Liverpool, England - Trent Alexander-Arnold ed shrank a narrow post and Liverpool's bench applauded.

The host surrendered 2-0 to lead Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday, an encouragemental little show designed to inspire Alexander-Arnold and his teammates who seek to win goals. Since ten years ago, Liverpool has encountered countless actions.

But this time it's different. This time it was a conscious support for Alexander-Arnold's new reality. Within six days from the end of the season announcing his intention to leave Liverpool, the defender - after being recorded in the 67th minute instead of Conor Bradley, the Andfield crowd tied with Sunday's 2-2.

Frustration towards Alexander-Arnold -- who looks destined to join Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer -- was always to be expected, but the level of vitriol directed at a player who for much of his career has been revered as a homegrown hero was suprising and contributed to the uneasy second-half ambience at Anfield as the champions failed to really put Mikel Arteta's side to the sword.

For much of the afternoon, Liverpool returned to the turf, who won the club's 20th League title after defeating Tottenham's 5-1 title two weeks ago. Before Sunday's clash, a new banner unfolded on the KOP, depicting Arsenal owner Arteta superimposed in a bridesmaid dress next to the title: "Always be a bridesmaid, never a bride."

It was Liverpool supporters’ misfortune nod to visitors in the Premier League, as the Gunners pursued their title for the third straight season. Jibe set the tone for Arsenal's first-half bruises, finding himself 2-0 at the break thanks to good goals from Cody Gakpo and Luis Díaz.

A few days after the Gunner fell into Europe in Paris Saint-Germain's hands, family supporters declared a chance to rub salt into the wounds of travel fans. "The best team in Europe? You're laughing," it's a mocking cry, referring to Arteta's mid-week claim that in the Champions League this season, no team is better than Arsenal.

Of course, Liverpool made visitors look ordinary with exaggerated and tough performances before the break, which largely led them to relentlessly towards the title. However, Arsenal were eager to destroy the Reds' gatherings and revived the break, and they cut their deficit by half with Gabriel Martinelli's header just two minutes after the restart.

But if that target made some wind energy in Liverpool’s sails go away, it’s Alexander Arnold’s introduction – and subsequent hostile reactions – that’s completely off the slot side.

Just three minutes later, Arsenal found his level after Mikel Merino succumbed to Alisson Becker's initial savings from Martin Odegaard. Ironically, it was the fact that Alexander-Arnold played Merino in the game, and the numerous families tried to drown out the defence's ridicule of the defence's ridicule, but it was clear that since he chose to leave the club, he had chosen his club's strong emotional response to Merseyside since he was 6 years old.

Both teams have a chance to win the game, and Andy Robertson went all out to miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity during the downtime of hosts and Odegaard. From an Arsenal perspective, their second half battle helped to raise a key point of view on the pursuit of Champions League football and avoided the ignorance of finishing third in a long-standing title battle between two horses.

Over the past few years, the Gunners have developed their own image, becoming the rising power of the Premier League and the most convincing disguise in Manchester City's crown. But as City get lost this semester, it is the slot machine's Liverpool that has shown the consistent glory they need to deprive them of.

Although Sunday's game had few consequences for the Reds in terms of tangible rewards, from the outset, everyone Liverpool convinced was eager to see a good performance, stating their dominance in the top flight this season.

Arsenal prevented them from doing so, which proves the resilience of Arteta's side and should provide some encouragement before the defining spell during the manager's reign.

There is little invaluable for Liverpool to eliminate a historic season, but it is clear that fan sentiment towards Alexander Arnold will serve as an unpopular sub-episode in the final weeks of the campaign.

“I said to everyone who asked me this question, it was an honor to live in Europe, everyone could speak out, everyone could speak out,” Slot asked Alexander Arnold’s reaction after the game. "That's what we've seen today. Some of them are not satisfied with him.

"I think all of them are not happy with him leaving the club, but some of them showed him that in some way, some of them applauded. The only thing I can say is that I owe the players, the clubs, the clubs, and everyone who works hard to win football games for us to do that."

Slot's ability to keep a cool head and lower the emotions of one of the game's most enthusiastic fan bases has been one of his biggest strengths for most of the season. However, with two games still in this league, the battle for Alexander-Arnold seems ready to offer the Dutchman one of his biggest challenges as Liverpool boss so far.