Firmino earns Liverpool a point in six-goal thriller at the Emirate stadium (Details, pics)

Roberto Firmino earned Liverpool a point against Arsenal at the Emirates on Friday in a pulsating encounter that will have defensive coaches everywhere tearing their hair out.

The two sides went into the game separated by just one point in the Premier League table and it was easy to see why in what was a tight start to the game. Liverpool suffered a blow early on as captain Jordan Henderson limped off with a hamstring problem after pulling up when attempting to chase down Mesut Ozil, but they didn’t let it affect them too much as they slowly started to wrestle control.

Both sides hustled and harried in the opening exchanges, without really looking like making the breakthrough.

Andrew Robertson was consistently left unmarked down the left and after a couple of ‘sighter’ crosses, he found a perfect delivery to Roberto Firmino at the far post but Petr Cech beat his effort away.

Philippe Coutinho was the first to threaten with an effort from range that faded wide. The former Hoffenhiem man went closer just minutes later as his header back across goal just crept wide, but Liverpool weren’t made to wait long to open the scoring.

With 26 minutes played, Mohamed Salah was sent racing away down the right and when his attempt cut-back was deflected up into the air, Coutinho was on hand to nod over Cech to open the scoring.

Liverpool were well in control from that point, with Firmino firing into the stanchion behind the goal, before Salah wasted a glorious chance on the stroke of half-time, shooting straight at Cech after racing through one-on-one.

The visitors went in at the break in the driving seat and that continued after the break. First, Salah tested Cech with a low effort following a counter, before making no mistake when given a similar chance seven minutes after the break.

The Egyptian raced away on the counter, exchanged passes with Sadio Mane and found the far corner from the edge of the box with the help of a slight deflection to put Liverpool two goals to the good.

That goal opened the floodgates and what happened next is difficult to put into words, with Arsenal scoring three goals in just 388 seconds to turn the game on its head.

Not content with coming back from 2-0 down to be drawing 2-2 in just four minutes, Arsene Wenger's side went one better, taking the lead with 59 minutes on the clock. The away side gave the ball away needlessly down the left and Arsenal ruthlessly punished them. A fine back heel from Alexandre Lacazette put Mesut Ozil in behind and he proceeded to dink the ball over Mignolet to put Arsenal ahead.

Just three minutes after that, Simon Mignolet made a mess of Granit Xhaka's speculative effort from range as the 'Gunners' levelled.

However, in a game of many twists and turns, Liverpool weren't behind for too long. With 20 minutes to play, Emre Can found Firmino on the edge of the box and the Brazilian's effort was simply too hot to handle for Cech as the ball squirmed past his outstretched hand and into the net.

Mane had a fine chance to level things three minutes later but he could only fire straight at Cech after being found unmarked at the far post.

Both sides had chances to win it late on, with Mignolet almost presenting a tap-in to substitute Danny Welbeck, before Salah fired into the side-netting after great play from Giorginion Wijnaldum. 

However, both sides were made to make do with a point, in a game that proved to be the perfect example of the strengths and weaknesses of the two sides on display.