Salah, Alexander-Arnold make history in Liverpool's draw with Arsenal

Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold both wrote their names into the history books during the Reds' thrilling 1-1 draw with Arsenal in Saturday's Premier League clash.

The Anfield encounter pitted the league leaders against a Reds side occupying the bronze medal position, having been knocked off their second-placed perch by Aston Villa on Friday evening.

However, with Villa only managing to glean a point from their battle with Sheffield United - wasting the chance to go top of the table in the process - Arsenal and Liverpool knew that any victor in Saturday's Anfield battle would spend Christmas Day in first place.

Akin to their fast start at Anfield last season, Arsenal exploded out of the blocks against Jurgen Klopp's side and took the lead with just four minutes gone, as Gabriel Magalhaes headed home from Martin Odegaard's free kick.

The Reds soon began to get a foothold on proceedings, though, and they needed just 25 minutes to wipe out Arsenal's advantage, as Salah latched onto a sumptuous cross-field ball from Alexander-Arnold, gave Oleksandr Zinchenko the slip and fired home into the roof of the net.

By providing the stunning diagonal pass for Salah to finish, Alexander-Arnold registered his 57th assist in the Premier League, the joint-most for any defender in the history of the competition.

Alexander-Arnold's tally is identical to that of teammate Andrew Robertson, who has been out since October with a serious shoulder injury and is not expected to return to action until the middle of January at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Salah's ferocious strike marked the Egyptian's 121st direct goal contribution for Liverpool in the Premier League, having struck 88 of his own while setting up another 33.

The former Chelsea and Roma man has now had a direct hand in more Premier League goals than any other Reds player in history, leaving Steven Gerrard (120) in his wake, while Robbie Fowler (100) is the only other Liverpool representative to reach a century.

Records were not just limited to the men in red, though, as Gabriel's header - timed at three minutes and 27 seconds - represented Arsenal's quickest-ever Premier League goal at Anfield.

The Gunners' point also ensured that they would sit at the top of the table on Christmas Day in back-to-back years for just the second time, having also done so in 1932 and 1933, where they won the title on both occasions.

Mikel Arteta's men were forced to survive a couple of scares on Saturday evening, though, as Chris Kavanagh and the VAR room waved away fierce Liverpool appeals for a penalty when Odegaard handled the ball in the box.

The Gunners were then caught cold in the second half as Liverpool launched a five-on-one counter-attack, where Salah tried to turn provider for Alexander-Arnold, but the right-back crashed his effort against the bar.

Klopp expressed his anger at the officials' failure to award Liverpool a penalty in Saturday's draw, where Kostas Tsimikas also broke his collarbone in a collision with the Reds head coach.

Meanwhile, Arteta described the two-goal stalemate as one of the most "intense" and "hectic" games he has ever been a part of as a player or manager.