‘The way we did it pleased me a lot’ – Slot positive after point at Arsenal | OneFootball

Arne Slot says it was pleasing to see his Liverpool side compete with an Arsenal team which has challenged for the title of late.

Bukayo Saka opened the scoring for Arsenal just ten minutes into the match, skillfully evading Andy Robertson to give the Gunners the lead. However, Virgil van Dijk quickly responded, leveling the score for Liverpool.

Just before the half-time whistle, Mikel Merino restored Arsenal’s advantage with a well-placed header, making it 2-1 at the break.

Despite struggling to create many chances throughout the match, Liverpool found their rhythm late on. With ten minutes remaining, Salah stepped up to level the score once again. The equaliser was set up by Trent Alexander Arnold, who delivered a perfectly weighted pass behind defenders Myles Lewis-Skelley and Darwin Núñez made a powerful run into the right channel and squared the ball for Salah, who calmly finished past David Raya.

The goal marked Salah’s 163rd career Premier League goal, drawing him level with Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler on the all-time scoring list.

After the match, Slot praised Salah’s contributions, saying: “Today was another big game for us, just like last week against Chelsea, where he also contributed with a goal and an assist.

“Having quality players like Mo is essential for a club of our stature. Without them, it can be quite challenging to achieve results. We must recognize the contributions of Darwin Núñez and Trent Alexander-Arnold as well in that goal.

Despite the draw, Liverpool might feel they could have claimed all three points had they performed at their best.

Reds boss Arne Slot acknowledged that while the performance wasn’t at the highest level, there were positives to take away from the match. He said: “The only thing I look at is, ‘Can you get a result in a difficult away game like this?’ And the way we did it pleased me a lot. We’re only nine or ten games into the season, but seeing that we can compete with such a strong Arsenal team in their stadium is very pleasing.”

Slot also stressed the challenges faced by his team but praised their resilience: “We had one day less to recover and prepare, and to go behind twice with the fans being so loud and then coming back strongly in the second half is very satisfying. I think we deserved to be 2-1 down at halftime, but it’s great to see the energy and strength we showed to fight back in the second half, especially from those who came on.”