If ever you want to know what the English Premier League is about, watch Liverpool vs Arsenal on Wednesday – the entire 90 minutes. In a breathtaking, non-stop, so-there-is-gonnabe-a-goal-every-minute contest of the highest attacking order, Liverpool and Arsenal played out a thrill-a-minute 3-3 draw at Anfield.
Arsenal looked on course to pick up all three points after coming back, twice, to take a 3-2 lead, via a brace from Olivier Giroud, but Joe Allen struck an equaliser in the 90th minute to salvage Liverpool a point. Arsenal stay top of the table with the draw, but after Leicester's 1-0 win over Tottenham, the Foxes are level on points with Arsene Wenger's men.
This was the match that Roberto Firmino announced himself on the Premier League stage, with the Brazilian showing his finishing skills to great effect. It looked like he might be the matchwinner as well when he struck two goals in the space of nine minutes to make it 1-0 and 2-1 to Liverpool, but Arsenal just would not go away.
Firmino opened the scoring on ten minutes, and deservedly too, after the home team started much better. It was Arsenal's own making though the goal that they conceded, with Theo Walcott giving away possession just outside his own penalty area, allowing Emre Can to take a shot from distance. That strike was parried by Petr Cech, but not as wide enough as you would usually expect from a goalkeeper of Cech's quality. As a result, the ball fell to Firmino, who struck a nice crisp shot past Cech to open the scoring.
Arsenal replied back in just four minutes and a beautiful goal it was too, with Joel Campbell, again, showing his worth, playing a brilliant through ball from Aaron Ramsey to strike first time to the near post and past Simon Mignolet.
Firmino, though, put Liverpool back in the lead, and it was the kind of goal that deserved to be a winner. The Brazilian picked up the ball from around 30 yards and unleashed a strike that even Cech could not get near.
Arsenal came back again, however, as Giroud showed a deft touch to deflect in a corner at the near post.
Everyone was hoping for a similar pace to the game in the second half and the teams certainly did not disappoint, with Arsenal going into the lead via a brilliant finish from Giroud. The Frenchman picked up the ball from 14 yards out after it deflected towards him, turned Kolo Toure inside out and placed a perfect strike into the bottom corner on 55 minutes.
Liverpool refused to give up, throwing the proverbial kitchen sink, with Jurgen Klopp bringing on Christian Benteke and even Steven Caulker as an auxiliary striker, and all that pressure paid off for Liverpool as the Belgian nodded down a cross for Joe Allen, another substitute, to strike a sweet shot past the right of Cech.
