but the hosts, who dominated proceedings for the majority, equalised
in the 97th minute with a powerful header
The bandaged head of Martin Skrtel rescued a dramatic 2-2 Premier
League draw for 10-man Liverpoolagainst Arsenal on Sunday.
After sealing a place in the League Cup semi-finals on Wednesday,
Liverpool capped a positive week with a deserved point at Anfield,
despite seeing Fabio Borini sent off in stoppage time.
The hosts, who dominated the first half, led through Philippe
Coutinho, but were almost immediately pegged back by Mathieu Debuchy
before the interval.
From there Arsene Wenger's men visibly grew in confidence and went
ahead courtesy of France striker Olivier Giroud's third goal in two
games midway through the second half.
Brendan Rodgers' men pushed hard for a leveller, only for Borini's
late dismissal to apparently end their hopes.
But Skrtel rose to nod home Adam Lallana's corner deep into a nine
minutes of stoppage time, most of which was added for a head injury to
the Slovakian.
Liverpool had the better of the early stages but struggled to craft
any clear-cut chances until the 34th minute when Lazar Markovic was
denied by Wojciech Szczesny.
Serbian Markovic burst into the box and attempted to lift the ball
over Szczesny at the near post, but the Pole was equal to it and
produced a strong save to preserve parity.
But Liverpool were finally rewarded for their near-complete dominance
of the game in the final minute of normal time in the first half
asCoutinhostruck.
Collecting the ball just inside the edge of the area, the Brazilian
cleverly worked space for himself and fired in a low shot in off the
post to give his side a deserved lead.
However, Liverpool's celebrations were cut short as Rodgers saw his
side's lead almost immediately erased byDebuchy.
The Frenchman headed in at the far post from Mathieu Flamini's
nod-down after Liverpool had failed to clear a free-kick.
Neither that setback nor the lengthy delay caused by Srktel's
collision with the boot of Giroud dented Liverpool's ambition to
attack, Gerrard heading over with the goal at his mercy after
Szceszny's ill-advised decision to challenge Raheem Sterling for a
loose ball.
Liverpool were immediately punished for their captain's profligacy as
Arsenal completing the turaround with a wonderful free-flowing move.
Giroudslid Santi Cazorla in down the left with a superb first-time
pass and capped off the attack with a low finish under Brad Jones from
the Spaniard's resulting pull back.
Borini then saw a point-blank header brilliantly tipped over the bar
by Szczesny, before the Italian's high challenge on Cazorla earned him
a second booking, having earlier receiving a yellow card for slamming
the ball to the turf in frustration.
YetSrktelensured there would be a final twist in the tale, powering
Lallana's delivery into the bottom-right corner to complete an
eventful afternoon for the defender and offer Rodgers further hope
that his players can turn their fortunes around and salvage a
frustrating campaign.
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