Premier League champions Liverpool hosted Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday, where a fun 2-2 draw had four goals, a red card, and a superstar-sized subplot.
MORE — Slot, Van Dijk, Robertson on Alexander-Arnold getting booed
Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold was booed lustily by a portion of Anfield when he came off the bench to make his first appearance since announcing he’d leave the club this summer.
WATCH — Liverpool v Arsenal full match replay
Arsenal came back from a 2-0 deficit but had to hold on for their point after Mikel Merino was sent off with about 11 minutes to play for a second yellow card.
Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo put the Reds ahead with two goals in under 90 seconds in a first half that had Mikel Arteta seething even after Merino and Gabriel Martinelli brought the Gunners level in the second half.
Liverpool finishes the day on 83 points, its advantage over second-place Arsenal stuck at 15.
Arsenal must now look behind itself, as their 68 points are just two more than Week 37 nemesis Newcastle and three clear of Manchester City.
Mikel Arteta could use a vacation
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is a man of high standards, and it’s one of the things that have made Arsenal one of the very top teams in the world. His remarks after Arsenal came back to draw Liverpool 2-2 at Anfield on Sunday, however, showed a man who looks like he’s been stretched to his wits end by a season that’s seen his team miss out on nearly every single one of their goals. His irritability with Arsenal’s first 25 minutes at Anfield was understandable because of how things looked on the field, but the majority of pregame questions around his Gunners were about how the players would respond after bowing out of the UEFA Champions League. Arsenal did allow two goals in 87 seconds but were far from the world’s worst team in a stadium that has only seen two teams emerge victorious this season (Nottingham Forest on Sept. 14 and Paris Saint-Germain on March 11). High standards are great and letting his players have it in the team room is one thing, but the public nature of his remarks came off as alarming and it will be intriguing to monitor how Arsenal performs — and Arteta responds — in Week 37 when Newcastle can pass the Gunners with a win.
Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings
(from fotmob.com)
Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings (from fotmob.com)
Liverpool vs Arsenal player ratings (from fotmob.com)
What’s next?
Arsenal host Newcastle United at 11:30am ET Sunday, a day before Liverpool visit Brighton at 3pm.
Liverpool vs Arsenal final score: 2-2
Cody Gakpo 20', Luis Diaz 21', Gabriel Martinelli 47', Mikel Merino 70'
Liverpool vs Arsenal live updates — by Nick Mendola
Full time — Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal
Points split. Second place is in play.
Foul denies Robertson winner
A late corner kick is in the goal, but Anthony Taylor says there’s a foul in the box.
Ibrahima Konate absolutely mauls Myles Lewis-Skelly before David Raya makes an amazing save and Andy Robertson snaps the ball over the line.
VAR confirms that Taylor made the right call.
Merino sent off!
It’s a second yellow card for the man who scored the equalizer.
He loses the ball and then tries to get away with an ugly dive into the leg of Darwin Nunez.
Arsenal will not have Merino for the last 11 minutes and next week against former club Newcastle.
Mikel Merino goal — Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal (70th minute)
Martin Odegaard slashes a left-footed effort from outside the box, and it’s centimeters from a golazo.
The ball darts off the cross bar to the center of the box, where Mikel Merino’s is first to it with a diving side-header.
Gabriel Martinelli goal — Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal (46th minute)
A bit of pride might’ve joined some halftime home truths in hitting home for the Gunners.
Martinelli is central as he rises to turn a header beyond the reach of Alisson.
Luis Diaz goal (video)! Liverpool 2-0 Arsenal (21st minute)
Cody Gakpo goal (video)! Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal (20th minute)
Two Liverpool goals in two minutes!!
Cody Gakpo pushes one over the line in the 20th minute, then Luis Diaz slides the ball home a minute later.
Arsenal hangover real? Just 87 seconds separate the goals.
Liverpool lineup
Alisson, Robertson, Van Dijk, Konate, Bradley, Gravenberch, Jones, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Salah, Diaz
Arsenal lineup
Raya, White, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly, Partey, Merino, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Trossard
Liverpool vs Arsenal preview — by Joe Prince-Wright
With the title wrapped up, Arne Slot decided to give plenty of fringe players a chance to start in the 3-1 defeat at Chelsea last weekend. Some fared better than others and we are likely to see more of the same against Arsenal. Slot is aiming to see who he can keep around for next season and where Liverpool need to strengthen over the summer. He will get a very good idea of that on Sunday against the team who were the only real contenders for the title this season.
Arsenal head to Anfield feeling low after their 2-1 defeat at PSG (3-1 on aggregate) on Wednesday saw them exit the Champions League at the semifinal stage. Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal were the best team in the Champions League this season, and he might be right. But they came up against a brilliant Gianluigi Donnarumma who made a string of fine saves across the two semifinals and that was the difference. In the Premier League Arsenal have won once in their last five games as their grip on second place is in doubt, and they do need one win from their final three games to secure Champions League qualification. They will also provide Liverpool a guard of honor onto the pitch on Sunday which will hurt the players and Arteta as they’ve come up short in the title race for a third-straight season and this time, mostly due to injuries, it hasn’t been close.
Liverpool team news, focus
We can expect Quansah, Tsimikas, Endo, Elliott, Jones and Jota to start once again as Slot is giving them a chance to prove themselves ahead of a big summer. It’s expected that Liverpool will spend big to strengthen in certain areas and left back, right back, center back and up top are certainly three areas where they can improve. Mohamed Salah is still going for plenty of records and will be desperate to score a couple to set up a big final few games for his stats.
OUT: Joe Gomez (thigh - MORE)
Arsenal team news, focus
It’s very likely Arteta will make plenty of changes after the energy Arsenal used on Wednesday. We should expect Ben White, Kieran Tierney, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leandro Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri and Raheem Sterling to start. Arsenal know they’ll qualify for the Champions League barring a miraculous run of results against them and finishing in second isn’t a big deal. Arteta would rather avoid having some big players like Rice, Saka or Timber being out injured.
OUT: Gabriel Magalhaes (hamstring - MORE), Kai Havertz (hamstring - MORE), Gabriel Jesus (torn ACL - out for season), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee)
Liverpool vs Arsenal prediction
With all of the changes it’s tough to predict how this will go. But it feels like it will be a routine home win and Salah will do the damage. Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal.
How to watch Liverpool vs Arsenal live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 11:30am ET Sunday (May 11)
Venue: Anfield — Liverpool
TV Channel: NBC & Peacock
Streaming: Watch live on NBC.com & Stream live on Peacock
