NOBODY can question their bottle.
Jurgen Klopp, ranting, raving, shouting, screaming, panicking on the touchline, can be sure of that.
All seemed lost, throwing away a commanding 2-0 lead when Mesut Ozil scored Arsenal’s third goal in seven crazy, chaotic, second half minutes. Instead they left the Emirates with a point, secured when Roberto Firmino lifted the ball over Petr Cech to make it 3-3.
Somehow, improbably, it felt like a little bit more. Klopp launched his water bottle into the ground, throwing it in to the ground when Firmino fashioned the equaliser. It was a ridiculous, shambolic, entertaining game.
True, Liverpool had been looking so good when the little master Philippe Coutinho scored in the first half and Mo Salah added another at the start of the second. Arsenal were paralysed with fear, wondering whether Liverpool were about to dish out another walloping inside this stadium.
They scored four here at the start of last season. This time, they had to settle for three. Klopp will be happy with that because they showed nerves of steel to bring this back to 3-3 with 19 minutes left on the clock.
Even at that stage, you still fancied someone would go on to score the winner. What is clear, no matter how many times Arsene Wenger or Klopp claim otherwise and point to the stats, is that these two teams cannot defend. Liverpool leave themselves wide open simply because they have too many attacking players - Sadio Mane, Firmino and Coutinho - on the field. Arsenal are just, well, Arsenal.
Back to the beginning, then, when Liverpool put themselves into a commanding position against this flaky, shaky Arsenal defence.
They are a joke back there at times.
Wenger is in denial still, but they allowed Coutinho, Firmino and occasionally Mane to slice them apart whenever the mood took them.
Coutinho, this little master, is loving life.
Philippe Coutinho, destined for greater things when he finally moves to Barcelona at the end of the season, was at his breathtaking best. The trick is to leave them wanting more.
When he plays like this - conducting, calculating, scoring - there are only a few Premier League players equal to him.
His stock is on the rise again, sending a cushioned header beyond Cech when he read Salah’s left-field cross.
The Arsenal keeper, on 199 clean sheets in the Premier League, will have wait a little bit longer to celebrate his double century. This was too easy for Liverpool, with Salah, Firmino, Coutinho and Mane slicing through Arsenal’s midfield at will.
So far so good. Liverpool scored again at the start of the second half, seemingly putting the game beyond Arsenal’s reach when Salah picked his spot.
Arsenal, for once, has other ideas. It was a spectacular seven minute spell, with Arsenal dismantling Liverpool’s defence with their full throttle football.
Made them look like idiots, amateurs, schoolboys.
It is back to the classroom for Liverpool, with a caning from the headmaster after another defensive lapse.
Alexis Sanchez started it off, finally making a mark on this game when he met Hector Bellerin’s stooping cross in the 56th minute.
Suddenly the Emirates sensed something special was on. Arsenal stirred and Liverpool, 12 games unbeaten, started to doubt themselves.
The evil thoughts set in. Liverpool’s defence wobbled, as usual, and Arsenal took full advantage in the minutes that followed.
The fans hate Granit Xhaka, but the manager rates him.
Xhaka, battered by the terrace boo-boys for keeping their favourites out of the side, picked his moment.
He scored a belter, helped by Liverpool’s dud of a keeper Simon Mignolet helping his effort into the net. 2-2. The finishing touch came from Ozil, engineering the one-two with Alexandre Lacazaette before burying the winner beyond Mignolet.
The place was in raptures, with Arsenal fans clambering on to seats, shinning up metal posts and dancing in the stairwells in celebration.
It was an extraordinary comeback, the sort of stirring, intoxicating spell that only comes around once in a while.
Typically, obligingly, Arsenal could not hold on to it.
They had worked so hard for it, cashing in on a season’s luck in this incredible seven minute spell. Liverpool did not give in. They scored, of course they scored again, when Firminho picked his spot just inside the Arsenal area.
It was a dreamy finish, with the ball heading into the back of Cech’s net in slow-motion after he got a hand to it.
By the end they were both hanging on to this game by their fingertips, throwing men forward in a desperate attempt to nick a winner.
Sometimes, even a game is crying out for a winner, a draw is the best outcome for both.
Unquestionably, this was one of them.
From The Sun
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