Anfield antagonism continues.

The word of the day is, Agoraphobia. A phobia of certain areas. Agoraphobia is characterized by a fear of and avoidance of places or situations that may produce panic and sensations of being imprisoned, helpless, or embarrassed. It is a state of conjuring up a dizzying sense of disgust or fear of a current or impending circumstance. This may appear to be a completely unrelated way to begin this post, but it is what we are dealing with. We didn't lose to Liverpool, but rather to the stadium, Anfield. It is an inexorable power of nature that always stops us.

FT: Liverpool 2 - 2 Arsenal

We got off to a fast start, with a lot of flare and swagger. We broke through Liverpool's defence from the first minute and were two up within half an hour. We always look for ways to screw things up when the pendulum is swinging in our favor. A completely gratuitous goal on the cusp of halftime to put Liverpool on the offensive. The second half was palpable, stirring, and scary, as we knew it was going to be Roberto Firmino when he came on. We were gaining ground on the counter, but our decision to sit back at that time cost us three points. Perhaps it was better to be safe than sorry in retrospect, but hindsight and retrospect are the best sources of our solutions.

Singling out players and belittling decisions is not something I condone on this site, however, I would say we were fortunate to have returned with a single point. This is a concerning omen, given that we must travel to the Etihad and Newcastle for the sake of war. Rather than focusing on Zinchenko's gaffe, I'm concerned with Arteta's conservative moves in the second half. There was no need to bring in Kiwior and also stick to one offensive alteration. Dropping points from the situation we were in was indeed criminal. 

Why would you do that? Why is this so? We're not in 19/20 to be content with even Stevens and gracious defeats; we're in a violent title chase, and we shouldn't have sat back. It was the ultimate opportunity for us to bank on the lead and annihilate the Anfield aberration, but we opted to pull the trigger when the guns were pointing at us. Manchester City have begun their 492-game unbeaten streak, and their forthcoming game is against Arsenal. I'm not sure whether it's possible, but every Arsenal fan would like to chip in and contribute our body parts to Saliba; all we need is for him to return. Get that face-off doctor in person. 

Jesus rises, yet again.

How poetic that Gabriel Jesus rose and doubled our lead on Easter. It might have been the best title ever, but we got it wrong, didn't we? Aaron Ramsdale deserves special thanks for saving our legs. His late-game saves may have won us the league, but we are still six points clear of Manchester City.

Aaron Ramsdale appreciation tweet.

The saviour. 👏 pic.twitter.com/77kpLZ1EJs

— afcstuff (@afcstuff) April 9, 2023

 We just have eight more Fa cup finals to get it right.