Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal
Liverpool lost their second home match of the season on Saturday thanks to a superb second half strike by Robert Pires, which was enough to earn Arsenal all three points.
The only change by Gerard Houllier saw Salif Diao replace Emile Heskey in the starting line up, with Harry Kewell playing in a more advanced position to allow Diao to slot into the Reds' midfield.
And it was Kewell who gave Liverpool a deserved lead after just 14 minutes, sending a brilliantly controlled volley into the bottom corner of Jens Lehmann's goal.
Kewell could have added a second with a similar hance from a more difficult angle soon after scoring his first Anfield goal, but this time he couldn't keep the shot down and the ball flew high into the stands.
Two missed chances by Owen also prevented Liverpool from stretching their lead, as the home side completely dominated the game, but the misses were to prove costly when a header by Edu cruelly deflected off the legs of Hyypia, just enough to take the ball past Dudek.
The Reds continued to look most likely to strike next, but an injury suffered by Vladimir Smicer forcing him to leave the field was another blow and Liverpool didn't quite manage to break down the Arsenal defence as easily once the Czech went off.
And yet another Liverpool star was added to the rapidly increasing list of injured players when Michael Owen fell awkwardly after blocking an attempted clearance by Ashley Cole. The England forward eventually recovered enough to take part in the game for a few extra minutes but he was eventually replaced by Heskey, though not before Arsenal had taken a 2-1 lead.
A poor pass out of defence by Biscan found Gerrard under pressure from 3 Arsenal players, and in trying to quickly get rid of the ball, Gerrard lost possession and once Pires had collected the ball on the edge of the area, he didn't hesitate in curling a fantastic shot into the top corner.
Liverpool rarely looked like being able to rescue a draw, in a game they'd looked certain to win earlier on in the contest, and a shot by Le Tallec, which almost matched the goal scored by Pires at the opposite end, was the closest the Reds came to repeating the scoreline of the previous meeting between the sides.
It wasn't to be for Liverpool, and with Arsenal now 9 points and 7 places ahead, Gerard Houllier and his players have a mountain to climb if they are to finally bring the title back to Anfield.
LFC-1 Star Man: Harry Kewell.
