While the Premier League champions were away at the Club World Cup, their main rivals all dropped points back at home
So this is Christmas, and the Premier League title race is far from done. Another year is almost over, but in terms of who will go on and lift the trophy at the end of the campaign, this battle has just begun. War, in English footballing terms, is far from over.
As Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool players sit down to presumably eat some kind of turkey pasta on Monday (), they will likely still be mulling over this missed opportunity to take a real grip of the title race. The Reds went into back-to-back home games, albeit against Manchester United and Arsenal, knowing that two wins would have put them at least two points clear of the chasing pack, and nine ahead of Manchester City. Instead, two draws in which they defended well but were awful in attack means they now sit second.
Instead, it is Arsenal who can claim to be the league's Christmas number one, and though they too will feel like their failure to win on Saturday is a missed opportunity, they at least know that Anfield can be crossed off for another season, with this a rare occasion where Mikel Arteta's squad didn't put in a performance on Merseyside that would have warranted a lump of coal in their collective stockings.
The 1-1 draw that Liverpool and Arsenal played out as Mohamed Salah cancelled out Gabriel Magalhaes' opener was, however, the perfect Christmas gift for the man who already has it all: Pep Guardiola. Despite the high winds caused by Storm Pia likely leading to some anxiety as he and the City squad boarded their flight back from Saudi Arabia, the Catalan coach will have afforded himself a smile when he saw this result. Santa brought him just what he wanted – now he and his team must make the most of this title-race reprieve.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from Anfield…
Getty ImagesWINNER: The centre-backs
Saturday's clash at Anfield was billed as a meeting between the two most fearsome forward lines in the Premier League, but if that was meant as a challenge to the two defences, then both stepped up superbly to ensure big chances were at a premium.
For Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk oozed calmness while all around him took part in a chaotic encounter as he casually headed dangerous high balls away and drove pinpoint diagonal passes in a bid to launch attacks. Alongside him, Ibrahima Konate could potentially have done better to track Gabriel for the Arsenal goal and did have a couple of scary moments under the high ball on a blustery night at Anfield, but on the whole the Frenchman was outstanding.
He regularly raced across to cover the space left by Trent Alexander-Arnold as the right-back edged into midfield, making a number of key tackles on Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli, while he also made some key blocks late on as Arsenal pushed for a winner.
At the other end, William Saliba was as imperious as always as he pushed Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz around, while Gabriel followed up opening the scoring by making a number of key headers from dangerous crosses into the box and stood up well to Salah as he moved centrally.
As well as the best attacks, these two teams also possess the two best centre-backs in the division, and both Van Dijk and Saliba – as well as their respective partners – put on a masterclass here.
AdvertisementGettyLOSER: The left-backs
If those in the middle of the two defences had excellent nights, then those who started on the left of the two backlines had evenings they would rather move on from quite quickly.
For Liverpool, Kostas Tsimikas did little wrong in terms of his performance as he went up against Bukayo Saka. Rather, his was a night to forget as it ended with him having to make his way to hospital after suffering a freak collarbone injury that looks set to sideline him for some time.
The injury occurred around 10 minutes before half-time when the Greece international was outmuscled by Saka by the touchline and went hurtling into the Liverpool technical area, taking out Jurgen Klopp at the knees in the process. Whether Tsimikas hurt himself in his original landing or when he collided with his manager is unknown, but with Andrew Robertson still working his way back from a shoulder injury of his own, the Reds could have done without losing their most capable stand-in ahead of a busy run of fixtures.
On the Arsenal side, Oleksandr Zinchenko did not cover himself in glory, especially from a defensive point of view. The Ukrainian seemed unsure of his positioning when Liverpool attacked, and his failure to show Salah down the line led directly to Liverpool's Egyptian star netting the equalising goal.
The former Manchester City man's night could have been made even worse had Trent Alexander-Arnold's effort that hit the crossbar instead gone in, as it was Zinchenko who took out Martin Odegaard on the edge of the Liverpool box and in turn offered the home side the perfect counter-attacking opportunity.
Getty ImagesWINNER: Martin Odegaard
This wasn't Odegaard's best game by any means, but he will leave it feeling mighty relieved after he escaped giving away what might have been a game-changing penalty when Liverpool felt he had handled the ball inside the box.
The incident occurred in the first half, as a free-kick deflected to the edge of the area, where Odegaard was marking Salah. The Gunners captain seemed to slip as Salah looked to turn him, and the ball clearly struck the Norwegian's hand as he put it towards the floor in a bid to regain his balance.
Every replay made the incident look worse from an Arsenal point of view, but the VAR decided that on-field referee Chris Kavanagh did not make a clear and obvious wrong decision when not awarding the penalty. A sigh of relief for Arsenal fans everywhere, and especially Odegaard.
Getty ImagesLOSER: Liverpool's frontline
It's gone somewhat unnoticed given that it hasn't massively impacted their results, but Liverpool have a problem with their forward line. Since the November international break ended, only two of the Reds' 10 league goals have been scored by their out-and-out attackers, with those coming from Salah, albeit his effort at Crystal Palace was heavily deflected.
Darwin Nunez, who came off the bench in this one, has now gone 12 games without finding the net, while Cody Gakpo hasn't scored in the league since September, and Luis Diaz has bagged just once at domestic level since his goals in the opening two games of the campaign.
The injury that has ruled Diogo Jota out of action since the end of November hasn't helped either, and nor has the drop-off in form of Dominik Szoboszlai, the Reds' most creative midfielder who is struggling to impact games after his own hot streak to kick-off his Liverpool career.
Regardless of the make-up of the Liverpool front three in recent weeks, they have lacked any kind of cohesion, and too often attacks fizzle out because a player's touch is too heavy or the wrong pass is attempted. It was the same story against Arsenal, with Salah just as guilty of poor play despite him netting the equaliser with a stunning strike.
It's not a problem that is going to be fixed by a January signing, with Klopp likely reluctant to add further competition for places to such a high-quality group. Instead, the onus is on these established superstars to find their best form once again. It could be the difference between winning the title or quickly becoming an also-ran.
