Arsenal vs Liverpool player ratings: Mohamed Salah stars again but Simon Mignolet and Petr Cech falter

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Arsenal and Liverpool played out one of the games of the season at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night to kick-off the festive period with a 3-3 thriller that saw defending go out the window in a frantic affair.

Liverpool took the lead in the first half as Philippe Coutinho took full advantage of a deflected Roberto Firmino pass to head the ball over Petr Cech.

Somehow, Arsenal made it to the break just one goal behind, as twice Firmino had unmarked headers at goal before Premier League top goalscorer Mohamed Salah missed an open goal when Sadio Mane cut the ball back to him.

Arsene Wenger could see the evident danger and sent Shkodran Mustafi on for Nacho Monreal at half-time to strengthen the defence. it didn't work. Salah picked the ball up deep in his own half before breaking free, playing a one-two with Philippe Coutinho and striking a curled effort that deflected off Mustafi's leg and beyond the reach of Cech.

At 2-0 up, Liverpool looked home and dry - or so they thought.

Back came Arsenal and in a big way, as three goals in five minutes triggered the most incredible of comebacks. Firstly, a cross from Hector Bellerin was headed in by Alexis Sanchez at the far post, before Granit Xhaka levelled the scores with a thumping effort from outside the area that Simon Mignolet could only palm into his own net.

And the tables were fully turned when Mesut Ozil's one-two with Alexandre Lacazette allowed him to chip the ball into the net to give Arsenal the most unlikeliest of leads.

But Liverpool would show their own resilience, as Firmino's curled effort saw Cech get a hand to the ball, only to divert it into the other side of the goal, and come the final whistle, the draw was undoubtedly a fair result.

So how did the players perform? Click on the gallery above to see our player ratings.