A quickfire double midway through the first half had put the Reds in command, Cody Gakpo’s header followed by a clinical passage completed by Luis Diaz.

The Gunners reduced that advantage at the outset of the second period through Gabriel Martinelli and marked their ascendancy when Mikel Merino equalised with 70 gone.

Merino was subsequently dismissed for the away side but there were no further changes to the scoresheet before the final whistle.

There were six changes made by head coach Arne Slot from the starting XI that had lost at Chelsea a week previously.

Andy Robertson was among those restored to the line-up, making him the 10th player to reach 250 Premier League appearances at the Reds.

Liverpool: Alisson, Van Dijk, Konate, Diaz (Jota, 79), Szoboszlai, Salah, Jones (Mac Allister, 66), Gakpo (Nunez, 66), Robertson, Gravenberch (Elliott, 83), Bradley (Alexander-Arnold, 66).

Unused subs: Kelleher, Endo, Tsimikas, Quansah.

‘Bring on the champions,’ bellowed a sun-drenched Anfield, awaiting a first sight of the Premier League winners back on home soil since the title was sealed.

The Gunners crafted the first chance amid the din, a set-piece routine from the left finding an unmarked Bukayo Saka, whose side-footed effort across goal bounced just wide of the far post.

Liverpool pieced together a slick move soon after as Gakpo and Diaz combined to release Curtis Jones, who immediately arced a pass from the left over towards Mohamed Salah.

The Reds’ top scorer unselfishly opted to serve the ball infield to Diaz’s sprint forward but the Colombian’s driven finish was blocked by the leg of goalkeeper David Raya.

Arsenal let the hosts off the hook when Thomas Partey won possession from Jones inside his own box, their sudden numerical advantage yielding only a blocked shot from Leandro Trossard.

The champions promptly scored twice in the space of 90 seconds.

After Gakpo was initially foiled at close range from Robertson’s brilliant hoist in behind, the pair instantly linked up again; from a quick throw-in to restart, the former headed in the latter’s cross.

Kopites were still celebrating that breakthrough when Slot’s side doubled their lead. Salah’s reverse pass cut through Arsenal and allowed Dominik Szoboszlai to capitalise on a supporting run, rolling the ball into the middle for Diaz to nudge in.

Chances were flowing now. Jones fired narrowly the wrong side of post with a curler from the edge of the area, Saka blasted too high, and Diaz was unable to turn in Conor Bradley’s square after a marauding Ibrahima Konate dribble.

Arsenal were on the front foot straight from the resumption and levelled two minutes in.

Liverpool had already needed to block a Merino effort after Trossard escaped Bradley down the left and pulled the ball back into the middle. But it proved a brief reprieve.

From the next attack, Trossard lofted in an accurate cross from the left-hand side that Martinelli deftly flicked into the bottom right corner to halve the visitors’ deficit.

Alisson Becker palmed and scooped up a low finish from Ben White before Szoboszlai whacked a long-ranger that Raya beat back out.

The Gunners’ increased threat continued and Bradley produced a carefully timed and crucial sliding tackle to thwart Martinelli as he moved with menace towards Martin Odegaard’s pass to the area.

They did get level with 20 minutes to go, though. Odegaard’s strike from distance was clawed onto the post by a stretching Alisson but ricocheted kindly for Merino to guide in the rebound.

The game’s path might have turned again when Merino was dismissed for a second booking as the clocked ticked to 80 minutes, with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s curler from the free-kick not too far away.

Robertson sent a back-post volley wide when Salah’s dinked cross deflected his way and, deep into stoppage time, Odegaard was a fraction off target with a low hit.

Liverpool’s left-back then had the ball in the net with practically the last kick, Robertson converting when a Virgil van Dijk header from a corner was saved. But a foul was called in the build-up and the points had to be shared.

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