5 talking points from Liverpool 1 - 1 Arsenal

Liverpool drew 1-1 with Arsenal at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday. Here are five talking points from the game.

No surprises from Klopp

Jurgen Klopp went with the expected lineup for this one - no surprises at all in the XI. Perhaps that was a little inevitable given how good Liverpool were against West Ham United in midweek.

The flipside of that is there may be one or two surprises to come on Boxing Day against Burnley. For this one, though, Klopp was happy to put out the XI Mikel Arteta likely prepared for.

It shows confidence in the team, certainly.

Mohamed Salah is incredibly good

Not exactly a shock here but Salah's goal was a fantastic one. Liverpool needed something and their no.11 popped up with something special.

Oleksandr Zinchenko could not handle him and the finish was an elite one. A moment of absolute class - and essentially what the Reds lacked for 90 minutes against Manchester United.

But it also brings about a bit of a worry. With no one else up top providing moments like this, what are Liverpool going to do while Salah is at AFCON next month?

The midfield problem

Liverpool's midfield struggled here to offer much going forward. Dominik Szoboszlai was unable to find any rhythm and the less said about Ryan Gravenberch's cameo the better.

That's in stark contrast to midweek where the midfield led the way. In fact, we've seen a few games this season where the midfield has won it for Liverpool - then we get games like this.

And perhaps the answer to that inconsistency is obvious. Szboszlai has only just turned 23, Curtis Jones is still 22, and Gravenberch is only 21. Liverpool don't have an awful lot of experience in the middle and this was a game where it showed.

The trust in Endo

Wataru Endo has taken some time to find his feet and we've certainly seen some messy performances from him. Here, however, was a sign as great as any that Jurgen Klopp now completely trusts him as his holding midfielder.

Endo deliberately picked up a first-half yellow card as he pulled Gabriel Martinelli back to stop a counter-attack. That would have made it very easy for Klopp to sub him off early in the second half.

Instead, he left him out there for the full 90 minutes and was rewarded with a fine performance. Endo won three tackles, made two interceptions and only Virgil van Dijk passed the ball more accurately.

Over the second half of the season, the Japan international could become a very important player.

So what now?

Liverpool had won every home game a week ago. Now they've dropped four points in their last two. However, those were also two of the absolute biggest home games this season.

It's a little disappointing, of course, but Liverpool will still be second on Christmas Day. After the overhaul in the summer - and everything we saw last season - fans should be happy with that.

Yes, there was a golden chance to take top spot but Liverpool can go into the second part of the season challenging for the title. This team can still do it.