Joe Allen’s dramatic last-minute equaliser earned Liverpool a 3-3 draw at home to Arsenal on Wednesday that enabled Leicester City to move level on points at the Premier League summit.
The Welsh midfielder volleyed home in front of the Kop at a wintry Anfield to deny leaders Arsenal a victory that would have kept Arsene Wenger’s men two points clear at the top of the table.
Robert Huth scored an 83rd-minute winner as Leicester won 1-0 at fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur, while Manchester City remain three points off the pace in third after drawing 0-0 at home to Everton.
“I’m very disappointed, but overall I cannot fault the effort and commitment of the team,” Arsenal manager Wenger told the BBC.
“I felt we had an apprehensive start. We went 1-0 down and then we started to play. We come out of the game with a lot of positives, but still some regrets.”
Arsenal travel to Stoke City on Sunday and will do so still battling doubts about their title credentials after failing to protect the advantage given to them by Olivier Giroud’s 55th-minute goal.
Roberto Firmino was preferred to Christian Benteke up front by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and he rewarded the German’s faith by slamming home a 10th-minute opener after Petr Cech parried a shot from Emre Can.
Aaron Ramsey equalised four minutes later, beating Simon Mignolet at his near post from Joel Campbell’s through-ball, only for Firmino to restore the hosts’ lead in the 19th minute, gathering a lay-off from James Milner and arcing a magnificent 25-yard shot into the top-right corner.
Giroud equalised in the 25th minute, toeing Ramsey’s corner past a hesitant Mignolet at the near post.
The France striker then committed an embarrassing miss, somehow diverting Theo Walcott’s low cross away from goal with the net yawning, before Firmino grazed the bar in first-half stoppage time.
Giroud atoned 10 minutes into the second half, collecting Campbell’s deflected pass and turning away from Kolo Toure before planting a shot past Mignolet for his 18th goal of the campaign.
But Allen had the last word in a breathless encounter, meeting substitute Benteke’s knock-down with an assured volley that nestled in the bottom-left corner.
“It’s an explosion of goals, but at the final whistle you cannot ignore there were problems,” Klopp told BT Sport.
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