Liverpool's smash and grab mission

A match as taught and tight as a clenched fist ended with the thousands of Liverpool fans hemmed into a Highbury corner yesterday shaking theirs at the two Uniteds from Manchester and Leeds at the top of the Premiership.

Liverpool are now three points behind the Yorkshire-men and six behind the Mancunians. They have played one game more but Gerard Houllier's emerging side added further credibility to the notion that this Frenchman is fashioning something of purpose and resilience on Merseyside. The like of it has not been seen there for some time.

Simultaneously, however, another French manager, Arsene Wenger was relinquishing the last of his grip on the hope that Arsenal can resuscitate a title challenge. The fingers loosened considerably at Bradford are outstretched now. Wenger even admitted to worries about Arsenal qualifying for the Champions' League.

The situation here turned out to be exactly the one Wenger had outlined before kick-off, the one he said he dreaded - "Liverpool coming here to defend and hitting us on the break."

Not that he will derive any consolation from the fact, Wenger called it right. Liverpool came with a defence that was neither four man, five man or six man. As early as the 10th minute, Liverpool had 10 green men behind the ball. None of them bottlers. Arsenal, despite at various stages having the many splendoured talents of Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Thierry Henry, Freddie Ljungberg, Marc Overmars and Davor Suker, could not find a path through Liverpool's green thicket.

Even a vibrant half hour from Dennis Bergkamp, starting his first match since November, could not provide Arsenal with the necessary guile or angles with which to deconstruct the new, solid Liverpool.

They may know all about confined space in this part of north London, but not even repeated outings against dour sides like Leicester has given Arsenal an insight into how to break down the defensively committed. "It was a frustrating game," said Wenger, "we had the ball, they had the chances."

That was a concise analysis of the 90 minutes. Although by the end Arsenal were able to point to saves made by Sander Westerveld from Henry, a Vieira shot that came back off the crossbar with four minutes to go and decisive blocks from Dominic Matteo and Sami Hyypia, it was the visitors who created the first, best and most frequent clean openings.

That first one came as early as the fifth minute, featured four Liverpool players and climaxed with Martin Keown diverting a Vladimir Smicer effort. That may have suggested to Wenger that at last a team had come to Highbury to try and dictate but his fearful prophecy soon started finding its fulfilment in the next 10 minutes when Arsenal took possession of the ball and refused to release it.

Significantly the solitary danger resulting from this sustained pressure came from outside the area, a dipping drive from Henry. Westerveld, a £4.5 million summer signing, made a fine one-handed save.

Three minutes later Arsenal's already difficult task got worse. When Ljungberg lost the ball on the left, Steven Gerrard took control and bypassed Gilles Grimandi with a pass to Titi Camara. Camara was free and, played onside by Lee Dixon, raced toward David Seaman before coolly clipping the ball around him. It was Camara's eighth of the season.

That makes him joint leading scorer with Michael Owen, whose continued absence, along with Robbie Fowler's, meant that four minutes before half-time, a replica breakaway fell to the wooden Erik Meijer. This time Seaman was allowed to make the parry.

In between, Arsenal's territorial monopoly resumed but just once did they seriously threaten. That was when Ljungberg slalomed through Smicer and Hyypia and shaped to shoot; then Gerrard arrived. It was a brave tackle from a teenager with a suspect groin. Gerrard departed as a result and may not now be called up by England for the friendly against Argentina.

Liverpool have a three-week break now before travelling to Old Trafford. The gap at the top may have increased by then. A victory there may be beyond them but as Houllier said of the club's progress overall: "We are ahead in our rebuilding. We are probably tighter and cooler than we were." This match would be exhibit one in defence of that claim.

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Grimandi, Silvinho, Parlour, Vieira, Petit (Overmars 46), Ljungberg (Luzhny 77), Bergkamp (Suker 59), Henry. Subs Not Used: Winterburn, Manninger. Booked: Parlour.

Liverpool: Westerveld, Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia, Matteo, Smicer, Hamann, Gerrard (Heggem 33), Berger, Meijer (Murphy 55), Camara. Subs Not Used: Staunton, Nielsen, Traore. Booked: Camara. Goals: Camara 18. Att: 38,098.

Referee: S Dunn (Bristol).