Waching daily Dec 29 2018

Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos found himself in a tense stand-off with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah at half-time - until Virgil van Dijk stepped in

The pair were seen walking off together at the break and the Gunners centre half appeared to be in discussion with the Reds forward

Salah scored a penalty, which was given following a foul by Sokratis on the Egyptian, just before the half-time whistle to put Liverpool 4-1 up

The defender could have been talking to Salah about the incident and as they approached the tunnel Liverpool's captain Van Dijk got in between the duo

The Dutch defender was seen responding to Sokratis before Georginio Wijnaldum separated the pair as both sides headed into their dressing rooms

Fans reacted to the dispute at the side of the pitch on social media on Saturday evening

One Twitter user wrote: 'VVD (Virgil van Dijk) is the last player Sokratis wanted to see there

' Another Tweet read: 'Sokratis was picking on Mo Salah again for the penalty. Guess who promptly puts a lid on it?' While another fan wrote: 'Sokratis did NOT want that smoke

' Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool beat Arsenal 5-1 at Anfield to move nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table