For Gerrard it was dêjá vu all over again after his error late on for England against France at Euro 2004. As then, Thierry Henry was the beneficiary. As then, it led to Gerrard finishing on the losing side and he had to put up with a mocking chorus around Highbury. “There’s only one Steven Gerrard,” they crowed.
“I was trying to take up time,” he said. “I didn’t see Henry. The last player you want the ball to go to is the best player on the planet. I was completely at fault and hold up my hands. It was a stupid mistake. That stopped us from robbing a point because we didn’t play at all.”
He was spot-on in all respects. Buoyed by their Champions League success against Real Madrid, Arsenal played like the Invincibles of old, although they also showed the familiar tendency for overelaboration and almost drew a game that they could have won comfortably, which would have been a huge blow given the importance of finishing in the top four.
With two more superb finishes taking his haul to 24 goals in 30 appearances in all competitions this season, Henry inevitably caught the eye once again, but the man of the match was the outstanding Francesc Fàbregas. The imminent return of Patrick Vieira in the colours of Juventus will inevitably bring more attention on the young Spaniard, but the comparisons will not be unflattering on this form.
He set up the first goal for Henry with a brilliantly penetrative pass through the forward’s favourite channel on the left. Perfect in weight and accuracy, the pass took out Steve Finnan and sucked Jamie Carragher into trying, and missing, the interception. Henry strode into the penalty area and hit that familiar curling shot into the far corner. “We caught eyes,” Henry said of Fàbregas, “and he played the right ball.”
Liverpool’s defence was being slashed to ribbons by Henry’s runs. Emmanuel Adebayor was full of good movement but poor finishing, while the impressive, adventurous Emmanuel Eboué found himself one on one with José Manuel Reina but his attempt to square the ball to Robert Pires was foiled.
If Benítez’s logic for playing Jan Kromkamp on the right of midfield was to assist Finnan, it was proving completely misguided, while Gerrard was not enjoying his starting position just behind Peter Crouch. Liverpool were being overrun and when they did create a good chance on the counter-attack, Crouch headed horribly wide.
Benítez brought on Harry Kewell at half-time and shunted Gerrard out to the right wing, but the momentum initially stayed with Arsenal. They spurned more opportunities and frustration turned to fury when Liverpool equalised in the 75th minute with a goal that should have been disallowed at source because of Alonso’s foul on Fàbregas.
Play continued and, after Jens Lehmann could only parry Gerrard’s stinging drive, Luis García leapt above Kolo Touré to head in the rebound.
Liverpool must have thought that they had got away with another blunt performance, but then came Alonso’s dismissal for two reckless challenges in five minutes and Henry’s winning goal.
Inevitably, it was Fàbregas who forced the mistake from Gerrard and the back-pass allowed Henry to round Reina and, bizarrely, run off holding his nose in celebration. “I had missed a few one-on-ones but I sniffed the chance out,” the Frenchman said. So now you know.