed across goal when he should have done better – but Liverpool were finding way too much space to be denied for long.
When substitute James Milner, on early after Jordan Henderson went off with possible hamstring trouble, sent Salah haring away down the right, his cross looped up off Laurent Koscielny and Coutinho was all alone as he nodded the ball past a stranded Cech.
It should have been two, as once again Arsenal gave the ball away, and Firmino cut inside to curl a shot an inch over the bar.
Wenger’s team simply could not keep the ball as the Emirates crowd howled their frustration.
Somehow, Arsenal were not at least four goals down by half-time –and the fault that it was not at least a couple was probably Mane’s. As Koscielny slipped and failed to cut out Milner’s through ball, he left Salah clean through on goal.
Cech quite brilliantly dashed out to stop his shot, but the ball bounced out to Mane – who, instead of simply slotting it back into the net, tried for the spectacular with a bicycle kick and criminally put the ball over.
Salah, running Arsenal’s defence ragged, forced Cech into a low save. It did not though take long for Liverpool to take further advantage of such chaos.
Salah galloped out of defence after Ainsley Maitland-Niles lost the ball, and supplied Firmino, who cleverly switched it back, and the little Egyptian surged through to shoot past Cech.
But within a minute Arsenal were back in the game. Hector Bellerin crossed from the right, Liverpool right back Joe Gomez switched off – and Sanchez nipped in to head home.
If that was bad, Arsenal’s equalizer three minutes later was even worse. Alex Iwobi fed Granit Xhaka 25 yards out and Mignolet flapped at his shot one-handed, and it flew past him into the net.
Klopp could barely believe what he was seeing, and when Ozil picked the ball up and Lacazette’s flick sent him through, the German slipped the ball past Mignolet for the third goal.
But this game was not finished. Emre Can fed Firmino in space, and though Cech got a hand to his shot he would have been disappointed it went in. Incredible.