Premier League giants Arsenal and Liverpool played out a 3-3 draw in an exhilarating Premier League tie at the Emirates Stadium on Friday with both teams culpable of major defensive lapses.
Liverpool were leading 1-0 at half-time, a surprise considering their dominance in the first-half, and would double their lead soon into the second-half via Mohamed Salah but what followed after is set to become part of Premier League lore.
Arsenal scored three goals in quick succession, inside five minutes to be exact, helped by some lackadaisical Liverpool defending and calamitous goalkeeping from Simon Mignolet.
First, Alexis Sanchez reduced the deficit in the 53rd minute with a close-ranger header and then, Granit Xhaka beat Mignolet from distance three minutes later despite his shot coming fairly close to the Belgian shot-stopper.
Mesut Ozil, who had until then been on the peripheries of the tie, then completed a remarkable turnaround two minutes before the hour-mark with an exquisite finish to cap off a fine team move.
Liverpool were shellshocked and while they tried their best to mount a response, the Reds weren’t helped by the fact that star winger Sadio Mane was having a rare off-day.
Arsenal have not been particularly impressive at the back but Liverpool scored an equaliser thanks to a gaffe from the normally-redoubtable Petr Cech. Roberto Firmino took a shot from inside the box and while Cech got a hand to it, the ball managed to trickle into the net, much to the disbelief of his teammates.
At 3-3, with 19 minutes left in the tie, not many would have predicted that there would be no more goals but that’s how it panned out, with both sides forcing to settle for a point.
Liverpool remain in fourth place with the result, but third-placed Chelsea can open up a six-point gap if they manage to beat Everton on Saturday.
For Arsneal, despite coming back strongly in the second-half, the result will feel more like two points dropped than a point gained for not only have they failed to overhaul the Reds in the Premier Leauge table, they could slip to sixth if the Burnley-Tottenham Hotspur game on Saturday doesn’t end in a draw.