Reds afraid to win, says Wenger

Arsenal 1 Liverpool 1

Only once he had finished bemoaning the injustice of Emmanuel Adebayor's red card did Arsène Wenger delivered a painful truth for Liverpool. The Arsenal manager contemplated how his 10 men had managed to hold out for a draw for the best part of 30 minutes and offered an explanation that cuts to the heart of Rafael Benitez's side. Maybe, pondered Wenger, yesterday's opponents were too "scared" to go for broke.

There you had the brutal truth about a Liverpool team who have drawn four out their last five Premier League matches yet still find themselves top of the table. They could have been so much further ahead of Chelsea, who will go top by a point if they beat Everton tonight, yet something is holding them back. Arsenal, bereft of their playmaker and captain Cesc Fabregas, without their centre-forward, were there for the taking but Liverpool showed none of the ruthlessness required. "Did they have no more resources or were they scared to be caught on the break?" Wenger asked of Liverpool. "It's difficult to know. One or two players had cramps. I don't know if they were tired or were they scared to push on? There were a few breaks where they could smell danger and after that maybe they became a bit more cautious.

"When you play against 10 men for almost 45 minutes and you do not win the game you cannot be completely happy with the result." Ouch. Benitez was not on the bench for Liverpool – finally defeated by the kidney stone complaint that has plagued him of late, he sent his instructions via mobile phone to Xavi Valero, the Liverpool goalkeeping coach, who passed them on to Sammy Lee and Mauricio Pellegrino. If there was any doubt as to who was in control, the inevitable substitution of Robbie Keane 10 minutes before time told you exactly who was pulling the strings.

Having taken control of the game in the second half, Keane scoring the equaliser after Robin van Persie's opener, Liverpool were given the ideal opportunity to push on for the win on 62 minutes. Adebayor, already booked for a foul on Emiliano Insua, stepped over the ball with his studs up dangerously close to Alvaro Arbeloa's leg. A flailing arm caught the defender limply in the face and it seemed that Wenger thought it was for that innocuous act which his striker was dismissed.

In truth, the referee Howard Webb had little choice but to show Adebayor a yellow card because the studs-bared stamp has become one of football's great taboos. As a home crowd that mourned the snapped leg of Eduardo last season, Arsenal's fans were wrong to boo Webb. The referee made the right decision yesterday, as he did when he sent off Cristiano Ronaldo against Manchester City in November. That is why he is the best referee in the country.

Relentlessly positive though he tends to be, even Benitez's assistant Lee admitted to a "sense of disappointment in the dressing room" that Liverpool could not make their advantage count.

"You need to give credit to Arsenal because once they went a man down they had their organisation right, they didn't succumb to our control," he said. "Sometimes that does happen. I would still like to give great credit to our lads. We worked and worked to use the numerical advantage but we did not do that to the greatest degree." Steven Gerrard dipped in and out of the game, perking up momentarily in the second half but even he missed a fabulous chance from Dirk Kuyt's cross just before the break.

Xabi Alonso was Liverpool's steadiest performer who, in the absence of the flu-ridden Javier Mascherano, was the telling influence in midfield. It was Alonso's robust but fair challenge on Fabregas that did the damage to the Arsenal captain and meant he did not reappear for the second half.

Arsenal's opening goal was a brilliant piece of work from Van Persie who turned an unpromising lump forward from Samir Nasri into an inspired through ball. On 23 minutes, Van Persie took the ball on his chest with his back to goal and turned sharply away from Daniel Agger. Jamie Carragher tried to recover but the Arsenal man had split Liverpool's two centre-backs and blasted his shot past Pepe Reina.

The equaliser was equally well taken although, like Van Persie's goal, precious little thought went into its making. Agger cleared the ball from well in his own half, a thumping clearance that drew derision from the home crowd until they realised that it had turned into a very promising through ball. Keane got between William Gallas and Johan Djourou and, as the ball came down from its first bounce, clattered a shot past Manuel Almunia.

Without Fabregas, Denilson and Alex Song the midfield looked particularly vulnerable to the onslaught of Alonso and Gerrard but it never really came.

Wenger could feel proud of the way his team held out, although it would not have been a surprise if they had folded. As for Liverpool, they took this game to the brink and decided not to go all out for victory. If they want to win this title that caution will have to be abandoned at some point.

Goals: Van Persie (23) 1-0; Keane (43) 1-1.

Arsenal (4-4-2): Almunia; Sagna, Djourou, Gallas, Clichy; Denilson, Fabregas (Diaby, h-t), Song, Nasri (Eboué, 90); Adebayor, Van Persie. Substitutes not used: Vela, Ramsey, Silvestre, Wilshere, Fabianski (gk).

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Insua; Alonso, Lucas (Ngog, 87); Kuyt, Gerrard, Riera (Babel, 71); Keane (El Zhar, 80). Substitutes not used: Cavalieri (gk), Hyypia, Benayoun, Plessis.

Referee: H Webb (South Yorkshire).

Booked: Arsenal Adebayor, Van Persie, Sagna; Liverpool Keane, Carragher, Lucas .

Sent off: Adebayor (62).

Man of the match: Alonso.

Attendance: 60,094.