John Arne Riise's surging equaliser stole a point from Highbury that should never have been on offer.
Yet as welcome as it was for a team desperate to boost its sagging self-esteem, as infuriating as it was for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, the greatest appreciation of this result was felt by one Sir Alex Ferguson, who must have been gliding contentedly on approach to Manchester Airport just about the time the final whistle blew in London.
Back in his familiar seat at the top of the table after yesterday's victory at Southampton, Fergie got the added bonus of two of his major rivals wrestling each other to the floor.
He didn't plan it this way all along, did he? The way things worked out yesterday, you begin to suspect Ferguson really might be that smart.
Riise and his team-mate Steven Gerrard will have a serious argument about that, though, after the incisive way they tore apart Arsenal to haul Liverpool back from the brink of yet another defeat in the 68th minute.
The shame was it negated another moment of sheer genius from Dennis Bergkamp, whose trickery had opened up the path for Freddie Ljungberg to put Arsenal in front only six minutes beforehand.
There have been plenty of explosive matches between the jumble of teams at the top these past few weeks but, those goals apart, this was never one of them.
According to the official statistics, Liverpool had precisely one shot on target in the whole 95 or so minutes. And that was Riise's goal.Riise, a ginger-nut left back from Norway, is making a habit of bounding forward to score vital goals.
He has done it now against Everton, Arsenal, United, Newcastle and Bayern Munich in the Super Cup final.
It was a superb pass from Gerrard which sent him scurrying 70 yards to fire the latest, the England midfielder neatly dissecting the home defence with a clever touch from the outside of his right boot.
Riise was away from everyone, Oleg Luzhny a receding figure with every stride. And young Gunners keeper Stuart Taylor seemed unsure of what to do. Result? A 12-yard shot on the run rattling the back of the net.
Shorn of the attacking prowess of suspended left-back Ashley Cole and the dynamism of the similarly absent Ray Parlour from midfield, this always looked like it might be a more difficult afternoon for Wenger's team than when they won so impressively at Anfield just before Christmas.
Thierry Henry flashed in two dangerous crosses before 10 minutes were up, one skimming the bar and the other headed just wide by Kanu.
Then in the 20th minute Ljungberg missed an opportunity which might have made the rest of the day much easier for Arsenal. The impressive Kanu sent him racing away alone. But even after he skipped around keeper Jerzy Dudek, the angle had become too sharp and his shot flashed across the face of the Liverpool goal.
Arsenal were crying out for the majestic inventiveness of Bergkamp and he strode elegantly on for the injured Kanu in the 55th minute.
Seven minutes later came his customary flash of genius. Out on the left with his back to goal, a shuffle from Bergkamp left Jamie Carragher flummoxed. The Dutchman superbly played in Robert Pires whose low cross from the left was swept in by Ljungberg in a carbon-copy of the goal he scored at Anfield just three weeks ago.
The equaliser drained Arsenal of fire, perhaps because they had lost all discipline and been caught on the break so expensively.
Neither side looked like grabbing a winner in the remaining 25 minutes or so and it ended up one measly point apiece. All of which must have made old Fergie feel like letting off a few fireworks of his own.
ARSENAL: Taylor 6, Vieira 6, Keown 7, Pires 8 (Wiltord, 78), Ljungberg 7, Henry 7, Grimandi 6, Upson 6, Luzhny 6 (Dixon, 84), Campbell 7, Kanu 7 (Bergkamp, 55, 7).
LIVERPOOL: Dudek 7, Henchoz 7, Hyypia 7, Anelka 5 (McAllister, 84), Owen 6, Murphy 5 (Heskey, 76), Berger 5, Hamann 6, Gerrard 7, Riise 7, Carragher 7.