Mikel Arteta: 'Liverpool draw was one of the most intense games I have seen'
Owing to Aston Villa's failure to beat Sheffield United on Friday evening, the North London giants travelled to Anfield clinging onto top spot in the Premier League table, one point above the Lions and third-placed Liverpool.
Not since Arteta's playing heyday had Arsenal won a Premier League fixture at Anfield, when Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla were on target in a 2-0 success in September 2012, and the Gunners had thrown away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 on the Reds' turf at the back end of last season.
Arteta's men were on course to end that hoodoo after just four minutes, as Gabriel Magalhaes peeled away from Ibrahima Konate and headed home from Martin Odegaard's inswinging free kick, making history with Arsenal's earliest-ever Premier League goal at Anfield.
The Gunners' lead was wiped out just before the half-hour mark, though, as Mohamed Salah beat Oleksandr Zinchenko far too easily on the right-hand side, cutting onto his favoured left foot and leaving David Raya with no chance as he fired home into the roof of the net.
Prior to Saturday's game, Klopp had criticised the Anfield crowd for failing to bring the atmosphere in their EFL Cup thrashing of West Ham United in midweek, but there was no shortage of emotion from the home faithful on Saturday, as the two title rivals served up a frenetic but evenly-matched 90 minutes.
Both sides were guilty of poor final balls in the end-to-end battle, but Arsenal survived a couple of heart-in-mouth moments, as Odegaard escaped giving away a penalty for handball while a five-on-one
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