Arsenal 3-3 Liverpool: Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil score three goals in five minutes but Roberto Firmino strike spoils Christmas comeback
- Philippe Coutinho broke the deadlock with his first headed goal for Liverpool to send his side into the lead
- Mohamed Salah benefits from Shkodran Mustafi deflection to make it 2-0 to Liverpool early in the second half
- Alexis Sanchez scores header just a minute later before Granit Xhaka brought the game back on level terms
- Mesut Ozil completed a remarkable turnaround with Arsenal's third goal in just five second-half minutes
- Roberto Firmino equalised after he was left unmarked by Arsenal's defence, but Petr Cech should've saved it
Whatever happens over the next fourteen days of holiday football, it may just be that we have already witnessed the highlight. This was as good as it gets at the Emirates. Raise a glass to the Premier League, it rarely fails us when it really matters.
Yes, this game was full of holes and full of imperfections. In the Sky studios, they could have huffed and puffed and pushed gadgets and gizmos sternly around electronic screens all night.
The defending was lousy, the goalkeeping occasionally even worse and to watch both teams attack was at times like witnessing a lorry careering down the street with the driver asleep at the wheel.
Mesut Ozil celebrates after scoring Arsenal's third goal in the space of five minutes to turn a two-goal deficit around
Alexis Sanchez began the comeback with a close-range header after beating Liverpool defender Joe Gomez to a cross
Granit Xhaka brought the game back on level terms two minutes later with a trademark thunderous long-range effort
Ozil put Arsenal 3-2 ahead after finishing a well worked move by chipping the ball over Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet
Philippe Coutinho points to his head after using it to score for the first time in his Liverpool career and put them 1-0 ahead
Mohamed Salah runs away with his arms aloft as Petr Cech looks dejected after the Egyptian put Liverpool 2-0 ahead
Roberto Firmino brought Liverpool back on level terms after Arsenal players left him free on the edge of their penalty area
MATCH FACTS, PLAYER RATINGS AND MATCH ZONE
Arsenal (4-3-3): Cech; Bellerin, Koscielny, Monreal (Mustafi 46), Maitland-Niles; Wilshere, Xhaka, Ozil; Iwobi (Welbeck 78), Lacazette, Sanchez (Walcott 89).
Subs not used: Ospina, Kolasinac, Elneny, Coquelin.
Bookings: Iwobi.
Goals: Sanchez 53, Xhaka 56, Ozil 58.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Mignolet; Gomez, Lovren, Klavan, Robertson; Can, Henderson (Milner 11), Coutinho (Oxlade-Chamberlain 84); Salah, Firmino, Mane (Wijnaldum 80).
Subs not used: Karius, Alexander-Arnold, Lallana, Solanke.
Goals: Coutinho 26, Salah 52, Firmino 71.
Referee: Martin Atkinson.
Attendance: 59,409
Coutinho broke the deadlock with a lobbed header over Peter Cech. For more from Match Zone, click HERE.
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But in terms of the entertainment, excitement, glory and drama of it, this was the type of game that keeps people awake at night for all the right reasons.
When Manchester United came here and won 3-1 earlier this month, we thought we had seen the most dramatic and eventful game of the season. This one probably topped it.
Liverpool should have won it. They were the better team for two-thirds of the game. But then, incredibly, Arsenal could have won it on the back of three goals in five breathless second-half minutes.
In the end, nobody was good enough to win it and that felt about right. Neither of these teams are consistently capable to bother the scorers at the very top of the table but on nights like this we could watch them until they turn the floodlights off.
Neither manager will be particularly happy. How could they be?
This wasn't grown-up football. It was straight from the schoolyard. For example, Arsenal's attempts to close the game down after they somehow scrambled into the lead seemed to consist of piling bodies forward and hoping it would work.
Unsurprisingly, it didn't.
Liverpool, on the other hand, never really look secure until they are four goals clear. If that sounds like an exaggeration, it isn't.
Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp greet one another on the touchline ahead of the Premier League match on Friday night
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain takes a familiar place on the Emirates substitutes bench with his new club Liverpool
Jordan Henderson of Liverpool goes down injured with a hamstring injury as Martin Atkinson waves on the Liverpool physio
James Milner talks to Liverpool manager Klopp and puts on the captain's armband as he prepares to replace Henderson
Recent results between these teams had been one-sided enough to suggest that Arsenal had grown phobic of playing Liverpool. Certainly the home team's first-half performance suggested so.
For the first 50 minutes Liverpool were superior in every way. Arsenal could not keep the ball long enough to worry them at one end and when Liverpool broke forward the home team were so fecklessly disorganised it was almost pitiful.
Liverpool should have been ahead early. Roberto Firmino missed two headed chances before Philippe Coutinho scored in the 26th minute.
Substitute James Milner – on early for Jordan Henderson – sent Mo Salah away down the right and when the Egyptian's cross was deflected in to the air, Coutinho was able to nod it over goalkeeper Petr Cech and in to the net.
A goal up, Liverpool looked hungry and Arsenal disparate. Wenger's team were sporadically dangerous on the break but without the ball they were drowning.
Liverpool wasted two great opportunities right before half-time and Salah was guilty both times but as Arsenal began the second period as they had played the first, they were breached again. Firmino worked wonderfully to play Salah in for a shot that took a deflection off Shkodran Mustafi on the way in.
Coutinho took advantage of Cech coming off his line and cleverly lobbed his header over the goalkeepers head to score
Liverpool players celebrate together after Coutinho gives them a deserved lead midway through the first half in north London
Salah doubles Liverpool's advantage after his curved effort takes a deflection off an Arsenal defender and finds the corner
Salah celebrates after scoring Liverpool's second goal of the game and his 15th of the Premier League season
Arsenal stars Ozil and Xhaka look dejected as they prepare to restart the match following Liverpool's opening goal
Arsenal goalkeeper Cech previously denied Salah from close range to keep Liverpool just one goal in front in the first half
Sadio Mane attempts to score the deflected save with an acrobatic effort, but it goes over the post to keep the score at 1-0
Metaphorically, Arsenal were on their knees. There was a meekness about them that was quite startling and this was reflected by a darkening of the mood in the stands.
But a goal almost immediately after Salah's strike acted like an adrenaline shot for Arsenal and suddenly and most unexpectedly we were catapulted in to the middle of the game of the season like blindfolded riders on a roller coaster.
Alexis Sanchez – hitherto anonymous – scored Arsenal's first in the 53rd minute but it was Liverpool defender Joe Gomez who played the greater part. Alexandre Lacazettes' cross was decent enough but Gomez had a yard and a half on Sanchez and only the youngster's inexplicable hesitation allowed the Chilean to dive and head between Simon Mignolet's legs.
So Arsenal suddenly had a sniff and two minutes later they had a proper scent of the impossible in their nostrils as Granit Xhaka advanced to drive a 25-yard shot through the middle of Mignolet's porous defences.
Klopp had warned of the danger posed by Swiss player beforehand but maybe Mignolet wasn't listening. He could have saved the strike with two hands but chose to use just one and managed only to divert the path of the ball up into the roof of the net.
It was a dreadful moment for Mignolet and it remains to be seen if Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp begins to see what everyone else has been staring at for months. His goalkeeper isn't good enough.
Sanchez began the comeback after heading home Hector Bellerin's cross from close range in the Liverpool box
Xhaka brought the game back on level terms with a thunderous long-range effort just minutes after Sanchez's goal
Liverpool's Belgian goalkeeper Simon Mignolet failed to stop Xhaka's shot despite getting a firm hand to it in the process
Ozil scored Arsenal's third goal in five minutes to put them into the lead and spark huge celebrations at the Emirates Stadium
Ozil celebrates with Alexandre Laczette, who provided the assist for his goal with a deft back heel, after scoring
Arsenal players celebrate in front of television cameras after completing a remarkable turnaround in just five minutes of play
With the Emirates now alive, Arsenal came at Liverpool like a river in spate. On the touchline, Klopp was frantic simply because he could see what was coming. Arsenal's third goal was beautiful – Lacazette combining wonderfully with Mesut Ozil for the German to lift the ball pover Mignolet – and it should have given them a platform to achieve something quite special.
But with more than half an hour left there was always likely to be a chance for to Liverpool to escape with their dignity. Arsenal made no attempt to lock the door – they lost the key some time ago – and when Firmino drove a shot in to the goal off Cech's hand from the edge of the penalty area nobody could say they were surprised.
With 20 minutes still to play, the only real winners were going to be the bookies. By this stage it was impossible to predict the next act.
Liverpool probably shaded the closing stages and could have won it when Salah shot through a crowd and in to the side netting in the 90th minute.
Still, though, there was time for Ozil to totally miscue a cross that then dropped from the sky towards Mignolet's top corner. If the Belgian had complete confidence in his ability to prevent it going in then, really, he was the only one.
Firmino brought the game back to level terms after Arsenal goalkeeper Cech failed to stop his shot from going into the net
Coutinho congratulates Firmino on his goal as Liverpool run back to their own half to restart the game after pulling level
Cech shouts in frustration after he fails to save a shot from Firmino, which brought Liverpool back on level terms in the tie
Oxlade-Chamberlain comes off the bench to a chorus of boos from the Arsenal fans as he replaces Coutinho late on
Danny Welbeck almost pounces on a spilled ball from Mignolet in the closing minutes of the second half, but he recovers
Oxlade-Chamberlain and Bellerin share an embrace following the full-time whistle, which saw their teams share the points
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5207011/Arsenal-3-3-Liverpool-Roberto-Firmino-spoils-comeback.html#ixzz524gfqfXZ
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