Arsenal throw their fear aside to get back into the title race

Confidence is an intangible quality in sport but anyone wishing to exemplify how it can prove decisive should cite Arsenal's victory at Liverpool as the ultimate paradigm.

The Gunners were lucky to have only been breached on one occasion by half-time as the absence of key players and suspect recent form appeared to conspire together in an abject display bereft of any attacking potency.

But courtesy of manager Arsene Wenger's well-placed fury and a further stroke of good fortune minutes later, the visitors transformed the second period into a stroll which ended with a foot firmly back in the title race.

Arsenal's response to their indifferent showing was a resilience typified by outstanding pair Thomas Vermaelen and Alex Song and the contrast with Liverpool's implosion thereafter made for terrifying viewing on the home terraces.

Where the Gunners dug in and rode their luck to turn the game around, when Rafael Benitez's side were asked to do the same, they could only launch aimless balls towards an unfit Fernando Torres in the vain hope he would conjure something out of nothing.

The Kop fell silent as the energy drained from their heroes, leaving a rejuvenated Arsenal to play out time in a manner more comfortable than Wenger could have hoped for. "We played with a handbrake at the start because of our fear," admitted Wenger.

"That fear was of not winning the big games because we lost against Chelsea and Manchester United. Once we had nothing to lose in the second half we controlled the game and we were a bit lucky with the first goal and the fear was with Liverpool in the second half.

"For us with the results of Saturday, mathematically it gets us into a good position with a game in hand. Mentally for us it was a massive game. We knew that with what happened on Saturday we needed to win the game.

"We knew that before the game started and we did it so that's something positive. Now it's down to consistency. I have said for a long time now the team to win this league will be the team capable of being really consistent. Nobody has been yet. There is a long way to go.

"At the moment Liverpool don't have the confidence they had last year. It's difficult to play for 90 minutes at the pace they played in the first half. Because they didn't score the second goal, at half time they had time to start doubting.

"You come out in the second half and you are not the same."

That is an understatement as Liverpool proved very brittle. Torres wasted a golden chance and Steven Gerrard should have had a penalty after being clattered in the box by William Gallas before the Reds took the lead.

Fabio Aurelio floated in a free-kick that goalkeeper Manuel Almunia could only punch straight at Dirk Kuyt, who stabbed the ball through for his sixth goal of the season.

Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott let slip that Wenger was uncharacteristically angry at half-time but his ire eased just five minutes later as Glen Johnson could only turn Samir Nasri's cross into his own net.

Andrey Arshavin, who had hitherto been anonymous as Arsenal's central striker, then conjured something out of nothing to beat a flat-footed Johnson and fire a snapshot in off a post just eight minutes later. The Russian now has a remarkable record of five goals from seven shots at Anfield.

"Arshavin surprises the keepers and defenders every time," said Wenger. "His foot was injured and he couldn't hit the ball properly on his right foot and didn't practice the whole week.

"But when he had the chance he still took it. Later I had to take him off because of that.

"I cannot explain what I said at half-time. I just said that the first half was Liverpool and the second half was Arsenal. Liverpool played a pace above us, won all the 50-50s and at half-time 1-0 was a good result for us.

"You respond to what you think a team need and I always try and be composed. It is good because after 13 years I can still surprise the players."

Of course, the challenge for Arsenal now is to take this confidence into Wednesday's trip to Burnley and on to the hectic Christmas schedule.
There were long periods where the Gunners badly missed a strong physical presence that the enigmatic but waif-like Arshavin could not provide.

Although victory at Anfield is never achieved lightly, there was a feeling that yesterday was a good time to play Liverpool. Belief is a powerful thing and after a testing recent period, Arsenal should take plenty from this.