• Players told 'they did not deserve to wear the shirt' • Rafael Benítez bemoans lack of confidence in his Liverpool side

Cesc Fábregas revealed that an uncharacteristic half-time rant by Arsène Wenger inspired Arsenal's second half comeback at Anfield.

"The boss screamed. I've never seen him like that before. He was really disappointed in the first half and said we didn't deserve to wear the Arsenal shirt if we played like that," said Fábregas. "I think he was right but in the second half we turned it round."

However, Wenger refused to divulge what he told his young team. "I don't like to talk about that," he said. "I'll keep that in the dressing room. It was just to make them conscious the commitment of Liverpool was bigger.

"I think the first half we were quite happy with 1-0 - it could have been two and the game could have been over. I don't put it down to a lack of desire - there was a fear to lose a big game. You could see that in the first half. It showed the team can respond and they are proud."

Rafael Benítez bemoaned his side's lack of confidence: "The own goal changed everything, the confidence changed and we started to make mistakes.

Benítez also appeared to concede any lingering hopes of the title. "We will keep going. We have another important game on Wednesday, we have some players coming back. Top four is the same target, it's a long way but we need to keep going."