Admittedly he has not had much opportunity to build on that since but the feeling persisted this would have been an ideal game to let him take his chance – Arsenal, after all, are not the type of team known for kicking opponents.

Gerrard, though, is just as good a creator as he is finisher and, given the way he was moving with intent, it was perhaps inevitable it would be he who created Liverpool’s best opening of the game early in the second period.

His beautifully weighted ball on 53 minutes should have yielded the first goal but, to every Liverpudlian’s exasperation, David Ngog never once gave the impression he was confident when running towards Manuel Almunia.

With courage in his convictions, the young Frenchman would surely have put Liverpool in front; had the opening fell to a fit Fernando Torres, for instance, there would have been only one outcome.

But, at this moment in time, Ngog just lacks that crucial bit of self-belief in games of such importance; ineffective in the Merseyside derby, it was heavy weather for him again last night.

How they were made to pay. Wenger’s men had already fashioned a number of threatening breaks, quick runners on the flanks trying to speed into dangerous areas, but Liverpool kept defending stoically – that was until they cracked on 72 minutes.

In the blink of an eye, Fabregas and Bendtner combined to send substitute Tomas Rosicky scampering down the left, who in turn fired a cross into the six yard area that Abou Diaby headed powerfully into Pepe Reina’s net.

Watch the replays of the goal again and you will see Diaby was unmarked as he settled the outcome; had Carragher been on the pitch, the Frenchman almost certainly would have found himself with some company.

Still, there is no point complaining. These things happen in football and when Ryan Babel saw a powerful drive tipped onto the bar by Almunia, it was apparent Liverpool’s luck was out. Webb’s error in injury time merely compounded matters.

Yet there is no point stewing on this result; it is not a fatal blow to ambitions and, for once, it is possible to take positive from a negative. What better place to do that than at Manchester City on Sunday week?

ARSENAL (4-5-1): Almunia; Eboue, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy; Arshavin (Walcott 68), Diaby, Song, Fabregas, Nasri (Rosicky 34); Bendtner (Sagna 82).

LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Reina; Carragher (Degen 55), Skrtel, Agger, Insua; Lucas (Babel 78), Mascherano; Kuyt, Gerrard, Rodriguez; Ngog.

Attendance: 60,046.

Referee: Howard Webb.