Liverpool were behind twice, playing away from home against their title rivals, and left the Emirates Stadium with a point… so they will definitely be happier with a draw than Arsenal were on Sunday.
Yes, injuries meant the Gunners finished with an unfamiliar back four, but they will have been thinking that if they could maintain their shape, and almost turn the game into a training-ground exercise, they should have been able to keep Arne Slot’s side out.
So they will be bitterly disappointed to have been pegged back to 2-2 – especially when you consider the way they had ended the first half, because they were in control of the game at that point.
Liverpool did not look relaxed
In the first half, when Arsenal were on top, they were targeting Liverpool’s left-hand side, even from goal-kicks, and not just by trying to release Bukayo Saka like they did for his goal.
Kai Havertz was wandering out to that flank, joining Saka out wide, giving Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk a decision to make about whether to follow him and then leave a massive gap in the middle.
Leandro Trossard sat in behind, playing as a false nine to get on the ball in the space that Havertz left behind, and created a lot of uncomfortable moments for Liverpool.
Arsenal could probably have picked Trossard out a few more times, had they seen the pass quicker.
The other thing that Arsenal did really well in the first half was put a good press on Liverpool to stop them from playing out.
A lot of the time they had to resort to playing longer balls, which led to them losing possession.
It meant that Liverpool did not look relaxed, either with the ball or without it.
They were nervous when Arsenal had possession, because they were getting pulled about by the home side’s movement and shifted out of position.
When they did get the ball they were not building with any purpose, and struggled to get out of their own half.
Slot creates an overload in midfield
Slot had to change things, so he pushed right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold into central midfield more and more in the second half to give Liverpool an extra man in that area.
He also dropped his two central midfielders who were operating ahead of Ryan Gravenberch – Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister – deeper so Liverpool had more options when they played out from the back. It was the same when Dominik Szoboszlai replaced Mac Allister for the final half hour, too.
At the same time, when Gabriel went off injured, Arsenal adjusted and dropped off rather than continuing to press, and it felt like they were trying to protect their lead instead of looking to score more goals.
That changed the shape of the game, but Liverpool still had to be wary of the Gunner’s threat on the counter – and tried to balance that with pushing for an equaliser.
Against the so-called lesser teams, you can leave one-on-one situations across your backline, but Arsenal’s players in the high positions are some of the best in the world and capable of beating people individually very easily, as we saw with Saka’s goal.
With all that in mind, Liverpool’s plan was to try to keep hold of the ball longer and hope the Arsenal players would switch off to allow them opportunities, without leaving themselves open at the same time.
But, again, you go back to the fact the Gunners are a top team defensively too. We have seen already this season how good their focus is – against Manchester City with 10 men, for example – and they don’t often make the kind of mistakes to let the opposition in.
While Liverpool had lots of possession after the break – 63% – they did not necessarily have much of it in dangerous areas. A lot of it was in the middle of the pitch, where Arsenal were camped, and they were happy for Liverpool to play around them and go from side to side.
In the end, Arsenal only left themselves open a couple of times, and one of them was for the chance that Liverpool made it 2-2 from.
Any loss of focus can prove costly
Alexander-Arnold did not have his best game but he still showed his quality with the forward ball for Liverpool’s second goal.
The same goes for Darwin Nunez, whose clever cut-back found Mohamed Salah charging into the area, and for the Egyptian too – not just with his run, but the composure he showed with his finish.
It was a reminder how these big games are often decided because, if you do have a lapse in concentration, then the top players in the best teams will capitalise on it.
As I explained on MOTD2, Salah’s mindset allowed him to do that, because he was always waiting for that one chance.
That is the moment Arsenal will have regrets about, rather than any change in their approach after half-time.
I can understand why they did not throw too many players forward in the second half when they were 2-1 up, but they will be unhappy about throwing a lead away.
A draw would have been a decent result for Liverpool in any circumstances, but especially because they were trailing with less than 10 minutes to go.
Also, because of the magnitude of this game, Slot’s players probably had a few nerves beforehand because there has been so much talk about how hard it would be at the Emirates – they saw off Chelsea last week but this was described as being the ‘real’ title test.
And you have to remember that Liverpool are above Arsenal in the table at the moment, which is something else that affects your thinking.
A lot of the Liverpool players would have been thinking that if, at worst, we go away with a draw then that keeps the gap at four points, so that is a good result for us.
What will be disappointing for Liverpool and Slot will be conceding two goals in a game for the first time – they had only shipped four in total in the 12 games since he took charge.
That is something that will be talked about by Slot in the coming days, I am sure, and he will recognise there is still room for improvement at the back despite his side’s defensive record.
There have been several times in the past few games where Liverpool rode their luck, including against RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday when they could have been two goals down at half-time.
This time, Arsenal did punish them on a couple of occasions. Liverpool did well to recover, but with more tough games coming up, they will know they might not get away with doing the same again.
Stephen Warnock was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.
