Liverpool's path to the Premier League title suffered a major setback on Monday night (5) when they suffered an unexpected string of errors away to Arsenal, eventually losing 1-3. Arsenal returned to contention and handed the points lead to Manchester City. Liverpool's defeat was due to errors from rock-solid Allison and Van Dijk (VVD), but coach Jurgen Klopp didn't blame them, saying it was just a "momentary accident".
Arsenal were determined to win this game and attacked Liverpool soon after the start. In the 14th minute, Xaviers had a chance to score, but was denied, and Bukayo Shaka then added the second. Nevertheless, the suppressed "Reds" accidentally equalized before the end of the half, Luis Diaz took advantage of William Shaliba's mistake to steal the ball, cleverly rebounded the ball into the net, relying on an oval goal to bring the score to 1-1, and went into the halftime break with suspense.
In the second half, both sides were equal in strength, but Liverpool's defense made another mistake in the 67th minute. Allison and Van Dijk had a misunderstanding when handling a long pass, and Gabriele Martinelli easily shot the ball into the empty net. In the 88th minute, Liverpool center back Ibrahim Nadira was sent off after accumulating two yellow cards for a foul against Xaviers. In stoppage time, Liandu Dusat forced a break down the left and after a slight save by Van Dijk, the ball went through Allison's big goal and Liverpool ended up losing 1-3.
Liverpool's 21-game unbeaten streak in local matches came to an end, and they are now two points clear of Arsenal at the top of the table, but with only a five-point lead over Manchester City, who have played two fewer matches, the lead is already in jeopardy. Klopp said after the game, "We didn't play well today, a lot of pre-match plans couldn't be implemented, but we have to accept the reality, congratulations to Arsenal for winning this valuable three points, and Liverpool will continue to move forward."
