Concerns for Arsenal’s mentality after twice letting Liverpool lead slip as Spurs lose to London rivals

Arsenal had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League overnight.

The Gunners twice led in North London but twice conceded to the visiting Reds, denying Mikel Arteta’s side the full lot of three points they craved.

Bukayo Saka’s ninth-minute effort was cancelled out by Virgil Van Dijk’s 18th-minute header before summer signing Mikel Merino’s first Arsenal goal - a 43rd-minute header - was not enough with Mo Salah equalising in the 81st minute.

Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane was critical of Arsenal’s mindset as they again attempt to chase down league leaders Manchester City.

“I’m starting to worry about this Arsenal mentality now,” the Manchester United great said.

“They’re 2-1 up, and I’m still looking and thinking, ‘Go on and try and win the game’. But there’s elements of Arsenal now, and it’s happened most of the season, when they get themselves in front… and I don’t mind excuses about injuries or going down 10 men, but they seem to just sit back in. Instead of going, ‘Go and get the third goal’.

“Liverpool were there for the taking, if they wanted to go for it. But it was almost, ‘Let's hope we can win 2-1’. And when you’re up against good players like Salah, then they’re good enough to punish you.”

Keane is concerned for Arsenal, questioning whether they really do have the intestinal fortitude to truly challenge City.

“I still look at the mentality of this Arsenal side,” he added.

“Today, they were 2-1 up, and they just stepped back. They were time wasting, they were trying to kill the game, I get it.

“Do they really have that belief and conviction that they’re a top team and they can really challenge Manchester City? I still don’t see it.”

The result leaves the Gunners sitting third on the Premier League table on 18 points, five in arrears of champions Manchester City (23) with Liverpool second on 22.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Tottenham lost to fellow Londoners Crystal Palace 1-0 at Selhurst Park.

The subpar Spurs were beaten for the second time in a row on the road, conceding to Jean-Philippe Mateta in the 31st minute which led to Palace’s first triumph of the league season.

Postecoglou could not find any winners on the park as his players fell into a trap by not being able to deal with a frustrating game plan set by Oliver Glasner and his Eagles.

“It was a game that turned into a bit of a battle, a lot of stop-starting and standing around, and we didn’t deal with that really well at all,” the Australian manager said.

“We didn’t get to grips with the nature of what was transpiring out there. It turned into a bit of a battle and they dealt with it better than we did.

“It was just a game where we needed to stay composed, not falling through the trap of trying to play the game that ultimately Palace wanted to play. It was battle after battle, duels, stop-starts and we needed to be a lot more clear-headed about how we deal with that.”

In other results, Chelsea moved to fifth with a 2-1 home win over Newcastle United thanks to a sixth league goal from Nicolas Jackson and seventh from Cole Palmer, while West Ham United edged Manchester United 2-1 courtesy of a late Jarrod Bowen penalty.