Lacazette’s late goal rescues point for Arsenal
ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE struck to secure Arsenal a point against Liverpool in an absorbing encounter at the Emirates.
Two heavyweights slugged it out as Liverpool’s Sadio Mane controversially saw a goal ruled out for offside in a goalless first half, which saw Virgil van Dijk hit the frame of the goal late on.
But the visitors would draw first blood in the 61st minute through the ever-dependable James Milner, only for Unai Emery’s Arsenal to peg them back with eight minutes remaining.
Lacazette wriggled free inside the box before curling home superbly from an acute angle to secure a draw that still sees Jurgen Klopp’s men move top of the Premier League.
Klopp felt the decision to disallow Mane’s first-half strike for offside was a turning point.
‘There’s only one person who can answer the question and that’s the linesman. Nobody else can say anything about that,’ said Klopp. ‘That’s football. You have one player in a slightly offside position and chip the ball and then the other one takes the ball, that’s football all over the world.
‘If he (the linesman) sees it like that, good — it was not offside. And the second situation was not offside.
‘If he thought the first situation was offside, I think that would have been the wrong decision.
‘We made more mistakes than the refs but in this situation it would have been cool if this goal would count because it was obviously in a very good moment.’
Despite Mane’s disallowed strike and surrendering a lead, the German was satisfied to leave London with a draw. ‘It’s not really possible to come here and dominate Arsenal like we want,’ added Klopp. ‘It’s a point, that will always be a success at Arsenal.’
Arsenal boss Emery was happy with his side’s all-energy display but not with the result.
‘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 fans it is a good spectacle but I am only 50 per cent happy because we wanted to win.
‘The balance was good in our speed and intensity. We worked very well for 90 minutes.
‘This is a point and a draw, but maybe we deserved a little more.’