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How Lacazette late equalizer kept Arsenal's unbeaten streak alive

November 04, 2018 19:37·
Bernd Leno shaky, Lucas Torreira tenacious as Arsenal hold Liverpool

Bernd Leno shaky, Lucas Torreira tenacious as Arsenal hold Liverpool

"It's not possible for us to come here and dominate Arsenal like we want".

In fact last season, one would have to look all the way down the table to 15 placed Brighton to find the first team that drew more times than the Reds, whose 12 stalemates were an equal third highest, and they already have just one less (three) than Southampton's league high of four.

Alex Iwobi then set up the equalizer with a clever pass to Lacazette, who curled in a precise shot to preserve Arsenal's 14-match unbeaten streak in all competitions. "He is improving. But also he has the ambition to do more". The 22-year-old has taken such command of the back end of midfield that he has somehow helped Granit Xhaka develop a sense of positional discipline.

"The first half was hard, but in the second half we were better and more physical".

And yet Liverpool had its chances. They are in a good moment.

Alexandre Lacazette, with a sumptuous strike, cancelled out James Milner's opener to ensure Arsenal and Liverpool shared the points at the Emirates.

And, in first half stoppage time, Bernd Leno produced an nearly carbon copy of Alisson's earlier error by charging out in an attempt to stop a Virgil van Dijk header but misjudged the flight of the ball and was lucky to see it come back off the post.

Roberto Firmino hit the woodwork and Sadio Mane was wrongly flagged offside for the follow-up, while Virgil van Dijk's looped header kissed the post in first-half stoppage time.

Mane nearly added a second after Firmino's brilliant pass released Salah, however the outstretched winger was unable to reach the ball in time. Jurgen Klopp was adamant the goal should have stood.

This staggering tally of goals in unbeaten games has stretched a whopping 16 years for five clubs - Liverpool, Man City, Aston Villa, Newcastle, and Leeds - dating back to 2002 when he bagged his first goal for Leeds at the tender age of just 16.

"It's very important when you play against City, Chelsea, Liverpool and if you win it's better". This, after all, is a side that specializes in transition and yet, for all that Arsenal pressed, it wasn't able to exploit the space behind it-itself testament to how effective Torreira was.

Here is how we rated Arsenal's players...

'We are very disappointed really, which is a good thing I suppose, playing away at Arsenal. "We made life too easy for them".

At the other end of the pitch, Henrikh Mkhitaryan nearly put the hosts 1-0 up, with the Armenian's header drifting just wide.

Realistically, a draw for Liverpool at Arsenal should be a good result.

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