Arsenal manager praise Ramsdale’s save, calls it a ‘Magic moment’

Ramsdale saves Arsenal's blushes

Arsenal manager praise Ramsdale’s save, calls it a ‘Magic moment’

Stephen Oladehinde 20:58 - 09.04.2023

Arsenal drew against Liverpool at Anfield as they failed to go eight points clear of Manchester City in the title race.

Mikel Arteta acknowledged that Arsenal lost two points in their pursuit of the Premier League title by blowing a 2-0 lead at Liverpool, but he also acknowledged that Aaron Ramsdale's "magic" saved his club from a much worse finish at Anfield.

Although Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus gave Arsenal a 2-0 lead inside the first 28 minutes, Mohamed Salah's goal in the final minutes of the first half and Roberto Firmino's header in the 87th minute allowed Liverpool to rescue a 2-2 draw.

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Ramsdale saves Arsenal

Arsenal gained one point by failing to maintain their lead and now sits six points ahead of Manchester City in the standings. But, with a game remaining this season and a home match against Arsenal, Pep Guardiola's team can now win the championship by winning their final 9 league games.

If not for Ramsdale's two incredible stops of Salah and Ibrahima Konate in stoppage time, Arsenal would have lost the game which could have cost them three points.

Arteta said after the game, "When you concede at the end, it's always like two dropped points. But Liverpool had four big chances and could have scored a penalty [missed by Salah].

"You also need your goalkeeper in title races -- you need magic moments from your keeper and Aaron was there for us, just like Alisson has been for Liverpool so many times. But we look at ourselves in mirror and could have done better with some big chances.

"We started well in the first few minutes [of the second half] but then lost control. It became a very transitional game, very chaotic. Liverpool could score three or four, but it is true we could have scored two or three, so maybe at the end the score is fair."

Liverpool turn up the head in the second half

Meanwhile, an incident happened in the first half of the game between Granit Xhaka and Alexander Arnold that led to both players being booked by the referee. Three minutes before halftime, the home team and the Liverpool crowd joined forces to score a goal. Jordan Henderson's deflection of Diogo Jota's cross into the direction of Salah's goal-scoring effort helped Jurgen Klopp's team gain the advantage in the game's momentum. 

Rob Holding's careless tackle on Jota earned the hosts a penalty, giving Liverpool a golden opportunity to tie the game at 52 minutes. Liverpool came out strong in the second half. Salah, though, missed his shot. The Egyptian forward missed the penalty for the second time in a row after blazing a shot at Bournemouth in March.

Ten minutes from time, after being put through on goal by Salah, Darwin Nunez missed a fantastic opportunity to equalize, but Aaron Ramsdale stopped his feeble shot. Firmino headed in Alexander-floated Arnold's cross as Klopp's team kept up the pressure to end Arsenal's chances of winning the Premier League.