A relentlessly determined Arsenal fought back from two goals down at Anfield to rescue a draw against now 20 times Premier League Champions Liverpool. The Gunners put on a dashing display of football in the second half witnessing them grab two goals where by full-time they’d drawn 2-2 with Arne Slot’s side.
So far Mikel Arteta’s Gunner’s are one of the few sides this season to go undefeated against The Merseysider’s, following an earlier 2-2 draw back in October 2024 at The Emirates, which saw Arsenal bitterly lose the lead twice.
The first half – Liverpool 2-0 Arsenal
Yesterday The North Londoner’s didn’t have a choice of winning against an indomitable Liverpool who could’ve forced them to one side in the opening 45 indefinitely.After a slow start from Arsenal, Liverpool grabbed two quick goals inside the space of a minute to nearly kill off the game.
Cody Gakpo flew in a devastating header to get the scoring underway from close range, making the most of an Andrew Robertson cross whipped in from the left flank (20’).
Within moments of the Dutch’s thunderbolt The Red’s had made it two effortlessly and it looked like Arsenal were down and out for the rest of the dual.
After missing a chance earlier on, Luis Diaz made amends, sliding in surely one of the easiest of goals in his career inside the five yard box catching out David Raya who was off his line (21’).
The second half – Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal
Early on in the second half The Arsenal got their artillery firing at last. Inside the 47th minute Leandro Trossard delivered an unstoppable cross into the box to Gabriel Martinelli who nodded the ball into the far side of goal with ease. The much awaited strike confirmed Arsenal had commenced their comeback against Liverpool who would be dealt a blow in the final 20 minutes of the game.
After Martin Odegaard impressively whacked the woodwork from outside the box, the ball bounced back down for Mikel Merino to head in his ninth strike of the campaign and the decisive goal of the encounter (70’).
Summary
After the match Arteta admitted to the press that Arsenal have been hit and miss against Liverpool all season. The Spaniard stated: ”When I look back to the 2-2 game at home and we should have probably won it, probably. I think we should have won it and today we should have lost, and it could have been three or four.”
A gracious point has been rescued for The Gunners when in recent times they’ve lacked the authority and goalscoring prowess in matches. Arsenal proved that despite being 15 points adrift of the league champions at the top of the table, they’re not as far off of them in terms of quality and performance as it looks.
The Gunners highlighted how vulnerable Liverpool were defensively and how they struggled to get back from attacking positions to hold their own in their own box. Whatever Arsenal lacked in the opening 45 minutes they certainly made up for in the second period with unwavering belief and sudden confidence in the final third which feels like a far cry from recent performances.
The Gunners scored more goals against Liverpool in 23 minutes than they did in almost 200 minutes against PSG (1) during their Champions League semi-finals falter.
Many could claim that if Odegaard wasn’t on form we would’ve lost instead of drawn yesterday against Liverpool, but whatever way the wind blows there’s no denying Arsenal’s willpower.
Arsenal must focus on not dropping anymore points in their final two games so that they don’t slip up and concede second place to Manchester City below, who have been catching The Gunner’s up.
Liam Harding
_________________________________________________________________________________
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us here…
Anyone taking anything at all from this end of season game that lacked any kind of intensity knows nothing about football. Liverpool have been on the beach since they won the title and Arsenal didnt look interested first half either.
I must admit I do sometimes wonder on reading certain articles on here. I don’t really see how you can gage from the game yesterday how near or far we are from Liverpool.
Lets face it, in the first half Liverpool were the better team and they were at the level you’d expect from them.
Arsenal on the other hand weren’t at the races in that first half. In the second Half they finally arrived and performed better, but in truth after their first half performance that wasn’t saying much.
But lets also be real here shall we. Liverpool took their foot off the gas so to speak. With the title already sown up, there wasn’t any real need for them to over excerpt themselves was there.
So to come up with an article to make ourselves feel better so to speak, doesn’t really tell us anything in the long does it.
Yeah I agree
Why I went for a draw as I sensed it would have that end of season feel about it
Same reason I thought they would lose to Chelsea
We are way behind Liverpool, they won the league in a canter, end of. We saw the good and the bad in spades yesterday to highlight why we are behind.
The game didn’t mean anything to both teams, especially Liverpool, so you cannot gage anything from it, other than Arsenal showing a lot of character and mental strength to get something from the game.
An old version of Arsenal would have easily lost that 4 or 5 nil, given 2 goals in a minute and a red card, but we do not fold anymore. Which is great to see, albeit in nothing game.
The game definitely meant something to Arsenal as we need points still so your statement is simply false Thirdman
The game was huge for us?????
Are we still going down the Third Man JW tack? Does it matter? As long as he/she/they don’t start up on conspiracy theories as happened during Covid then have I missed something?
I agree Sue, those conspiracy theories from the governments and media were horrendous!
Friend of mine, and 3 of my patients seriously injured because of the “safe” shot, and 2 people I know lost their businesses thanks to the lockdowns. Horrible time, and no one held accountable.
I smell a rat
No conspiracy theories please
I don’t get it Sue. What’s the point of multiple accounts?
???
Apparently I am this 3rdmanjw plus I think 3 or 4 other people 🙂
Lucky Old You.😏 I don’t see the point though.
Because his other 3 accounts have been banned , conspiracy nut job .
What’s even worse is him pretending to be someone else .
I can smell his posts a mile off .
Surely admin can use IP recognition to identify multiple accounts. Other blogs use it track banned commenters..
VPN
Easy
Yeah true. If he’s into conspiracy stuff he’d be better off on Untold, they love all that BS on there.
But try and disprove anything he says Jax, you’ll find it hard to argue with them.
I used to spend a lot of time on there and the work he puts in is incredible.
Ken, he banned me for calling him out over his regular targeting of Amy Lawrence.
I’m……….batman lol !! 😂
😂
@PJ-SA
I forget it’s difficult to convey tone. Definitely was a meaningless game for them, but it had a little meaning to us. Overall, not a lot riding on the game.
And unless you’re blind, it’s Lucy78. So your statement is simply false
Lucy78, of course it meant something to us – we’re fighting for second place pride and money, a marker for next season and CL qualification!!
Why on earth rare you saying it didn’t matter to us?!
Mate it’s not literally doesn’t matter but it’s not the end of the world had we lost
2nd or 5th outside of banter it doesn’t really matter
Certainly not important to Liverpool
Oh but it does Dan!!
You would be on here like a ton of hot bricks, pointing out that we have digressed from second, lost money on the placings and it’s all down to the manager!! 😂
The pundit is wrong, Arsenal is on par with Liverpool if not better, one could argue with a little more experience, man management and luck Arsenal win the league on a canter.
Drawing so many games from winning position tells you something had gone drastically wrong.
How Arsenal dismissed quality opposition in erupe elite competition to reach the semifinals is no easy feat, hopefully the gaffer will be better for the experience.
Just another way of saying that MA and the players deserve no praise for fighting back away from home to the new PL champions 🤔Of course it meant something to both clubs, that’s why pool went mad after scoring two goals in as many minutes.
They wanted to set out a marker for next season and we denied them that, even without Rice, Timber, Gabriel, Havertz and Tomiyasu to choose from, while playing with ten men.
Keep on putting the club you, supposedly, support down… you know it makes sense!👍😂
We could have scored two before Liverpool could get one but luck and clash of intentions meant we could not. Kudos to the boys for showing character and getting something from the game. That Liverpool side got nothing on us, had we got our squad all active and firing. Interesting to see what they will do next season, I’d be surprised if we don’t finish above them next season.
You’ve said the last 2 seasons that we will win the EPL and still argued with everyone about that saying we are the best by far.
Where’s our EPL trophy?
All I can say is Vamos is not Mystic Meg🤣
Never claimed I am?
There 15 points clear
Must have something on us even if it’s a smidge lol
I clearly stated the conditions that would have prove they got nothing on us didn’t I? We got more points than what got them the title in the previous seasons. So yeah, we replicate our previous seasons form we outshine them.
Vamos, I remember you, Loose Cannon and a few others telling those of us who questioned Mikel Arteta, that he would bring trophies to us.
Now, I’m not one who judges on trophies alone, but if I get something wrong, I don’t make it worse by pretending it never happened!!
Yeah I said it and stand by it, though we failed to win the title (again) but I’m still confident we will under the current management.
There are some fans here who have just decided not to see anything good about Arsenal its football this season.
They are those who were predicting a 10 – 0 spanking from the way the first half went. Now their prediction was turned on head, they are now saying the match didn’t mean anything to Liverpool, bla bla
Shame.
Can I ask and this is out of interest what good you have seen from our football mate ?
Generally asking , as I don’t think it’s been as it was like the last two years ?
Well Dan, it’s been good to see us into the semi finals of the CL, beating the favourites home and away, holding second place in the PL with just two games to play, achieving this while watching our players fall by the wayside injury after injury was certainly nerve wracking.
Can we improve?
Of course we can and it’s up to the club to make it happen.
Already looking forward to the new season and the summer transfer market.
Yeah 2nd isn’t that impressive to me just based on how far away we are
Agree though mate a huge summer ahead
What were you expecting given a colossal injury crisis, 6 red cards, 7 games in total ending with a man less, all decisive, no striker for almost half a season, best attacker out for 4 months, against an experienced team that have won everything at club level, and nowhere near the same issues with player availability?
Another 3 injured and a another red card against LIverpool, but let me guess…Arteta’s fault?
The truth?
I don’t blame Arteta , I blame the owners for not helping in January
Saying that I did expect more then 5 wins in 13 League games since the window closed . We need to stop pretending that is okay
As for the red cards , we do not get a free pass for getting red cards.
That’s simply a consequence of poor defending choices
That is the fault of Rice , Trossard , Saliba , Skelley and Merino