Arsenal took the lead with an excellent goal by Freddie Ljungberg. Carragher hesitated when the ball was lobbed forward to the left hand side of the goal, and Dennis did well to get infront of him and control the ball. He spotted Bob Pires's run into the box just behind him and laid it off perfectly. Pires in turn played it across the face of goal for Freddie's run and the Swede jabbed it in from the 6 yard line.

Arsenal reacted like a Wenger side rather than a Graham side. Pressing forward looking for a second (which, to be fair, looked like coming), they seemed to forget about defending. Against a team containing the pace of Owen and Anelka, and which had been looking to bypass the midfield all afternoon, it never looked a good idea.

As it turned out, it was Riise who took advantage of Gerrards first-time hoof out of defence (which was either a brilliant return to form or the one hopeful punt upfield of many which worked out for them). Stuart Taylor was probably at fault. With the play having been in the Liverpool half for a while he should have been starting from further out, and he could have been more positive in coming out. But also, if our defence hadn't been quite so gungo-ho, Riise never would have been faced with only the keeper to beat.

Bergkamp had come on for Kanu 10 minutes into the second half, and Arsenal's attacking looked more effective with him involved. Maybe Kanu won't be missed so much while he's away with Nigeria.

Kanu's particularly ineffective when Henry spends so much time going wide. Maybe Jeffers will be back soon to start getting in the box and taking advantage of the great approach play. One long-term absentee who did return today was Dixon. Coming on for the injured Luzhny, he'll be fighting to get his foothold back while Lauren's out. And good luck to him.

Speaking of Luzhny (who had a mixed game featuring some excellent attacking wing play but also some wasteful possession), hats off to Patrick Berger. Rather than try to tackle Oleg, as the injured Ukrainian hobbled across pitch to clear, he let the Arsenal player hook the ball out for a throw. Then, with Luzhny having keeled over in pain off the pitch, Berger threw the ball straight out for an Arsenal goal-kick. Top sportsmanship from the Czech.

Having got 3 points at Anfield, this could be seen as a disappointment. But at the start of the season we'd all have taken 4 points against the scousers. Man Utd's win today takes them top for the first time this season. But we've still got a game in hand and only 2 points to catch up.

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