Arsenal make their Anfield point to stay Christmas number one
Premier League: Liverpool 1 Arsenal 1
ARSENAL won the battle to be Christmas number one, thanks to Gabriel Jesus’s early opener, but Liverpool’s fightback underlined how thrilling the Premier League title race should be in 2024.
A draw was enough to keep Mikel Arteta’s team in first place for the festive period although Mo Salah’s equaliser brought Liverpool a deserved equaliser which might have led to more.
Instead, Jurgen Klopp remains just a point behind the leaders, and surprise title contenders Aston Villa who are level on points with the Gunners.
And with Tottenham lurking and, of course, Manchester City still in the frame, the state of the competition at the top of the Premier League has, arguably, never been tighter.
The game did not fail to live up to the pre-match hype, with Arsenal making an electrifying start; Bukayo Saka forcing Alisson into a save inside 30 seconds and Jesus heading them in front on four minutes.
But Liverpool recovered from the blitz of a start and, after Martin Odegaard was very fortunate to survive a penalty appeal for handball after 19 minutes, the Reds equalised just before the half hour.
It came from a stunning long pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold, which isolated Salah against Oleksandr Zinchenko, a match-up which weighed very heavily in the Liverpool man’s favour.
Salah simply cut into the area, past the terrified defender, and deposited a blistering shot that was so well struck it beat David Raya at his near post.
It was a good response from Klopp’s men after they had looked shaky, at least defensively, in the opening minutes.
That was evident when Odegaard swung over a free-kick and with Cody Gakpo playing the Arsenal forwards onside, Jesus rose to send a brilliant finish past
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