Kuyt 41          Johnson (og) 50

Dirk Kuyt gave Liverpool an interval lead. But after Arshavin’s strike, Rafa Benitez’s men never looked like salvaging a point.

Neither side entered the game in good form. And only Liverpool rediscovered theirs to any extent in the opening 45 minutes.

But the Spaniard, making his first Liverpool start since October 4^th, could only hit his right-foot shot from the edge of the box weakly at Arsenal keeper, fellow countryman Manuel Almunia.

Liverpool also had strong claims for a penalty when Gerrard was sent sprawling by a clumsy William Gallas challenge. But perfectly-positioned referee Howard Webb dismissed the appeals.

Four minutes before the break, however, Liverpool got their reward when Lucas challenged Almunia in the air in the six-yard box and the loose ball broke to Kuyt, whose shot flew into an unguarded net.

After a rare rocket at half-time from manager Arsene Wenger, Arsenal re-emerged with sufficient gusto to turn the game around.

On 50 minutes, Johnson diverted Samir Nasri’s right-wing cross past Pepe Reina after Jamie Carragher had failed to cut the ball out at the near post.

And Johnson’s miscontrol eight minutes later gave Arshavin a split-second to cut inside and unleash an unstoppable shot past a static Reina in off the post.

Liverpool could only muster a couple of off-target Torres headers in response, leaving Wenger to claim that Arsenal were back in the title race “mathematically, yes, and mentally certainly.”