ARSENAL 1 LIVERPOOL 1
Alexandre Lacazette’s late goal earned Arsenal a 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Saturday and stopped the visitors moving three points clear at the top of the Premier League.
After a tight first half, Liverpool broke the deadlock in the 61st minute as Sadio Mane crossed from the left and Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno was only able to parry the ball into the path of James Milner who blasted a low shot into the net.
Milner was lucky to stay on the field to finish the match after a clash of heads with team mate Joe Gomez which required lengthy treatment.
The Gunners, looking to extend their unbeaten run to 14 games in all competitions, poured forward in search of an equaliser and the pressure paid off when Lacazette struck in the 82nd minute.
The French striker spun away to the left side of goal to keep the ball out of goalkeeper Alisson’s reach before cutting back and firing a shot past the Brazilian’s reach and into the far corner.
The draw took Liverpool top of the table by one point from champions Manchester City, who host Southampton on Sunday. Arsenal dropped to fifth, behind Tottenham Hotspur who won 3-2 at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the late match.
Liverpool thought they had taken the lead after 20 minutes in north London when Roberto Firmino chipped the ball over Leno and it came back off the post for Mane to tap in.
The effort was ruled out as the linesman had flagged the Senegalese winger offside, although replays showed Mane was behind the Brazilian when the original shot was taken.
“There is only one person who can answer the question and that’s the linesman. That’s football. If he thought the first situation was offside then I think he was wrong,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp told BT Sport.
“But it’s not going to change and we made more mistakes than the referee. It would have been cool if this goal could count.”
Arsenal have now gone 14 games unbeaten in all competitions, taking significant strides under new manager Unai Emery.
The momentum building under the Spaniard’s stewardship was evidenced by the excited atmosphere among the home fans, although Emery was disappointed at not having claimed all three points.
“We wanted to win but the performance is good, we push and we work the match, doing our tactics and with our supporters pushing us with energy,” he said.
“For the supporters it is a great match and a good spectacle but I am only 50 percent happy because we wanted to win.”
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 2 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3
Tottenham Hotspur held on nervously to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 away in the Premier League on Saturday after conceding two second-half penalties.
Spurs looked comfortable with a two-goal lead after half an hour. Erik Lamela played a neat one-two with Son Heung-min to charge into the box and score the first and Lucas Moura comfortably headed in from a Kieran Trippier cross.
Wolves had a goal disallowed for offside before halftime, although replays appeared to show that it was an incorrect decision.
Harry Kane finished from close range after the hour mark, following good work by Lamela, but Ruben Neves pulled one back for Wolves from the penalty spot after Spurs defender and Premier League debutant Juan Foyth brought down Raul Jimenez.
Foyth gave away another penalty when he appeared to push Jonny Castro. Jimenez stepped up and sent goalkeeper Hugo Lloris the wrong way to make it 3-2 with 12 minutes remaining.
Wolves piled on the pressure but were unable to find a way past Lloris as Spurs held on to climb back into the top four.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have now lost three games in a row and slipped to 11th in the standings and the Portuguese coach lamented that their disallowed goal did not stand.
“It could have made a big difference. It’s hard not to feel a little bit unfairly done by,” he said.
“We had the character to go back in the game when everybody thought the game was lost. The boys gave everything, took risks. We had chances. Maybe we would have deserved a draw,” Nuno added.
Spurs were rocked by an injury to Mousa Dembele in the first few minutes, particularly with one eye on a must-win Champions League clash at home to PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.
The European fixture may explain why the visitors faded as the match wore on and manager Mauricio Pochettino conceded his side only had themselves to blame for allowing Wolves back into the match.
“At 3-0 I think we conceded a very cheap action for the opponent,” he said. “We created our own problems, but playing here is a tough place to come so I am happy.”
Pochettino said he hoped Dembele’s injury was not too serious but that the Belgian would have to be assessed.
