Skrtel Power

Martin Skrtel headed home a last-gasp equaliser as 10-man Liverpool rescued a 2-2 draw against Arsenal at Anfield.

Liverpool controlled the first half and deservedly took the lead through Philippe Coutinho on the stroke of half-time, only for Mathieu Debuchy to level the scores moments later.

Olivier Giroud then put the visitors on their way to what looked like a victory, especially after the dismissal of Liverpool substitute Fabio Borini. But Skrtel pounced deep into injury time to spare his side's blushes.

Liverpool went into the game on a poor run of form while the Gunners, who were hoping to banish the memories of last season's Anfield horror show, were looking to build on two successive 4-1 victories in all competitions.

But it was the hosts who looked more like getting a result with Arsenal struggling to get a touch of the ball in the opening 45 minutes. For all their dominance Liverpool didn't create too many clear-cut chances and neither goalkeeper was really troubled until the latter stages of the half.

Liverpool finally made their dominance count when Jordan Henderson set up Coutinho, who made space for himself in the area before drilling a low shot in off the post.

Brendan Rodgers probably had to tear up his half-time team-talk after seeing Arsenal equalise moments later. Liverpool failed to deal with Alexis Sanchez's free-kick and Mathieu Flamini headed the ball onto Debuchy to nod home.

Like many Gunners' fans I breathed a huge sigh of relief as we had been on the back foot for most of the half so to get a leveller against the run of play gave us more hope.

Both sides created chances early on in the second half but neither could make them count, with both Coutinho and Santi Cazorla shooting over.

There was then a lengthy stoppage in play - no less than six minutes - when Giroud accidentally caught the back of Skrtel's head. After lengthy treatment the Slovakia international eventually returned to the field sporting a head bandage.

Liverpool should have scored just after the hour mark when Raheem Sterling got the better of the onrushing Wojciech Szczesny but, fortunately for the Gunners' shot-stopper, Steven Gerrard headed over from his England team-mate's cross.

That miss proved costly and the visitors took full advantage to take the lead soon after with a fine team goal. Kieran Gibbs released Cazorla with a fine pass before the Spaniard played a neat one-two with Giroud. The pass forced Cazorla out wide but he still managed to cut the ball back for the French striker to fire home from through the legs of Brad Jones.

Liverpool almost equalised four minutes from time but Borini's header was well tipped over by Szczesny, who blocked another effort from the Italian soon after. Borini's night went from bad to worse in injury time. After picking up a needless yellow card for pathetically throwing the ball down in frustration the 23-year-old received his marching orders for a lunge on Cazorla, which in truth maybe should've been a straight red.

There were nine minutes of stoppage time and still plenty of drama. Szczesny did well to parry Gerrard's effort before Liverpool finally got their deserved equaliser seven minutes into added time. Adam Lallana's corner was powerfully headed home by Skrtel, who also scored two goals against the Gunners at Anfield last season. The defending at the corner was unforgivable and the goal could've and should've been prevented.

At the time of the goal, and in the heat of the moment, I was stupidly blaming it on the substitution of Nacho Monreal. Although he wasn't directly at fault for the goal I felt that with a 2-1 lead bringing on a left-back, who does little to fill the fans with confidence, was a bad move. I understood the tactics behind it and that we needed to be strong in defence to hold the lead rather than push too far forward in attack. But Monreal isn't the defender you want on the pitch in that instant so I would have rather seen Sanchez left on. The goal came two minutes after Monreal's arrival and, although it wasn't actually his fault, is it really a coincidence!? I genuinely believe had that substitution not been made we may have held on for the win, although the defensive positioning in general for that goal was appalling and, in truth, Liverpool fully deserved at least a point.

The drama wasn't over yet. With just a minute of stoppage time remaining Cazorla forced Jones into a fine save and the Gunners really should have done better with the rebound, but it wasn't to be.

On the way hand it was one point gained. After being outplayed for much of the game, with our lowest ever possession of 36.5% in the Premier League, it was good to still come out with a point. In all honesty, many fans would have taken a point before the game so in some ways a draw is a good result. But, with a 2-1 lead against 10-men with four minutes of stoppage time remaining, we really should have held on and the fact we didn't left many fans with an all too familiar feeling of frustration.

As the full-time whistle went it was that feeling of frustration that I was surrounded by. A few hours later I feel more reflective and can see a 2-2 draw at Anfield as a decent result but is that enough!? We are often criticised for how we handle the 'big' teams and this result kind of supports that. We outplayed Manchester United, more than matched Manchester City, indifferent against Chelsea and outclassed by Liverpool. Mixed performances and what do we have to show for it two points out of 12. That isn't good enough and had we been more clinical things could've been different.

I still believe Wenger is the man to lead us despite some sections of the Gunners' faithful wanting him to call it a day. I back his judgement on many things and the players need to shoulder some blame as well. But he isn't blameless in the whole thing. He has made mistakes and some issues need addressed. Some substitutions could be argued as bizarre and many fans, including myself, would rather have seen Theo Walcott or Lukas Podolski come on. I can understand the defensive mind substitution that instead took place but it isn't what I wanted.

The most important thing is re-inforcements in January. I admire Wenger's loyalty to the current squad and do agree that when injury-free we have a very talented squad but I don't think our January activity, or lack of it, should be dictated by that. Either way I feel we need another defender, a defensive midfielder and possibly another striker. We definitely need more depth in the squad. But simply blaming solely Wenger is ludicrous. The players must take stock and admit they haven't been good enough and they need to stand up to big counted now and give one hell of a big display against QPR on Boxing Day.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS