As the weeks go by, Liverpool is showing the quality and resilience to be Manchester City’s chief Premier League title rival this season.
It has just one loss in 13 games across all competitions so far this season under new manager Arne Slot.
And Liverpool twice came from behind to clinch a 2-2 draw at Arsenal on Sunday, with Mohamed Salah scoring the second equalizer in the 81st minute at Emirates Stadium.
A testing past week has seen the Reds beat Chelsea 2-1 in the league, eke out a 1-0 win in Leipzig in the Champions League, and now battle back for a draw at Arsenal — the other likely challenger for City’s crown.
If Liverpool’s inner belief is growing, then doubts might be increasing about Arsenal’s durability in the title race after finishing runner-up to City for the past two seasons.
The biggest concern might be the list of injuries, to which defenders Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber were added, after they came off in the second half. With defensive lynchpin William Saliba missing through suspension, Arsenal finished the game with a makeshift back four and paid the price, as a long ball forward from Trent Alexander-Arnold found Darwin Nunez, who crossed for Salah to sidefoot home.
It leaves Liverpool in second place, a point behind City, and Arsenal five points off the pace after nine games.
Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka said he and his teammates were a “bit disappointed.”
“We just felt we didn’t show our best selves for the 90 minutes,” said Saka, who, on his return from a hamstring injury, opened the scoring in the ninth minute.
Virgil van Dijk equalized with a header from a corner nine minutes later, only for Spain midfielder Mikel Merino to head in Declan Rice’s freekick to put Arsenal back in front on the stroke of halftime.
Salah’s late equalizer meant he has scored against Arsenal in eight straight seasons and remains Liverpool’s man for the big occasion.
As for Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, he was left to bemoan his team’s lack of “courage” in the second half, as the attacking intent faded and defensive injuries told.
By the end, a midfielder, Thomas Partey, was playing at right back and 18-year-old rookie Myles Lewis-Skelly was at left back.
Arteta said Gabriel, who went down with a left knee injury, “can’t run” and would be assessed.
Ten Hag frustrated
If seeing a player miss an open goal wasn’t bad enough for Erik ten Hag, the Manchester United manager then had to endure the VAR overturning an on-field decision to give a stoppage-time penalty that consigned his team to a 2-1 defeat at West Ham.
Jarrod Bowen converted a highly disputed penalty in the second minute of added time, after a foul by Matthijs de Ligt as United counted the cost of a string of wasted chances, most notably when Diogo Dalot sidefooted over when faced with an empty net in the first half.
“We have to score, we created so many chances,” said Ten Hag, whose United team has lost four of its nine games and is languishing in 14th place in the 20-team league.
Crysencio Summerville put West Ham ahead at London Stadium against the run of play in the 74th minute, before Casemiro equalized for United.
Ten Hag was furious at the awarding of the spot-kick after VAR intervened.
“Before the season, they explained the process of VAR — only when (it is) clear and obvious they should interfere,” said Ten Hag.
“They didn’t do it against Spurs, that was the wrong decision. Now they make a wrong decision by interfering, and both have big impact on the games. I don’t criticize the personnel, I criticize the process.”
Palmer shines
With an exquisite pass and the winning goal, Cole Palmer shone again for Chelsea in a 2-1 victory over Newcastle.
It was the England playmaker’s curling 50-meter pass behind Newcastle’s defense that sent Pedro Neto down the left to set up Nicolas Jackson for Chelsea’s 18th-minute opener.
Alexander Isak equalized, but Palmer drove home his seventh goal of the season in the 47th minute to secure the victory for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. With his five assists, Palmer has a league-leading 12 goal involvements this campaign.
“It is the reason why people pay (to come), they want to see that kind of player,” Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said of Palmer.
Agencies