Liverpool 2 Arsenal 1
In football every piece of treasure is wrested away in the end. Arsenal's unbeaten run vanished at Old Trafford and, after this stoppage-time defeat, the Premiership title may undergo a change of ownership.
The handover could, in effect, take place at Highbury on December 12th if there is no further change to the relative standings in the meantime.
With a win in North London, Chelsea would then be eight points ahead of the reigning champions. Such an outcome is feasible while Arsenal are a team shorn of their imperiousness. This might have been merely their second loss in 55 Premiership outings, but they have mustered just six points from five league fixtures since being beaten by Manchester United.
The disciplinary record is an even uglier sight for Arsene Wenger. Patrick Vieira's booking here triggers a suspension that will keep him out of that meeting with Chelsea. Under the vagaries of the disciplinary system, a dismissal would have ensured immediate punishment.
Had the referee Alan Wiley shown Vieira a second yellow card for his dive late in the afternoon, the ban would have applied to Wednesday's relatively unimportant League Cup tie at Old Trafford.
As it is, Chelsea will not have to reckon with the Frenchman. Arsenal are also to lack their captain for the critical Champions League fixture with Rosenborg on December 7th.
Arsenal might claim to be ill-starred. After all, they fell here, with seconds left, to a 25-yarder by Neil Mellor, a striker who had never before scored in the Premiership.
Liverpool, though, deserve to be treated as much more than a jinx for Arsenal. This was the type of display to nurture trust that Rafael Benitez will eventually put the club back among the elite. All three goals were riveting in their different ways, but there was also a shrewd strategy at work.
Lacking all of his proven strikers through injury, Benitez turned that obstacle into an opportunity. His five midfielders were set out in two banks and Arsenal generally lost their way while trying to slalom through them. Of course, the Liverpool manager could only prevail if key figures roused themselves to peak form.
So soon after the metatarsal injury that had sidelined him for two months, Steven Gerrard summoned up startling strength and vitality. He should have had a penalty in the third minute when he thundered inside Kolo Toure and was brought down when the panicking Ivory Coast centre back stuck out a foot and fouled him. Wiley missed the offence.
Gerrard, however, was not to allow Arsenal respite. He showed coolness and perception in an opener, after 41 minutes, that showcased the cumulative force of this Liverpool side. It began with the snap of Dietmar Hamann's tackle on Robert Pires and gathered momentum with Steve Finnan's diagonal ball to the left wing.
Harry Kewell, generally tortured by his utter lack of form, headed inside to Gerrard. As the dogged, self-sacrificing Mellor made a run that pulled Sol Campbell away, the Liverpool captain rolled an impeccably delayed pass, while seeming barely to look at the recipient, and set up Xabi Alonso on the edge of the penalty area. His drive tore high past Jens Lehmann.
The ecstatic pleasure of that artistry complemented the broad satisfaction Liverpool could take in their professionalism. Arsenal were subdued for all but a few instants.
"We looked, especially in the first half, as if we were suffering from fatigue," Wenger diagnosed.
"We gave a lot on Wednesday night (against PSV Eindhoven) when we finished with nine men. I don't know if that's the explanation."
The hesitation over his deduction is natural because this was not the only fixture in which Arsenal have faltered of late.
"We have to show mental strength," he admitted. "At the moment I am not too concerned about Chelsea. I am more concerned about us getting back on the right track."
Wenger was right, of course, to observe that his team are "not as sharp as they can be" but he must therefore be bemused that they somehow created a scintillating move to equalise. After 57 minutes, Lauren, Vieira and Henry moved the ball mesmerisingly in front of the Liverpool back four before Pires delivered a through pass that anticipated the captain's run. With a flick of his boot, Vieira lifted a lazy, delicate finish away from Chris Kirkland and into the far corner of the net.
Even so, that was no more than a flashback to the Arsenal of old. It blinded Anfield, but only for a few seconds. The visitors could not make the glow linger in their play and, with 12 minutes left, it needed a capable parry from Lehmann to keep out a Gerrard snapshot.
The culmination was still to come. A mere thump down field from Kirkland was, to Wenger's distaste, at the heart of it. Campbell, on virtually all other occasions, would have tidied up, but he suffered a Pascal Cygan moment and, off-balance, nodded the ball against Kewell.
It ran free to Mellor. He had no right, after such prodigious commitment, to have any energy in his body but his shot was hard and true as it flew past Lehmann's right hand. The scorer will remember it forever and his goal is also sure to linger in Arsenal minds.