James Lawton: Arsenal's juniors negotiate testing rite of passage

Arsenal could easily have left here with three points and the growing conviction that this is indeed their dream season, the time when every little whim turns to gold. Still, it couldn't have been too much of a hardship settling for something that was less or more – depending on the philosophical mood of their manager, Arsène Wenger, on the journey back to London.

His leap of celebration when Cesc Fabregas – who else to deal with the first serious crisis of the season he has threatened not so much to dominate as to annex? – stole in for the 80th-minute equaliser suggested that he indeed counted his wine glass half full.

The extra points would have been a nice bonus, of course, but Arsenal returned to the top of the league with reason to believe that they might just be halfway through a successful rite of passage. Next week Manchester United go to the Emirates Stadium bristling with firepower but, after watching Arsenal, supposedly a fledgling team who have grown chirpy on easy victories over the lower strata of the Premier League, play their way out of trouble – quite exquisitely at times – Sir Alex Ferguson will be the last man to be making any easy assumptions.

Yes, Arsenal are young and for a time yesterday seriously inhibited by the absence of the injured Robin van Persie's firepower, but it is quite some time since anyone could easily describe them as innocent – or susceptible to a brief burst of bullying.

Liverpool may just have hoped that some of that frailty still lingered when Steven Gerrard blasted home a free-kick in the seventh minute and for a while the England man seemed determined to make Arsenal pay for his recent embarrassments in front of his home crowd.

It was a brief ambition, though, and it started to dwindle almost as soon as Manuel Almunia produced a reflex save from a Gerrard shot that might have indeed asked serious questions about the young team's ability to fight their way out of trouble.

The fact was that the midfield soon enough belonged to the stunningly precocious Fabregas and maybe one of the most underrated players at the top end of the Premier League – the Belarusian Alexander Hleb.

Hleb delivered the spirit and the drive and the final, clinical touch which allowed Fabregas to run beyond the Liverpool cover and slip the equaliser past Jose Reina. That, though, was merely when his performance was bathed in maximum attention – and replays. For the rest of the time, he represented the heart and the soul of Arsenal's flair for making simple but thrilling patterns.

Liverpool, desperate to get out from under the pressure created by their nose-dive in Europe and the growing sense that Rafa Benitez's vast increase in resources has brought no greater conviction in the matter of what represents his best team, produced some early bluster but reality came quickly enough. Arsenal, in terms of coherence in midfield and an ability to turn defence swiftly into potential attack – were operating on another, much superior level.

Benitez had the additional angst of losing again two of the players he plainly considered most vital for the task of stopping the march of Arsenal – the Spanish duo of Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres. Both appeared to have revived old injuries, a metatarsal break and a tear of an abductor respectively, which was another reason for Anfield to be gripped with a sense that the manager's pledge that this is the year the Premier League title is delivered may still be somewhat up in the air.

For Arsenal, there is no doubt an urgent need for Van Persie to get back on duty, but, with or without him, Wenger indeed has reason to believe that there is vibrant life after Thierry Henry.

This was supposed to be the day when Arsenal's latest title pretensions were put under the coldest scrutiny – and when they might indeed look rather as they had been declared before their time. That idea perished quickly enough in the rhythm of Fabregas's easy creativity – and Hleb's relentless pursuit of every piece of open space.

Three minutes from the end of normal time Fabregas came within an inch of providing the most perfect final swordstroke, a curling shot which smacked against the Liverpool woodwork. It would have the most handsome compensation for his snatched failure to produce another killer touch after Emmanuel Eboué had shot against a post.

However, recriminations are likely to prove less than exhaustive. This is a player whose progress is becoming quite seamless. His competitive instinct is as huge as his imagination, and yesterday Liverpool, a team struggling to find their own identity, could only be grateful that his command was not quite absolute. But then this, after all, was a mere rite of passage – not a coronation. That might just have to wait a little longer.