This season has become a lengthening tale of the unexpected. The victory over Liverpool here yesterday which restored Arsenal to second place in the Premiership was as surprising as last Tuesday's home defeat by Newcastle United, which had denied them a chance to go top.

Yet again a sending-off, the 40th under Arsene Wenger, reduced Arsenal to 10 men before half-time. This time, however, a more controlled performance gained Arsenal the win their depleted side had failed to achieve five nights earlier.

Wenger's team had come away from that match blaming a controversial penalty for their downfall. Yesterday they suffered an equally debatable dismissal by Paul Durkin, who sent off Giovanni van Bronckhorst for a dive, but then gave Arsenal a penalty from which Thierry Henry scored in first-half stoppage time.

Early in the second half Fredrik Ljungberg increased Arsenal's lead and, although Jari Litmanen scored for Liverpool soon afterwards, the erstwhile league leaders seldom found the subtlety or precision needed to break down determined defending. It was Arsenal's first win at Anfield for nine years and their first goals here for six.

With 11 men or 10, Arsenal had the edge on Liverpool for all but a few short periods when their defence began to breathe hard in coping with the opposition's extra man. Since Ray Parlour performed like two-and-a-half men for the 96 minutes the match lasted it was easy to forget the disparity in numbers. With Sven-Goran Eriksson in the crowd Parlour almost completely upstaged Steven Gerrard in a memorable display of midfield industry and ingenuity.

Together with the busy van Bronckhorst, in for the suspended Patrick Vieira, Parlour gave Arsenal a command between the penalty areas which was almost absolute by the time the Dutchman saw another of the season's eccentric red cards.

In the 36th minute, as van Bronckhorst and Sami Hyypia pursued a ball on the left-hand edge of the area, there was brief contact and the Arsenal midfielder lost his footing on the greasy surface. Van Bronckhorst was immediately back on his feet, neither demanding nor expecting a penalty, let alone a sending-off. But Durkin, having already cautioned him for a foul on Hyypia, now reckoned van Bronckhorst had dived and dismissed him for a second bookable offence.

"Giovanni is 100 per cent certain he did not dive," said Wenger. "Perhaps the referee did not realise he had already booked him."

Durkin, however, was adamant. "I had a clear view of it," he said. "I felt he was trying to deceive me to get a penalty."

"Perhaps we had better start practising with 10 men," mused Wenger.

Certainly Liverpool could do with practising against 10. Once Wenger had withdrawn Nwankwo Kanu to shore up his midfield, leaving Henry up front to be supported by Robert Pires and Ljungberg when Arsenal could afford to take the risk, Liverpool's football became laboured and predictable.

Michael Owen still awaits his 100th goal for Liverpool and came no closer to scoring it in this match than the moment midway through the first half when, having been set up by Danny Murphy, he saw his shot cleared off the line by Ashley Cole. After that, the ability of Pires to create scoring situations in crowded areas gnawed away at Liverpool's nerves and the departure of van Bronckhorst scarcely eased Anfield's angst, so regularly were Arsenal catching their opponents on the break.

The penalty followed a sharp passing movement by Henry and Kanu, who sent Ljungberg clear. Jerzy Dudek blocked the ball before Ljungberg could shoot but in doing so brought the Swede down.

Henry's penalty duly put Arsenal one up and by the 53rd minute they were further ahead. Uncharacteristic slackness by Gerrard allowed Pires to turn Liverpool on the left and from the Frenchman's low centre Ljungberg nipped in to clip the ball past Dudek at the near post.

Losing Emile Heskey at half-time to an ankle injury deprived Owen of what support he had and although Litmanen, the replacement, rose well at the far post to head in from Owen's centre, most of Liverpool's subsequent finishing ended up on the Kop.

One could almost hear the chuckles at Old Trafford.

LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia, Riise, Murphy, Gerrard, McAllister (Litmanen 45), Berger, Heskey (Smicer 45), Owen. Subs Not Used: Heggem, Kirkland, Wright. Booked: Henchoz. Goals: Litmanen 55.

ARSENAL: Taylor, Lauren, Keown, Campbell, Cole, Ljungberg, Parlour, van Bronckhorst, Pires (Upson 85), Henry (Wiltord 90), Kanu (Luzhny 88). Subs Not Used: Edu, Wright. Sent Off: van Bronckhorst (36). Booked: Lauren, van Bronckhorst, Taylor, Ljungberg. Goals: Henry 45 pen, Ljungberg 53.

Referee: P Durkin (Dorset).