Mikel Arteta hailed Aaron Ramsdale for producing “magic moments” that could be pivotal in the Premier League title race after Arsenal’s 2-2 draw at Liverpool on Sunday.
The Arsenal goalkeeper produced a trio of expert saves to deny Liverpool a late winner after Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino scored to drag the Reds back into the game from 2-0 down.
Ramsdale denied Darwin Nunez when one-on-one, superbly tipped a deflected Salah curling effort around the post and somehow thwarted Ibrahima Konate from point-blank range in the dying seconds.
Arteta likened Ramsdale’s influence to the impact Alisson has had for Liverpool in recent years after the England international starred at Anfield, where Salah missed a second-half penalty.
The Arsenal manager said during his post-match press conference: “You need your goalkeeper if you want to win and be in title races. How many times has Alisson done what he has to do?
“You have to have that, you have to have those magic moments from the keeper. We had some exceptional moments from players today as well and to win at grounds like that, you need that.”
Sum up that @AaronRamsdale98 performance in a word pic.twitter.com/YrnZUBFoHR
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 9, 2023
The draw leaves the Gunners six points clear of second-placed Manchester City at the Premier League summit, albeit Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions have a game in hand.
While Ramsdale stepped up in the decisive moments, the drew could be seen as a missed opportunity for Arsenal after Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus fired the visitors into the ascendancy.
A short trip to London rivals West Ham follows next Sunday for Arsenal, who then host strugglers Southampton before a trip to City on April 29.
Arteta acknowledged the late heartbreak of Firmino’s 87th-minute leveller but backed his side to continue responding as they have done all campaign.
He added: “When you concede at the end, you always focus on dropping two points because you have it and you are suffering, but you are relying on certain moments and the feeling is ‘Ah, we should have done it!’
“But being fair to ourselves, they had four big chances where they could have scored and [Salah] missed the penalty.
“We will have to look at ourselves in the mirror and we should have done much better in the second half.
“We’ve been responding for 31 games now. Every single day is a test and the test is now: how good are we going to be on Monday and how well are we going to prepare to beat West Ham and to play the way we want to beat West Ham.”
