Perhaps this Arsenal really is Manchester City’s most serious challenger for the Premier League title. It returned to the top of the table, a point clear of the champion, with a 3–2 win over Liverpool, but what felt significant was less the result or the performance than the fortitude it showed to keep going in a game in which it twice let leads slip.
For Liverpool, meanwhile, there was more frustration and more disappointment. It now trails Arsenal by 14 points—admittedly with a game in hand—and looks as confused as it ever has under Jürgen Klopp. This was a slightly odd game, scrappy in parts, brilliant in others, thoroughly engaging throughout, and yet for all the twists and turns there was little disguising Arsenal’s superiority.