Arsenal came from two down to rescue a point at Liverpool as they took a step closer to cementing their place in next season’s UEFA Champions League.
The two sides, who have been setting the pace at the summit of the Premier League all season, put on a scintillating affair, with both teams dominating a half each of the 2-2 draw.
The hosts rode the crest of a wave in the first half, scoring a 90-second double salvo, with it seeming that their opponents had been hit hard by their midweek defeat in the Champions League semi-finals by Paris Saint-Germain.
Cody Gakpo opened the scoring with a thumping header just moments after he had wasted a glorious opportunity to square the ball for Mohamed Salah to tap into an empty net, but the Dutchman made amends with a superbly taken finish at the near post.
Just 87 seconds later, Luis Diaz had made it two after Dominik Szoboszlai hared off down the right, sliding the ball across the box for the Colombian to send over the line as Arne Slot’s champions threatened to run riot.
Curtis Jones almost got the third with a low drive that forced David Raya to save on the stretch just before the interval.
Arsenal came out in the second half revitalised, and they had halved the deficit within two minutes as Gabriel Martinelli, who had switched positions with Leandro Trossard to spearhead the visiting attack, glanced into the far corner as he ghosted between the two Liverpool centre-halves to get on the end of Trossard’s inswinger.
The Gunners pushed for an equaliser, and it finally came as captain Martin Odegaard rattled the post from a thunderous long-shot with 20 minutes to play, and Mikel Merino was on hand to stoop lowest and nod home the rebound.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, who announced his departure from Anfield on Monday, was greeted by boos as he replaced Conor Bradley as a substitute, and the England right-back played Merino onside for the equalising goal, with VAR proving the home defence’s protests wrong.
Merino saw red with 10 minutes remaining as he panicked under pressure from Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota, before a final desperate lunge on Szoboszlai earned him his marching orders and pushed The Gunners’ backs against the wall.
Andy Robertson thought he had won the game late on as he forced the ball home after Virgil van Dijk saw his powerful header from a Salah corner repelled by Raya, only for the Scotsman to tap home the rebound, but Ibrahima Konate was deemed to have fouled Myles Lewis-Skelly in the penalty box melee.
So a share of the spoils, which does nothing for Liverpool as the newly crowned champions, but leaves Arteta’s Arsenal with some work left to do to qualify for Europe’s premier competition once more.