Second-half goals from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino helped Liverpool beat an in-form Arsenal and cut Manchester City’s lead at the top down to a point, as a result.
Two of the three teams with five wins in their last five Premier League games, Liverpool and Arsenal, faced each other on Wednesday night at the Emirates. A win for Liverpool would’ve cut Manchester City’s lead at the top down to one, while success for Arsenal would’ve secured their position as one of the four Champions League favorites – and it was the former who emerged the happier of the two sides at full-time.
Neither team gave away too much in a tight first-half, but the floodgates opened after the interval. Sadio Mane had the ball in the minute mere seconds following the restart, but his strike was ruled out for a marginal offside. At the other end, Thiago Alcantara gave the ball away to Alexandre Lacazette, who rounded Alisson and laid it on a plate for Martin Odegaard, only for the Liverpool custodian to get back into position and make a superb save.
Liverpool took the lead in the 54th minute as Thiago, making up for his earlier error, released Diogo Jota behind the Arsenal defence with a perfectly-weighted through pass – and the attacker beat Aaron Ramsdale at his near post with a fierce shot. Two minutes after the hour mark, the Reds sealed the points; Andrew Robertson capitalized on Arsenal’s failure to clear their lines before delivering a dangerous cross into the box, which was turned in by Roberto Firmino.
Not only did Liverpool’s win put them right back into the title race, but it also diminished Arsenal’s hopes of consolidating their position as one of the top four this season. Earlier in the night, Tottenham Hotspur had closed the gap to the Gunners with a win over Brighton and Hove Albion; Spurs are now just three points behind their rivals, albeit having played an extra game.
Cristian Romero gave Spurs the lead in the 37th minute of their league tie against a severely out-of-form Brighton – the defender lucky to claim the goal after Dejan Kulusevski’s shot from outside the box hit him and wrong-footed goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Harry Kane doubled Spurs’ lead after the interval, and there was nothing lucky about his effort; the Englishman ran through on goal and slid the ball underneath an onrushing Sanchez with confidence.
Relatively untroubled by their opponents throughout the night, Spurs came away with an important win following their gut-wrenching loss against Manchester United the previous weekend.
