Liverpool know better than most just how fine the margins are when it comes to Premier League success.
In missing out on the Premier League title to Manchester City by one point last season, Jurgen Klopp's men were given a fairly brutal lesson in that regard.
A year on, it's Arsenal hoping to do what the Reds couldn't and beat City to the title, and whichever way their season ends, there is a huge possibility they will look back on Sunday's 2-2 draw at Liverpool as decisive.
You would have been forgiven for predicting an impressively comfortable away win, such were the two teams' respective performances in the first half.
Arsenal resembled the Liverpool of 12 months ago. They were furious in their pressing, electric and incisive on the ball.
Even if you'd seen Arsenal on a regular basis this season, the swagger with which they were playing at such a famously vociferous arena was outstanding, particularly when you also consider their dreadful record at Anfield.
Arsenal had lost each of their previous six away games against the Reds in the Premier League, while they had not won at Anfield since September 2012.
Liverpool, on the other hand, looked lost, confused, almost as if they were suffering from an identity crisis.
Of course, this certainly wasn't an isolated example of such a display, but this was the kind of occasion one expects to bring the best out of Anfield and the Reds.
Diogo Jota looked every inch a player without a goal in over a year as he failed to influence proceedings. Curtis Jones was similarly unconvincing, while Trent Alexander-Arnold was all over the place, struggling in his usual role and then taking up central positions that left gaping holes at the back.
The England right-back was left for dead by Gabriel Martinelli early on and then failed to track Gabriel Jesus at the back post as the striker failed to convert a Bukayo Saka cross.
Of course, by that point Arsenal were already ahead thanks to the lively Martinelli, who made the most of a kind ricochet to dart into the box and prod beyond Alisson in the eighth minute.
It was then 2-0 just before the half-hour mark. Jesus did apply the finish this time, heading in from Martinelli's cross as the Liverpool defence were out of sync once again.
But the contest seemed to flip in the 41st minute, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta's fears of what he described as the Anfield "jungle" becoming reality.
Granit Xhaka was rather innocuously bundled over by Ibrahima Konate, but no free-kick followed, and he reacted with a forceful barge into the back of Alexander-Arnold, appearing to whack him with his forearm.
Alexander-Arnold retaliated with a shove of his own and the two went head-to-head. Referee Paul Tierney issued both a yellow card, but more significantly the incident appeared to get the home crowd engaged finally.
Suddenly there was also fire in the Liverpool ranks, and a minute later Salah nudged home from close range to breathe life into the contest, with Arsenal presumably delighted by the half-time whistle soon after.
That was followed by a downright bizarre incident that could have even helped Liverpool's siege mentality. Assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis appeared to elbow Andy Robertson in the face after being approached aggressively by the left-back, with the Reds left furious.
That fury was channelled well by Liverpool after the break, spending much of the second half in the ascendancy as they sought an equaliser.
Mohamed Salah failed to score it from the spot after a clumsy foul by Rob Holding on Jota, but there was unquestionably a hint of predictability above the leveller three minutes from time as Roberto Firmino headed in from Alexander-Arnold's excellent cross.
An incredible finale was ushered in.
Liverpool piled on the pressure. Aaron Ramsdale denied Darwin Nunez when one-on-one, and then the goalkeeper somehow saved Arsenal as Konate inexplicably failed to chest the ball over the line.
Had it not been for Ramsdale's heroics, Arsenal would have been on the end of a potentially crippling defeat. Not necessarily crippling in terms of a huge deficit, but rather in relation to their mentality and the pressure being applied by City.
Of course, it's easy to look at the result as two points dropped. Considering Arsenal were 2-0 up, many fans – and players – will believe that to be the most apt appraisal of the situation.
But in the end, with an optimist's spin on it, Arsenal should feel happy to get away from Anfield with a point. After all, that's more than they managed in any of their previous six Premier League visits.
To understand the potential value of that point, all they need to do is look at Liverpool.
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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