Have Liverpool finally turned a corner?
Liverpool needed to beat Arsenal to stay in the hunt for fourth place before the busy Christmas period. Although they could only manage a draw, there is a feeling that the Reds might have just turned over a new leaf in the last three games. While the Reds have won just once in their last five games in all competitions and are nine points behind West Ham who currently occupy the last Champions League position, the Reds have shown plenty of attacking enterprise in their last three games.
Even though they didn’t score against Manchester United, they created enough chances to have won the game by a country mile if they hadn’t run in a goalkeeper on the top of his game. The Reds have now scored five goals in their last two games, which is same amount they managed in the five games before that. At the start of the season, the Mereseysiders looked bereft of ideas up front and were making silly errors at the back. While the defensive lapses still persists, at least now they are creating chances and when Daniel Sturridge returns they will finally have someone who can take those chances.
The only way is up for Arsenal
The Gunners came into this game following back-to-back 4-1 victories over Galatasaray and Newcastle United. Although no one expected them to cruise to victory, there wouldn’t have been any who could have foreseen their performance at Anfield. This was perhaps the most un-Arsenal performance in a long time.
The Gunners might be disappointed with a draw, but they were lucky that they came away with anything at all. They faced the most shots (27) and recorded the lowest possession (35) since Opta began in 2003. They looked hurried when they were on the ball, were unable to defend set pieces and had a game that will not linger long in their memory. And yet the fact that they came away with a point suggests that the only way from here, is up, as they are unlikely to have a worse game in which everybody barring the goalkeeper has a good game every single week.