For almost an hour this was an ordeal for Andrey Arshavin, his impact so far removed from last season's remarkable four-goal haul at Anfield that you could understand why Arsenal intend to sue the Dutch Football Federation for the loss of Robin van Persie. Then the Russian received one split-second opportunity to put an instinctive football brain to work and Liverpool were tormented again. "That's why you're Channel Five," taunted the Arsenal faithful. Without a player of Arshavin's ingenuity, Liverpool had no response.
Arsenal's winning goal didn't just vindicate Arsène Wenger's decision to deploy Arshavin as a lone striker. In the contest for Champions League qualification - and that will soon seem too kind to Rafael Benítez's team if their wretched form continues - it could prove invaluable. But it will bring Wenger rich satisfaction that the injury problems that forced him to sacrifice Arshavin's invention did not stop his side closing the gap on Manchester United to three points with a game in hand.
For Benítez there was no reprieve to the malaise, one that deepened on a day he had envisaged as a new beginning. There is more to the Spaniard's conviction that Liverpool will finish in the top four than his admission on Friday that, "I'm the manager, I have to stay positive." His principal argument is that there is too much quality in his squad to remain languishing among the also-rans, especially since the return from injury of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard. But despite a bright start from his talismanic pair - with the latter unfortunate not to win an 11th-minute penalty when fouled by William Gallas - their impact faded. Liverpool's hopes of a fresh start, and of Champions League football, is currently heading the same way.
