Cesc rescues Anfield point

A late goal from Cesc Fabregas gave Arsenal a deserved point at Liverpool to send them back to the top of the Premier League table.

Spaniard strikes to level early effort from Steven Gerrard

A late goal from Cesc Fabregas gave Arsenal a deserved point at Liverpool to send them back to the top of the Premier League table. The Reds made a great start as Steven Gerrard fired home a free-kick after just seven minutes. Thereafter, Arsenal dominated possession and played some wonderful football - but they just could not find a way through. Emmanuel Eboue smashed a shot against the post midway through the second half and Fabregas put the rebound wide - but the Spaniard made amends with just ten minutes left. The leveller came after great play by Alexander Hleb as he delayed his pass to perfection to find Fabregas's run and he toe-poked the ball home as Jose Reina was wrong-footed. It could easily have been a win for Arsenal but Fabregas saw his side-foot from 20-yards smash against Reina's post.

Early lead

The hosts were intent on giving Arsenal a fierce examination, and when Gerrard blasted home from 20 yards on seven minutes it was clear the North Londoners were in for a fierce battle. Arsenal then tore into Liverpool, causing Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher plenty of problems at the heart of the home defence. Both needed to hurl themselves at efforts from Rosicky and Kolo Toure. The hosts were forced into a half-time change. Fernando Torres had seemingly damaged his calf in a first-half fall - so Peter Crouch, who scored a hat-trick in this fixture last season, entered the fray and he almost added a second when his 25-yard effort needed Manuel Almunia to turn it away at full stretch. Arsenal almost equalised in the 54th minute when Adebayor surged into space on the right to crack a shot against the foot of a post, the ball bouncing out for Fabregas to fire over an open goal.

Pressure

Liverpool were now hitting on the break as they soaked up waves of Arsenal attacks. Crouch won plenty of flick-ons and saw another long-range effort thud into Almunia's chest. Gerrard and Voronin then set up Crouch for a run into the box and cross-shot which flashed just wide. Arsenal sent on Gilberto and Nicklas Bendtner for Gael Clichy and Emmanuel Eboue in the 74th minute, just seconds before Kuyt's dipping volley cleared Almunia and skimmed the top of the net. But the Gunners levelled after Hleb's run on the left created the space for Fabregas to squeeze home the equaliser. Fabregas then hit the post from 20 yards on 86 minutes, with Bendtner firing the rebound over the bar as the game ended in a draw - which means both maintain their unbeaten starts to the new season, although Liverpool will certainly be the happier with the point.

Liverpool	Team Statistics	Arsenal
1	Goals	1
1	1st Half Goals	0
5	Shots on Target	2
4	Shots off Target	8
3	Blocked Shots	2
4	Corners	1
17	Fouls	11
3	Offsides	3
2	Yellow Cards	3
0	Red Cards	0
73	Passing Success	83.5
44	Tackles	30
70.5	Tackles Success	83.3
36.8	Possession	63.2
48.6	Territorial Advantage	51.4