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That means we’re done here, so thanks for your company and comments – sorry I couldn’t use them all – and hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Naturally, we’ve still plenty of sport for you, so check-in here:
And here:
But otherwise, that’s it from me. Peace out.
Righto, here’s Andy Hunter’s match report.
“Intense” says Alexander-Arnold when asked about the game, and says his team lacked the confidence and intensity to play their game in the early stages. But they had the better of the second half, and he says his shove of Xhaka was just a natural reaction to being shoved himself. Asked about his role in Arsenal’s second goal, he says “The goals have to come down one of the sides, that’s how football works,” which is very funny but also very nonsense. He also thinks Liverpool have shown today – again – that they can compete with the best.
Micah Richards thinks that was one of the best games he’s ever seen, and there’s a sense of exhaustion in the studio. We all know how they feel; imagine how the players feel!
Aaron Ramsdale tells Sky it feels like both a point gained and two dropped, but in the next few days it’ll come to be more like the former. They were under big pressure, didn’t concede, and of his saves he of course says that’s what he’s there for. Arteta is “hugely positive”, he tells us, so they’ll be shown all the good stuff they did to go 2-0 up, and accepts his well-earned player of the match trophy.
I’m sure someone will set me straight, but that feels like the best game we’ve seen this season. But the head-to-head, on 26 April two weeks Wednesday, will be absolutely colossal. Real talk, I think City’s best is better than Arsenal’s best and they also know they can handle the pressure, so if they’re on it that night, I’d fancy them. But Arsenal have the players to cause them all sorts of aggravation.
In general, that should be a point gained for Arsenal, rather than two dropped. But City are specific, have proved over a number of years that they can peel off as many wins as necessary to take the title, and seem to have hit a seam. Arsenal still have to play Newcastle and Chelsea, while City’s run-in is kind, but with the complicating factors of FA Cup and Champions League engagements.
And breathe. Oh my absolute complete and utter days, everything we love about this thing of ours was out on that pitch this afternoon.
So Arsenal’s lead at the top is six points, which means if City win their game in hand and beat them at the Etihad, we go to goal difference; currently, City lead by five. Liverpool, meanwhile, stay eighth, two off Brighton in seventh and 12 off Man United in fourth.
FULL-TIME: Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal
What an astonishing game of association football that was! Well played and thanks to both teams, I’m in awe of the skill, fortitude, love and devotion is takes to come up with that.
90+6 min Here we go again! Henderson sticks the ball across, Konate is at the back post, and thinks all he has to do is get something on ot it, so dives with his chest to win the match … and out of nowhere Ramsdale hurls himself at it, somehow inserting body between ball and line! If Arsenal win the title, that man has just earnt himself a statue!
90+5 min I said things hit him, but what a save Aaron Ramsdale makes here! Salah collects possession on the left side of the box, wants to curl towards the far corner, curls towards the far corner, and Ramsdale, reading his intention and leaping early, stretches, reaches, grasps and paws to flick away! WHAT IS GOING ON?! THAT IS AN INCREDIBLE SAVE!
90+4 min Firmino finds Robertson, who teases a ball to the back post where Salah loses Tierney and Gabriel, both panicking and sort of pulling him back! But he shrugs them off, stretches to volley over the top, and the ref lets them away with it!
90+2 min Arsenal win a corner, but Alisson comes to collect, and now it’s Liverpool’s turn to seek a winner, Salah finding Alexander-Arnold infield … and he lamps a terrific shot just over the bar! This is ludicrous game of football, it really is!
90 min We’ll have six added minutes, and Arsenal are now seeking a winner. As things stand, and for the first time in a while, the title is in Man City’s hands: if they win all their games, they’re champions, likewise Arsenal.
89 min Credit to Liverpool, who’ve been excellent since equalising. They’ve not dominated Arsenal will dazzling football, but have imposed their will with the terrifying desperation of a side raging against the dying of the light. Meantime, Arsenal replace a desolate Zinchenko with Tierney, whose first act it to last a shot just past the far post.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal (Firmino 87)
THE TITLE IS IN THE BALANCE! Alexander-Arnold isolates Zinchenko, megs him, takes a touch, and flips a perfect stand-up to the back post, where Firmino nods home! What a finish we’ve got coming up here, and what might it mean! Football!
85 min Bukayo Saka! He breaks at inside-left, eschews a pass infield to Trossard, then just as he slows ands it looks like he’s given up on creating an opportunity, now facing his own goal, he turns, slips between Konate and Robertson, then crosses … but because he’s wandered off his flank, there’s no one there to finish off his good work.
84 min Arsenal win a corner down the right, Saka makes himself a cuppa before he takes it – he’s booked for timewasting – then plants a lovely cross onto Gabriel’s brow … only for his mate to thunk straight at Alisson! That was the game right there!
83 min Ramsdale reminds me a lot of Iker Casillas, a keeper who seems to get hit by shots more than he saves them, with swingers the size of Sicily.
81 min …and immediately it’s breached, a brilliant touch from Firmino divering a high ball into Salah, whose instasweep sticks Nunez in! But, well, we know he’s both someone who makes stuff happen and an untidy finisher, striding through with no apparent clue of what he’s going to do. So Ramsdale advances, smothering a tentative shot, and might that be Liverpool’s best last chance?
81 min Kiwior goes into the middle of a back five…
80 min Now Arsenal make changes: Odegaard and Jesus off, Trossard and Kiwior on.
79 min Klopp goes for it, sending Firmino on for Fabinho.
78 min Yup, Arsenal are threatening a third here, a clever reverse-pass from Odegaard releasing Saka, who’s mooched over to the left. But his cross, stood up to the back stick, sails behind.
78 min Henderson is allowed time to pick a pass into Salah, but Xhaka does superbly to out-muscle him and bring the ball away.
76 min Arsenal know there’s a third there for them if they get the counter right – they’re leaving men up because they want to finish this.
74 min And as I type that, Xhaka clips another ball to where Alexander-Arnold isn’t but should be! Martinelli screeches onto it, delivers another fine cross, this time low, and Saka is at the back post! But sliding in risking an own goal, Robertson gets just enough on the ball to take the sting off it and Alisson pounces before it arrives for a tap-in! Brilliant defending, but only just.
73 min Liverpool win another free-kick out wide – Arsenal need to stop giving those away – but this time, clear Alexander-Arnold’s ball in properly and I think things are changing slightly. I’d not be surprised to see Arsenal score again on the counter.
71 min Arsenal have improved these last few minutes and Zinchenko picks a nice ball through the middle for Martinelli, whose movement has been excellent today; I know it’s always excellent, but especially so. Anyhow, he turns adroitly, but Van Dijk is there with a fine sliding challenge to avert the danger.
70 min “Time to hold my hands up,” returns Samuel Campbell, “just seen a different angle and it does look a lot worse. Probably 50/50 that a player gets sent off for it but doesn’t look great from the linesman. But I do think if players get routinely booked for approaching officials then Robertson thinks twice about going over and the whole situation is avoided.”
Yup, agree with that last bit. And while the schoolboy in me thinks it’d be a funner game if officials were allowed to cuff recalcitrant players, we probably need them keeping their discipline.
69 min Again, Liverpool win a corner and when Arsenal can’t clear, sustain the attack. This is the kind of football that made them champions of England and Europe, and in the end a panicked Partey humps clear under pressure from Gakpo.
68 min I wonder if Arteta is thinking about a change. Thing is, who does he remove? Odegaard has probably been the least effective of his front six, but he’s been one of the league’s best players this season and is the team’s leader. It’s usually Martinelli, but he’s been great today; I don’t know, but Liverpool are still in the ascendancy and that’s been the case for long enough such that I’m sure there’ll be a response.
65 min The corner is sort of cleared but Nunez pursues the ball out wide, diddles Zinchenko, and Liverpool probe again, but look at Jesus! He controls a high ball beautifully, lifting it over Thiago, then lofts a gorgeous no-look pass Martinelli’s path, sends him away! This time, though, Liverpool get bodies around him so Arsenal go backwards and sideways, reacquainting themselves with possession.
64 min In comes the cross, aimed for Van Dijk at the back post, and his header back yields a corner…
63 min Arsenal haven’t got going this half, and the missed penalty hasn’t transferred momentum. Increasingly, this looks like the pivotal match of the title race, either the day Arsenal knew, or the day they tossed it. meantime, Thiago spreads a lovely pass wide, Gakpo wins a free-kick, and Liverpool send the big boys forward.
61 min I’m not surprised to see Nunez, who I’d have started against Holding. But given the flow of the game, I’m a little surprised Klopp has changed his midfield configuration and introduced someone who’s not played for two months.
61 min Ch ch ch changes for Liverpool, Thiago and Nunez on, Jota and Jones off.
60 min “From the footage I have seen it looks like the linesman was just shrugging Robertson off after he put his hands on him,” says Samuel Campbell. “Not sure there is any need for further action. If anything comes off it I hope officials start dishing out red cards for all the dissent and abuse they usually let slide.”
That’s definitely the best-case scenario for all of us, and I was trying to visit the facilities when Sky showed it, but that wasn’t quite how it looked to me.
58 min This allows us to see footage of Klopp turning away from the penalty, punching the air because he thinks it’s in, then turning to discover that it very much isn’t. Football!
57 min Ramsdale, I didn’t have time to say, was booked pre-penalty, and here he is again now, punching clear as Salah curls a shot that’s too close to him. This is already such a game, and we’ve got another 30-odd minutes of it! But in the meantime, we’ve got a break as Gabriel put his head in the way of a thumping shot, so is receiving treatment.
55 min Salah skips away and Arsenal counter, Jesus away on the far side. So Fabinho kicks him and accepts his yellow card with performative incredulity.
54 min Rob Holding is one relieved and hirsute man! His challenge was so silly – though not as silly as the law which hands an 80% chance of a goal for offences nowhere near that serious – but Salah tried to be too precise.
SALAH PUTS HIS PENALTY WIDE!
He opens body, runs around the ball, and passes it wide! Name on the trophy!
PENALTY LIVERPOOL!
The initial ball in is headed up, then as Jota takes the loose ball away from goal, Holding dives in unnecessarily, Jota goes down, and that’s a penalty. A soft penalty but a penalty nonetheless, and what on earth are we seeing here! Ramsdale, though, is the kind of lucky keeper who saves these…
52 min Liverpool’s pressure yields a corner down the left, they surround Ramsdale, and here comes the cross…
50 min Liverpool are moving the ball nicely now, probing for holes as Arsenal try closing them. It’s games like this that remind us why “our league” is so dominant in world football, and why so many bad people want to trap it.
49 min Konate rattles Xhaka taking ball and man, and this is boiling up beautifully. Stand by for more EVERYTHING that NO ONE (apart from everyone) wants to see.
47 min Apparently, Robertson was raging in the tunnel at half-time, saying he’d been elbowed in the throat – and he’s right, he was – then we see the lino enjoying a smile. I’m afraid he probably won’t be smiling tomorrow, because I can’t see how he gets away with that. I guess what’s surprising, though, is that stuff like that doesn’t happen more often, the stick the officials are subjected to, but Robertson wasn’t especially aggressive, I don’t think.
46 min Martinelli again opens the half with a stretch down the left, slowing up Alexander-Arnold, breezing by, and cutting into the box. Nothing comes of it, but it’s a reminder that he has the beating of his man.
46 min We go again!
As the players went off for half-time, the lineman elbowed Andy Robertson!
He went after him as they left the pitch, said what he said, and the lino stuck one on his throat! I don’t know if he meant it as a shrug – if I’m honest, it didn’t look like he did – but that wasn’t how it came over, and he’s done well not to be sent off. Were he a player, he’d be gone.
“Feels like an awfully long time ago that Salah was skinning David Luiz at will,” writes Matt Dony. “Ah well. Could be some fun away days in the Europa Conference. (Which is hopeful in itself!)”
Yup, any Liverpool matchgoers jaded by the repetitive nature of the Champions League are in luck.
Half-time email: “I am genuinely mystified with the way Van Dijk defends,” says Niall O’Keefe. “He stands off at least three yards with his hands behind his back; good example was recently against Man City. All well and good outside the box but not around the penalty area. Poor again so far today. We can talk about injuries to excuse him but then I remember Paul McGrath. Aged 34 in the 1994 World Cup and superb against Italy. Aged 34-37 for Villa. Again a warrior and excellent timing for tackles. I think VVD should have a hard look in the mirror as is he is not up for it.”
In fairness, the game is a lot quicker now, especially than what we watched in the heat of USA 94. I agree that McGrath was brilliant, but he was playing in a more defensive team playing much deeper.
I mentioned earlier that Arsenal were acting suspiciously like the Glipton Giants. Here’s what they’ve been up to:
Phew! For 40 minutes, this was a mismatch, but Xhaka xhakad, Liverpool found a route back into things, and now we’ve a chaotic ruck that is the only kind of game they can win. I cannot wait for the second half and the good news is it’ll be along in roughly 15 minutes. Buckle up, mates!