Arsenal lose title advantage as Liverpool stage remarkable comeback – 7 talking points

LIVERPOOL 2-2 ARSENAL: Roberto Firmino emerges with a late equalizer to rob the Gunners of an eighth straight Premier League victory as Mikel Arteta’s side give up a two-goal lead

Roberto Firmino scored a late equalizer as Liverpool fell by two goals behind to hold Arsenal to a potentially damaging draw in their quest for the Premier League title.

The Gunners had not won at home to Liverpool in the Premier League since 2012 and Firmino’s 87th-minute header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross broke their hearts. Mikel Arteta’s side were looking for an eighth consecutive victory to restore their eight-point lead at the summit after Manchester City closed the gap by beating Southampton 4-1, but that was not to be the case.

Arsenal came out of the blocks with real pace and took a deserved lead when Virgil van Dijk accidentally sent a pass from Martin Odegaard on Gabriel Martinelli’s run which passed Alisson. Andy Robertson missed a good chance before Gabriel Jesus made it 2-0 and got between Robertson and Van Dijk to nod Martinelli.

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The crowd at Anfield got into motion after some heated incidents and Liverpool went 2-1 at the break after Mohamed Salah came on after a throw-in from Jordan Henderson at the back post. Salah should have made it 2-2 in the second half, but put his penalty wide wide after Rob Holding knocked Diogo Jota down in the box.

Darwin Nunez missed a one-on-one chance with Aaron Ramsdale after a through ball from Salah, but it didn’t matter. Alexander-Arnold beat Oleksandr Zinchenko and set up a perfect cross for Firmino who headed in at the far post.

Rturned around Salah’s effort and held off Ibrahima Konate from close range to give Arsenal a point who failed to use a late counter-attack.

Here are Mirror Football talking points from an exciting, incident-filled blockbuster match at Anfield.

Trent gets adventurous

Trent Alexander-Arnold occasionally moves into midfield (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

The discussion of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move to midfield is so old and stale that it has become extremely boring. But perhaps not for Jurgen Klopp, who has decided to put the classic pub argument against Arsenal to the test.