Liverpool required an extremely late equaliser courtesy of Martin Skrtel but Brendan Rodgers’ side had been superior from the opening moments, causing Arsenal considerable tactical problems throughout.

Rodgers’ 3-4-3 formation was no surprise considering he had used that system in Liverpool’s previous two matches, against Manchester United and Bournemouth, but Arsenal appeared unprepared for the challenge. Alexis Sánchez and Danny Welbeck remained high up the pitch, which put a huge defensive burden on players in deeper positions. It is extremely rare for Arsenal to see so little of the ball and while injuries are clearly causing problems in the centre of midfield – Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Özil are all out – a bigger problem was the lack of positional discipline from the players who did start.

Arsenal struggled to deal with the movement of Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana, particularly when the Liverpool wing-backs, Jordan Henderson and Lazar Markovic, advanced. They occupied the Gunners full-backs, allowing Coutinho and Lallana to go free more centrally. Mathieu Flamini endured an extremely difficult first half, forced to cover a huge amount of space as Arsenal’s centre-backs played deep against Raheem Sterling, while his midfield colleagues Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played too high up the pitch. “In the first half Coutinho and Lallana gave us problems behind our midfield,” Wenger admitted.

Flamini was unable to defend against the pair – he was cautioned for a wild tackle on the former and fortunate not to be shown a second yellow for an unnecessary challenge on the latter. Coutinho’s goal, stuck from the edge of the box, was a good example of Arsenal’s problems in that zone, and the Brazilian had three subsequent shots from similar positions.

Sterling continued as Liverpool’s main central striker although he was disadvantaged by Liverpool retaining the ball for such long periods. He became more dangerous when Arsenal had rare spells of possession inside the Liverpool half, allowing him to use his speed on the counterattack. One incident in the second half, when he rounded Wojciech Szczesny before crossing for a Steven Gerrard header, demonstrated that he thrives when Liverpool can attack directly.

Arsenal’s area of advantage, at least on paper, was in advanced, wide positions. Sanchez and Welbeck should have been a huge threat on the break, but Arsenal’s counter-attacks were non-existent because they couldn’t work the ball forward quickly at transitions. Oxlade-Chamberlain was theoretically the man to drive forward, turning defence into attack – but he had an unusually quiet game, and possibly wasn’t 100% fit. Arsenal’s two goals came from their first two attempts on target.

Rodgers deserves credit for attack-minded changes as Liverpool chased the game. He switched to a back four, effectively using Henderson and Sterling as attack-minded full-backs late on, and while that put two dangerous players in unusually deep positions, it meant Liverpool attacked in great numbers. Those two were able to get on the ball and drive the side forward. Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini came off the bench and provided more of a natural penalty box threat than Sterling – the latter came close with a header before his silly dismissal – and Skrtel’s equaliser arrived because because Liverpool continued to put great pressure on the Arsenal backline, even with ten men.

In truth, neither side deserved the victory. Arsenal were outplayed throughout and troubled by Liverpool’s movement while for the second consecutive weekend Rodgers’ side were let down by poor play in both penalty areas. It was unquestionably an eventful match, but it underlined why Liverpool and Arsenal are not involved in this season’s title race – both have consistent problems in terms of organisation.