Salah saves point for Reds in Arsenal thriller
Mohamed Salah proved the saviour for Liverpool as it twice fought back to earn a 2-2 draw against Arsenal in a pulsating clash between two Premier League title rivals at Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners had struck first after nine minutes on home turf when Bukayo Saka took down Ben White's excellent long ball in the area, turned Andrew Robertson, and rifled past Caoimhín Kelleher at his near post.
Saka consequently became the youngest Arsenal player to reach 50 Premier League goals but Liverpool restored parity when Trent Alexander-Arnold's corner was flicked on by Luis Diaz at the near post and nodded home by Virgil van Dijk.
Mikel Merino missed a great chance from one Declan Rice set-piece but restored Arsenal's lead from the England international's wicked free-kick shortly before half-time.
Arsenal lost Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber to injury in the second half and the loss of the defensive duo saw it noticeably penned further in its own half.
The pressure eventually told when Alexander-Arnold played a superb long ball forward that Darwin Nunez controlled and he had the wherewithal to tee up Salah to coolly slot home the equaliser nine minutes from time.
Arne Slot's men are consequently second in the table, just a point behind leader Manchester City, while Mikel Arteta's Gunners are five off top spot in third.
Slot, though, acknowledged the Gunners were the better team on the day.
"Eventful, exciting. Both teams scored from a set piece. In my opinion, Arsenal were the better team than us," Slot said. "They deserved to be one up at half-time.
"We had less to recover and prepare for this game and if I look at how strong we were in the second half, that pleased me and most being two times down."
The Dutchman was keen to focus on the positives, though.
"Two times behind then it's pleasing to see we can come back into the game especially with one day less to recover," he continued.
"To be stronger in second half than first pleases me. You come here to win but maybe a draw was a result we can take with us, especially after the first half.
"You know coming here that they have many quality players, you can have difficult moments in the game. Pleased me to score from a set piece.
"We needed that because from open play we weren't dominant at all. They deserved to be up 2-1 at half-time. But the way we showed up second half was impressive."
