Honours were even as Arsenal held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw in an explosive end-to-end encounter at Anfield.Cesc Fabregas' second-half strike cancelled out Steven Gerrard's stunning opener as both teams battled to a well-deserved point.
Coming into the game after a dismal defeat in Europe, Liverpool made their intentions clear from the off with three strikers in their starting line-up, although there was still no room for Peter Crouch.
The Reds flew out of the blocks with Gerrard grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck in the opening ten minutes.
His crunching tackle found Steve Finnan who neatly laid the ball back to his captain who brought a fine save from Gunners keeper Manuel Almunia.
The deadlock was broken in the seventh minute when Gerrard rifled a 20-yard screamer through the Arsenal wall after Fabregas had conceded a free-kick on the edge of the box.
On the back of a 12-game winning streak, Arsenal started to edge their way back into the game and nearly equalised on 16 minutes.
Fabregas found Emmanuel Adebayor with a neat throughball but the lanky striker was thwarted by a good save from the chest of the onrushing Pepe Reina.
The Gunners started to work their magic and would have been level on 20 minutes but for some last ditch-defending and two goal-line clearances by Sami Hyypia and then Jamie Carragher.
Gerrard looked a man on a mission as his energy and enthusiasm forced another opening in the Gunners defence.
His run carved open a gap between Kolo Toure and Bacary Sagna and he unleashed a ferocious 25-yarder that was tipped over by Almunia.
The hat-trick hero of the last meeting, Crouch, was introduced for the second half in place of Fernando Torres who did not look as though he had fully recovered from injury.
The beanpole striker immediately brought down a ball 25 yards out and fired in a stinging drive that brought the best out of Almunia.
The Gunners retaliated immediately with a flowing move that saw Emmanuel Eboue's shot rebound off the post and fall to the feet of Fabregas but his snap-shot found Row Z.
With the game fizzing from end to end both sides looked capable of scoring and Crouch should have made it 2-0 on 63 minutes only to pull his shot wide.
An equaliser always looked on the cards and it deservedly came in the 80th minute when Fabregas finished a fine move that had started from inside Arsenal's own half.
The talented Spaniard stretched out his toe to connect with a throughball from Alex Hleb as he poked the ball past a stranded Reina.
The Gunners started to dominate and should have sealed the win on 86 minutes when Fabregas' shot rebounded off a post and fell to substitute Bendtner who could only find the top tier.
Gerrard nearly had the final say when he pulled the trigger in the six-yard box only to be stopped by a match-saving tackle from Arsenal skipper William Gallas.