Liverpool  1 Arsenal 1:On an afternoon such as this it feels as if the long run-in to the title has begun. The prize may still be far beyond view but the match pulsed with urgency, gripped the spectator with the contrast of philosophies and offered everything other than a victor. The game led a long life, maturing from initial grimness when Liverpool, all too conscious of the Champions League defeat by Besiktas in Turkey, were at their most doggedly resolute.

Divided though the points were, it is Rafael Benitez's team who had the lion's share of disappointment. This fixture had been given such a priority that Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso were allowed out of the treatment room, only for each to be brought down by a recurrence of his injury. There are concerns about the harm done, respectively, to an abductor muscle and a metatarsal.

Benitez could be short of manpower to mount a recovery in the Champions League or to produce a run of telling form in domestic competition.

Arsenal, coping with the first great test of the campaign, top the table by dint of having scored more goals than Manchester United, whom they face at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. They seem equipped to remain in that neighbourhood. Autumn is not over but with this fixture they have now coped with rivals whose abrasive resolve stopped fractionally short of desperation.

Arsenal, inevitably, were by far the more polished team. It is virtually a cliche to hail them as such but the plaudit carries a barely concealed criticism. A doubt breaks surface about the capacity of a newish line-up to deal with adversity and to score when they seem to be out of favour with the fates. In their own refined way, though, Arsenal were stubborn.

A goal down, they watched Emmanuel Eboue hit the post following a pass from Mathieu Flamini in the 55th minute and gaped at Cesc Fabregas, with the opportunity to tame the rebound, missing the target with a first-time effort. There was no sign, though, they would drift out of the match and permit their tired minds to start rehearsing a lament about ill-fortune.

Alexander Hleb kept his wits about him with 10 minutes to go as he came in from the left, selected Fabregas as the correct recipient of his pass and watched the midfielder release his shot early to equalise before the goalkeeper, Pepe Reina, had readied himself. It was the Spaniard's 10th goal of the season and Arsenal, with that fillip, could have proceeded to polish off Liverpool.

After 87 minutes Arsene Wenger's team once more struck the post, with a bending shot from Fabregas; the substitute Nicklas Bendtner sent the loose ball over the bar. The outcome, all the same, was considered just by both managers. Liverpool, so far from the domination that is meant to be their birthright at Anfield, had to come up with a way of asserting themselves.

They were never wholly at ease. Jamie Carragher personified that and, as the last man, was lucky that the referee, Howard Webb, in the second minute, supposed the defender had made contact with the ball when he lunged into Emmanuel Adebayor. Later the defender went unpunished after grappling in the goalmouth with Fabregas.

Nonetheless Carragher was trenchant and fair in other incidents. With Alonso partnering Javier Mascherano in defensive midfield, Liverpool contrived for a while to contain Arsenal and to create a basis for progress in their own display. With the three-man attack so insipid, Steven Gerrard responded by being a solo forward line. In the moments before the opener it was a tackle by the captain that kept Arsenal pinned down and after Manuel Almunia had parried his drive the mayhem persisted as Fabregas felled Alonso. Gerrard's free-kick, after seven minutes, was fierce, even if it would not have got as far as the net but for Flamini's decision to detach from the defensive wall.

Adebayor, sent through by Fabregas, could not beat Reina in the 17th minute but there was an increasing fervour to Liverpool. Gerrard's volley drew a save from Almunia after 28 minutes.

Even when the full-time whistle was imminent, William Gallas had to be alert to stop him finishing off a knock-down by Peter Crouch. The latter had replaced Torres, who had been in no condition to take part in this sort of match. A 25-yarder from Crouch that extended Almunia seven minutes after the interval looked as if it would put the outcome beyond Arsenal's reach.

The visitor's passing and imagination were complemented by the conviction that guards an unbeaten record on all fronts.