Alastair Grant/Associated Press
Liverpool and Arsenal shared the spoils during Friday's Premier League action, playing out a spectacular 3-3 draw to kick off Week 19 of the 2017-18 campaign.
Philippe Coutinho, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil all scored in a thriller that highlighted both teams' major issues in defence.
Here's a look at the teams and point totals (for the full standings, visit WhoScored.com):
Manchester City, 52
Manchester United, 41
Chelsea, 38
Liverpool, 35
Arsenal, 34
Burnley, 32
Tottenham Hotspur, 31
Leicester City, 26
Everton, 25
Watford, 22
Huddersfield Town, 21
Southampton, 18
Brighton and Hove Albion, 18
Crystal Palace, 17
West Ham United, 17
Bournemouth, 16
Stoke City, 16
Newcastle United, 15
West Bromwich Albion, 14
Swansea City, 12
Arsenal fans weren't overly confident going into the match against a rampant Liverpool squad, and Friday's outing quickly turned sour for the hosts.
While the Gunners survived the busy opening stages, a swift counter-attack after 26 minutes saw Coutinho open the scoring. ESPN FC's Mattias Karen, an Arsenal fan, took a shot at the Gunners defence:
It was a minor miracle Liverpool didn't add a second goal before half-time, and the hosts left the Emirates Stadium pitch to a chorus of boos.
Things didn't improve after the break, and another defensive mishap saw Salah double the Reds' advantage. Former U.S. international Jimmy Conrad weighed in on the proceedings:
But while Liverpool's vaunted attack has stolen plenty of headlines of late, their defence has struggled, and they didn't do their reputation any favours in the second half.
Within minutes, a hapless Arsenal squad went from two goals down to a 3-2 lead, thanks to a good header from Sanchez, a blunder from Simon Mignolet that allowed Xhaka to level things and a clever lob from Ozil.
BBC's Dan Walker was one of many who couldn't believe what he was seeing:
Not to be outdone, the Gunners gave Firmino all kinds of time to line up a hard shot Petr Cech couldn't parry, tying things up once again. Tom Webb of Bleacher Report said what many were thinking:
While a draw was the correct result, it did neither side any good. Chelsea will have the chance to increase their advantage in the standings on Saturday when they visit Everton, and if the Blues win, the top three teams will have at least a six-point buffer over Friday's foes heading into the holiday season.
Alastair Grant/Associated Press
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah grabbed his 15th Premier League goal of the season on Friday in his side's absorbing 3-3 draw with Arsenal.
The Egyptian continued his sensational recent form, putting his team in complete control of the contest at 2-0. However, Arsenal stormed back in the second period to go 3-2 ahead—netting three goals in five minutes—before Roberto Firmino netted an equaliser.
Salah is now three goals ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane, who will be keen to close the gap against Burnley on Saturday.
Here's a reminder of how the top scorers in the Premier League are currently shaping up, a recap of Friday's clash and a look ahead at what's to come this weekend.
Premier League 2017-18 Top Scorers
15—Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
12—Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
11—Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)
10—Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Wayne Rooney (Everton), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
9—Alvaro Morata (Chelsea)
8—Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City)
For the Premier League table in full, visit the competition's official website.
Salah Grabs Goal No. 15
IAN KINGTON/Getty Images
It was clear early in the game that Salah was going to cause Arsenal a lot of issues, as he was able to find space up against Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
He was involved in the opener when his cross deflected into the path of Philippe Coutinho and should have netted in the first half when through on goal. In the second period, he did eventually get on the scoresheet.
Firmino released his team-mate with space to run into, and with the Arsenal defence backing off, the winger curled a shot into the corner via a small deflection.
Sky Sports Statto provided an angle of Salah's strike and noted he's set for his best-ever goalscoring season:
The forward would have then been disappointed to see his team unable to see this one out, as errors in defence and in goal allowed Arsenal a route back into the game.
As we can see courtesy of the Premier League Twitter account, it didn't take the Gunners long to chop down Liverpool's lead:
Salah moved into the centre-forward position late in the game and remained a constant threat on the break. Liverpool were able to get back on terms through Firmino, although the Reds will be disappointed not to have made more of another brilliant evening's work from their No. 11.
Weekend Preview
Chris Brunskill Ltd/Getty Images
The second game of Week 19 will see an improving Everton side take on Chelsea, although one team will be without their scorer-in-chief.
Indeed, Morata picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign in midweek against Bournemouth, meaning he will sit this one out. Meanwhile, for the Toffees, Rooney is in exceptional form having returned to Goodison Park from Manchester United in the summer.
While he may no longer be a force of nature in the final third, he's been so effective for Everton. Journalist Paul Brown has been impressed with Rooney's efforts:
The man currently trailing Salah in the race for the golden boot is Kane, and he will be desperate to find his shooting boots again after feeding off scraps in the 4-1 loss to Manchester City last weekend. Burnley have proven to be obdurate opponents this season, though.
OLI SCARFF/Getty Images
City have a trio of scorers in the hunt for the prize in Aguero, Sterling and Jesus, all of whom will be hopeful of adding more against a struggling Bournemouth team.
Few would have anticipated Sterling being so high up at this point in the season, but he's found a brilliant potency in front of goal. Per Scouted Football, his strikes have been important, too:
Elsewhere, Lukaku is beginning to rediscover his edge for United after something of a lean spell. The Belgian has grabbed two goals in his last two games and will want to extend his run against Leicester City.
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Manchester City extended their winning run to 17 straight games with a comfortable 4-0 win over Bournemouth at Etihad Stadium
Elsewhere, West Ham's impressive run of form was brought to an end by struggling Newcastle at London Stadium. The Hammers were beaten 3-2 by Rafa Benitez's men as former Chelsea man Christian Atsu starred.
Crystal Palace extended their unbeaten to eight games with a 1-1 draw at bottom side Swansea. Luka Milivojevic put the Eagles in front from the spot before Jordan Ayew equalised with a rasping strike from outside the box.
Earlier on Saturday Chelsea and Everton played out a goalless draw in Saturday's early game as Sam Allardyce's unbeaten run as Toffees boss continued.
The Blues went closest in the first period when two goal-line clearances from Phil Jagielka denied Tiemoue Bakayoko and then Willian as the hosts frustrated the champions. Michael Keane headed over in second-half stoppage time as Everton threatened to snatch all three points.
On Friday evening Liverpool and Arsenal shared the spoils in a thriller at the Emirates on Fridat night. The Gunners scored three in seven second-half minutes to overturn a 2-0 deficit before Roberto Firmino struck to restore parity.
With no action on Sunday - Christmas Eve, of course - there are still two games to come on a bumper Saturday with Tottenham away and Burnley and Manchester United travelling to Leicester at 7.45pm.
Here's everything you need to know for gameweek 19...
EPL Table | Premier League 2017-18 season standings
Pos Team P W D L GD Pts 1 Man City 19 18 1 0 48 55 2 Man United 18 13 2 3 27 41 3 Chelsea 19 12 3 4 18 39 4 Liverpool 19 9 8 2 18 35 5 Arsenal 19 10 3 5 11 34 6 Burnley 18 9 5 4 4 32 7 Tottenham 18 9 4 5 13 31 8 Leicester 18 7 5 6 1 26 9 Everton 19 7 5 7 -6 26 10 Watford 19 6 4 9 -7 22 11 Huddersfield 19 6 4 9 -14 22 12 Brighton 19 5 6 8 -8 21 13 Southampton 19 4 7 8 -7 19 14 Stoke 19 5 4 10 -18 19 15 Newcastle 19 5 3 11 -10 18 16 Crystal Palace 19 4 6 9 -13 18 17 West Ham 19 3 5 10 -16 17 18 Bournemouth 19 4 4 11 -13 16 19 West Brom 19 2 8 9 -15 14 20 Swansea 19 3 4 12 -15 13
Gameweek 19 fixtures
Friday, December 22 Kickoff Coverage TV Arsenal 3 Liverpool 3 7:45pm Live Sky Sports Saturday, December 23 Everton 0 Chelsea 0 12:30pm Sky Sports Brighton 1 Watford 0 3pm Man City 4 Bournemouth 0 3pm Live Southampton 1 Huddersfield 1 3pm Stoke 3 West Brom 1 3pm Swansea 1 Crystal Palace 1 3pm Live West Ham 2 Newcastle 3 3pm Live Burnley vs Tottenham 5:30pm Live BT Sport Leicester vs Man United 7:45pm Live Sky Sports
Gameweek 18 results
Saturday, December 16 Kickoff Coverage TV Leicester 0 Crystal Palace 3 12.30pm Live Sky Sports Arsenal 1 Newcastle 0 3pm Live Brighton 0 Burnley 0 3pm Chelsea 1 Southampton 0 3pm Live Stoke 0 West Ham 3 4pm (Delayed KO) Live Watford 1 Huddersfield 4 3pm Man City 4 Tottenham 1 5.30pm Live BT Sport Sunday, December 17 West Brom 1 Man United 2 2.15pm Live Sky Sports Bournemouth 0 Liverpool 4 4.30pm Live Sky Sports Monday, December 18 Everton 3 Swansea 1 8pm Sky Sports
Top scorers
