Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool should be thankful to Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka for helping them earn a point having trailed by two goals.
The Reds found themselves with a mountain to climb after goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus put the Gunners on course to secure a vitally important three points in their quest to keep Manchester City at bay.
Much of the talk ahead of Sunday's match had centred around Arsenal's poor record at Anfield, a ground they have not won at since 2012, and what would be required to end this barren run. Mikel Arteta vowed to keep his cool on the touchline heading into this fixture after losing his cool in last season's 4-0 defeat at the home of Liverpool, but this was an approach Xhaka failed to adhere to.
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After losing possession in the final third, the Swiss midfielder sparked an angry reaction from Trent Alexander-Arnold after needlessly barging into the England international off the ball. This incident lifted the Anfield crowd in a similar way to Arteta's spat with Klopp the previous campaign, resulting in an uplift in tempo on the pitch from the hosts.
Calling out the actions of the Arsenal star during Sky Sports' live commentary, Carragher said: "I mean what is he thinking though, Xhaka? Two nil up away at Anfield, throws his arm or something into Trent. Just ridiculous. Trent reacts and then the crowd gets up, the ball’s already gone. It’s two nil, moments before half-time."
Doubling down on his earlier remarks when speaking after the full-time whistle, the Liverpool legend stressed Xhaka ultimately influenced his side throwing away a two-goal advantage.
"I think it did [get Liverpool going]. It sounds silly, I’m glad Xhaka did it but I’m angry with Xhaka. I’m not an Arsenal fan but if I was an Arsenal fan, what are you doing, doing that? It’s absolutely daft. The game’s in your hands, you get involved - even leading the challenge with the arm, why do it? And now going back head-to-head with Trent riles the crowd up and it’s absolutely idiotic from Xhaka to do that," he said.
"Do you know what? He’s been fantastic this season in a slightly different role higher up the pitch, had a huge impact on this team, but that was going back to the old Xhaka.
"Honestly, who knows if it leads to the goal, we don’t know, but it was just for an experienced player to do something like that in this ground, and the position they found themselves in, there was only one way Liverpool could get back into that game and that was with the help of the terraces."
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