ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE/Liverpool 1 Arsenal 2:THE CONTEST for the Premier League is more of an enigma than a spectacle. A fortnight ago Arsenal were 11 points off the top of the Premier League, with a game in hand, following a jarring 3-0 loss to Chelsea at home. Now the Stamford Bridge club are merely six points in front of Arsene Wenger's team. It would still be a mistake to speak of resurgence or transformation just yet.
This match had its note of desperation and there were too many occasions when the footballers had such little trust in their skills that the emphasis was put on trying to milk fouls and fool the referee, Howard Webb.
No one, however, can be misanthropic enough to disregard the moment of glory that brought Arsenal a first league victory at this stadium since October, 2003.
An own-goal by the Liverpool full back Glen Johnson presented them with an equaliser, but the manner in which the win was seized will be recalled more often.
With 58 minutes gone, Cesc Fabregas crossed low and the ball brushed off his team-mate Theo Walcott before, in a mistake that would normally have gone unnoticed, Johnson miscontrolled it. Andrey Arshavin pounced to step inside and lash a shot from the fringes of the area that flew home high at the near post.
Not even a goalkeeper of Pepe Reina's calibre could offer a gesture of defiance. Arshavin, at centre forward, was a man out of position, but it is bad for Liverpool when he is on their field at all.
He had scored all of Arsenal's goals in the 4-4 draw here last season. It ought to gladden him and Wenger that their side were efficient enough yesterday to take a fuller reward from a more modest contribution.
The absence of the injured Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner means that the club has to improvise. Eduardo Da Silva had betrayed a disinclination to be the target man during the win over Stoke City and he was kept on the bench at Anfield.
Arshavin has no great physical presence, but on this occasion he overwhelmed a marker through sheer technique.
That goal, of course, was yet another example of Liverpool's present brittleness.
It would be unwise for anyone at the club to assume they will qualify for next season's Champions League as a matter of course.
This game may be remembered most by the home fans for a factor that was absent. There was no fightback of any sort.
The match petered out and Liverpool seemed so resigned to defeat that it would merely have inconvenienced the crowd's travel plans if the referee had decided on a half-an-hour's stoppage time instead of four minutes.
The tameness of Rafael Benitez' line-up does have its explanations and certain critical figures lack full match fitness. Fernando Torres embodied that. He began the game with touch, vigour and bristling purposefulness, but was on the wane by the closing passages of the first half.
Steven Gerrard could not summon up explosiveness.
Still, Liverpool could have put Arsenal in deep distress while they were giving a good impersonation of dynamism.
In the 13th minute, William Gallas connected with Gerrard, yet Webb did not award a penalty. There were all sorts of references in the stands to the fact that the Liverpool captain had lost possession in any case, but that should have been an irrelevance.
Webb knows it is of no consequence where on the pitch the ball was. The kick on Gerrard was all that mattered.
Liverpool's malaise is not being caused by officials. The club are out of the Champions League and six defeats in the Premier League leave them 13 points behind Chelsea. It will be all the more exasperating that they had appeared to be imposing themselves here.
After 41 minutes, Denilson conceded a free-kick for a foul on Gerrard. Fabio Aurelio took it and Manuel Almunia, distracted by a challenge by Lucas Leiva, punched the ball weakly. Dirk Kuyt had scant difficulty in sending it into the net.
The Arsenal fans would have been steeling themselves for another loss to a traditional rival, following those against Manchester United and Chelsea in this campaign.
The surprise that ensued was, superficially, born of luck. After all, Samir Nasri's cross from the right in the 50th minute broke from Jamie Carragher and cannoned off Johnson for an equaliser.
The greater truth was that Arsenal were the better side in a mediocre contest. They had an air of security since defenders such as Thomas Vermaelen were unflappable. Of course, there was little to terrorise them.
Liverpool's record against the 'Big Three' this season
(a) Oct 4 League v Chelsea 2-0
(h) Oct 25 League v Man United 2-0
(a) Oct 28 L Cup v Arsenal 2-1
(h) Dec 13 League v Arsenal 1-2
Played 4 Won 1 Lost 3
League encounters to come
(a) Feb 10th, 2010 v Arsenal
(a) Mar 20th v Man United
(h) May 1st v Chelsea
