Mikel Arteta namechecked one Liverpool stalwart in acknowledging the vital role played by one of his Arsenal players in the pulsating 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday.
The Reds came from two goals down to salvage a point but would surely have completed the turnaround if it weren’t for a stunning performance from Aaron Ramsdale, who pulled off a series of magnificent saves.
Having thwarted Darwin Nunez one-on-one late in the match, the Gunners netminder produced two world-class stops in added time to deny Mo Salah and Ibrahima Konate as the Premier League leaders ultimately got out of Merseyside with a result.
The 24-year-old’s performance certainly wasn’t lost on Arteta, who drew comparisons with Liverpool’s own number one after the game.
The Arsenal manager said in relation to Ramsdale (via Liverpool Echo): “You need your goalkeeper if you want to win and be in a title race. Look at how many times Alisson has done for Liverpool what he has to do.”
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Reds fans would indeed have seen the heroics of the English ‘keeper yesterday as a reminder of what our own Brazilian stopper has done on many occasions.
In a season where many of Jurgen Klopp’s squad have largely been well below their best, Alisson has been an exception, continuing to come up with jaw-dropping stops and salvage vital points for his team.
Only three more goalkeepers in the Premier League have kept more clean sheets this term than the 31-year-old’s haul of 11 (Ramsdale has 12), while just three have made more saves than the Liverpool netminder’s 88, as per premierleague.com.
Those numbers illustrate just how huge a player Ali has been for us in 2022/23, and he’d have been among the first to acknowledge the exceptional performance put in by his opposite number at Anfield on Sunday.
It’s fair to state that yesterday’s draw on Merseyside witnessed two of the best exponents of their profession in England.