Liverpool and Arsenal played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Emirates. James Milner opened the scoring in the second half but the Reds could not hold out for the win as Alexandre Lacazette swivelled to score past Alisson.
The draw kept us at the top of the table until Chelsea and Manchester City played their games on Sunday.
Arsenal were full value for their point and could have gotten more, but we had a number of quality chances that fell to the wrong man.
The Reds will prepare for an important Champions League clash against Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday and before that, here are the five talking points from the Emirates.
1) Alisson’s worst game for the Reds
Alisson joined Liverpool for a then world record fee and has been a quality signing. However, this was his worst performance for the Reds.
The Brazilian was caught out a number of times and was lucky not to concede when he missed the ball and a header went wide.
The keeper did not look confident during a few crosses too, and was partly responsible for the goal we conceded.
Our defence was ripped a number of times by the Gunners, and Alisson did just about enough to keep them at bay. We can give him a pass as this wasn’t his best game, but cannot have too many repeat performances like this.
2) James Milner keeps on going
Milner seems to be the man for the moment at Liverpool. The Englishman was at the right place, at the right time, as he calmly slotted the ball past Bernd Leno to give us the lead.
The Englishman is a fighter, something we need in our midfield, and this was his 50th Premier League goal.
He did suffer a nasty injury late on, and after receiving lengthy treatment, he marched on like a soldier. Jordan Henderson might have been missed in this game, but there really was no one better than Milner to lead us wearing that armband.
3) Trent Alexander-Arnold needs to learn
Jurgen Klopp decided to play with Joe Gomez as the right-back in our draw against Manchester City, and although the Englishman wasn’t great in attack, he cut out the threat from City’s right side.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was played on Saturday, and Arsenal did a number on the youngster.
Time and again, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ran past the English youngster, and it was a miracle he didn’t score against us.
The English youngster needs to get better after his stellar season last time around, and unless he gets better, we will see more of Gomez in the right side of the back four.
4) What happened to the midfield domination?
Playing with a trio of Fabinho, Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum should have helped us dominate the Arsenal midfield.
However, the Gunners were the ones calling the shots in midfield and having a real go at our defence. Fabinho didn’t look all that comfortable playing against the likes of Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil.
Milner was his usual self in midfield while Wijnaldum was missing throughout the game.
Klopp made a formation change in the second half which helped us cut out the Arsenal threat, but the Gunners were better in the battle of the midfields.
5) Unlucky Virgil van Dijk
Van Dijk must be thinking what he must do to score a Premier League goal for Liverpool. The Dutch defender scored on his debut against Everton in the FA Cup last season and had three quality chances to get the ball into the net.
Bernd Leno brilliantly saved twice and the Dutch defender hit the post once. We can only imagine what could have been had one of our strikers gotten the chances that Van Dijk had.
Read more: James Milner laments Liverpool’s lack of ruthlessness after 1-1 Arsenal draw
Hopefully, the Dutch defender can score soon and break his Premier League duck for the Reds.
