Liverpool snatch draw after Arsenal's second-half blitz in thrillingly unpredictable Christmas cracker

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No-one can accuse Arsenal and Liverpool of not getting into the Christmas spirit. The top end of the Premier League may be a haven of cut-throat capitalism but here at the Emirates two of its biggest teams were in ruinously generous mood, gifting chances and goals to one another, producing one of the most entertaining, riotously festive matches of the whole season, never mind the Christmas calendar.

This was a game of brilliant attacking play, almost all of it by Liverpool, who were the better team for at least 80 minutes of the 90. There was some lax finishing too but what marked it out, at both ends of the pitch, was some of worst defending and goalkeeping you will see in a game between two of England’s biggest clubs.

Neither of these teams has a reputation for frugality and yet even here the profligacy was remarkable. For all the attacking talent the two teams can call upon, this was proof why they are still fourth and fifth in the table, and likely to stay there. Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea are just more serious than them, better organised, with stronger defenders and far superior goalkeepers. Earlier this month Arsenal created enough chances against Manchester United but David De Gea held them to one goal. Tonight Arsenal were only on top for six minutes, when Simon Mignolet still let in three.

But while the score ended level, fault and credit should not be equally shared between the two teams. Because Liverpool were vastly superior for the first 50 minutes, racing into a 2-0 lead that should have been five or six. Arsene Wenger had optimistically paired Granit Xhaka and Jack Wilshere in front of the back four in a 4-2-3-1 that was so open it looked like it had been sketched out on Jurgen Klopp’s Christmas list. The last time Arsenal were this bad was when they lost 4-0 at Anfield in August and when Mohamed Salah scored the second, it felt as if Liverpool were half-way there.

Arsenal had never been in the game at the start but half-way through the first half, Liverpool started to turn it on. Neither Xhaka nor Wilshere are natural tacklers and they were left utterly abandoned by their team-mates, powerless to repel wave after wave of Liverpool attacks. Nor did it help that Arsenal’s back four left far too much space for Liverpool to hurt them. Wenger’s post-match analysis is often rose-tinted and even he called it a “nightmare” first-half performance.

Sure enough the chances started to flow. Roberto Firmino tested Petr Cech with one far post header and then, two minutes later, flashed another across the box that no-one turned in.

It did not matter, as Liverpool broke their way into the lead one minute later. James Milner and Coutinho played a sharp one-two, taking Wilshere out of the game, and Milner darted a pass through to Mohamed Salah. Racing forward with Laurent Koscielny, his cross deflected off the defender, looping up for Coutinho to head in.

Every time Liverpool attacked they looked like scoring. Cech saved from Salah and Sadio Mane’s acrobatic follow-up whistled over the bar. Salah miskicked when through on goal and at half-time, Wenger had to replace the injured Nacho Monreal with Shkodran Mustafi. It made so little difference that Mustafi’s first action was to deflect in Liverpool’s second.

Salah had just had another shot saved but when he picked up the ball deep inside his own half, he had one thing on his mind. He surged down the right, skipping far past Wilshere, exchanging passes with Coutinho, swerving into the box. He meant to curl his shot round Mustafi but it took a slight nick and flew into the bottom corner.

Now, at 2-0 up, Liverpool looked set for a big statement win. Three points that would leave them one behind Chelsea, playing football that could terrify almost any other team in the country. And then in five ludicrous minutes it all collapsed. Conceding one bad goal out of the blue does happen. Conceding three before anyone has time to breathe should not happen to a proper team.

First Hector Bellerin clipped in a cross from the right and Joe Gomez at the far post switched off so badly that he did not realise Sanchez was charging forward until the thumping header was into the net. That woke up the Arsenal players and fans and within an instant they were level. Xhaka was showing off his flaws this evening but he does have a powerful left boot, not that Simon Mignolet seemed to know. His hopeful 30-yarder rocketed straight through one weak glove and into the net, another moment of blithe Liverpool carelessness.

All the momentum belonged to Arsenal, and once again Liverpool were left too deep, ball-watching, unable to stop what was happening to them. Ozil surged forward, played it in to Lacazette who backheeled a return pass. Ozil dinked the ball over Mignolet and the crowd, mutinous six minutes before, erupted.

So could Arsenal then do what Liverpool could not and hang on to the lead? No they could not. The Liverpool equaliser was so grimly preventable it instantly reminded you that it was Arsenal who had under-performed Liverpool for the first 50 minutes. Salah fed Emre Can who found Firmino, just inside the box. His first touch gave him room to shoot, but Cech should have been equal to it. Instead one soft hand, worse than Mignolet’s error at the opposite end, allowed the ball to loop up and into the net.

That was the sixth and final goal, although Salah and Sanchez both missed chances for 4-3. Neither side could take the three points, but with defending this bad, no control and no ruthlessness, neither side deserved them.