William Gallas insists that Arsenal’s title rivals will be "afraid" of them after their dominant display at Anfield.
The Gunners captain believes his team proved that they are genuine title challengers after coming from an early goal behind to draw 1-1 against Liverpool.
Although the draw ends Arsenal’s 12-match winning streak, it helped them regain their place at the summit of the Premier League ahead of Manchester United, who they face at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Gallas said: "I think we showed everybody we can fight for the title because a lot of people wanted to see how Arsenal would react against a big team like Liverpool and I think we reacted very well and maybe we can be disappointed because we didn’t win.
"Everybody watched that game in front of their TV and a lot of teams will be afraid of Arsenal. Liverpool were maybe a little bit afraid of us and a lot of top teams will be afraid of us again.
"We play well, we can score at any time or we can play the physical game as well."
Liverpool took a seventh-minute lead through Steven Gerrard’s rocket free-kick but Cesc Fabregas rounded off a scintillating 80th-minute counter-attack by deftly poking in the equaliser that Arsenal’s display fully merited.
Gallas nominated Chelsea and Manchester United ahead of Liverpool as Arsenal’s title rivals.
He added: "For me, it will be very difficult to win the title. There are three or four teams who can win the title. Man U will be one of them, but you have another team in Chelsea. We have to think about Chelsea as well because they won 6–0 against Manchester City."
Gallas believes the remarkable Fabregas, who scored his 10th goal of the season yesterday, can mature into the Premier League’s star performer if he makes a few minor adjustments to his game.
"He can be the best player in the league," observed the Frenchman.
"To be the best you have to be good during one season and the season is very long. He has to know sometimes when he is tired, to not play a physical game because sometimes when they are young, they like to touch the ball too many times. He has to save his energy, but he can be the best player."
Manager Arsene Wenger was delighted with his emerging team.
He said: "We are disappointed not to have won. The players are frustrated, but you have to be realistic. We were 1-–0 down after just a few minutes against a very committed team, who are good at set-pieces and counter-attack well.
"They have such good support at Anfield that sometimes that wins it for them. Overall, we handled the game very well. I cannot fault anyone, it was a fantastic game."
Cesc Fabregas did not just score a goal at Anfield.
He scored a goal that marked the moment when this young Arsenal side came of age.
When the question of whether they can win the championship was answered in emphatic style.
Stevie G-force: Gerrard opens the scoring against the Gunners
"This is the day when we will find out if the boys have become men," said William Gallas prior to what was regarded as their first real test this season.
Much to the delight of Arsene Wenger, they found exactly what they were looking for here.
It was why an animated Wenger sprinted down the touchline to celebrate Fabregas’ strike, why Fabregas jumped into the crowd and why Arsenal’s manager spoke with such excitement afterwards.
"We played without a handbrake," he said. Without even pausing for breath, too.
If Arsenal came here with confidence after 12 consecutive victories, their confidence must have taken a knock for the first 20 minutes of a marvellous match.
Liverpool were magnificent. Dominant in midfield, deadly in attack.
Steven Gerrard tested Manuel Almunia with his first effort and scored with his second — and so eased any pressure there might have been on Rafa Benitez.
A ludicrous notion, this idea that the Spaniard should be fearing for his job, but something that emerged in the wake of that defeat in Istanbul.
Liverpool were playing like they did in Europe prior to the problems they have suddenly encountered this season, soaking up any pressure with great strength and organisation and attacking their opponents on the break.
Arsenal might have enjoyed the majority of possession, but they were lacking penetration, the older, wiser, more wily Liverpool keeping them exactly where they wanted.
Emmanuel Adebayor was an often isolated figure in the absence of the injured Robin van Persie and when he did get the ball, he forever found a certain Scouser standing in his way.
If Gerrard and Fabregas emerged as the game’s most influential players yesterday, Jamie Carragher still deserved the man of- the-match champagne.
By the end of the first half, Gerrard had scored once and forced Almunia to make two quite brilliant saves. At the other end, Pepe Reina had been called on just once, doing well to smother a shot from Adebayor.
After the break, however, Arsenal grew in stature.
Twice they hit a post and twice they somehow missed an open goal from the rebound.
But when Fabregas finally struck in the 80th minute, it was no less than their industry and invention deserved.
On target: Gerrard and Fabregas share a hug after scoring at Anfield.
It was a wonderful game to watch. The marauding runs from Gallas and Kolo Toure.
The precision of the passing from Xabi Alonso who, before he suffered another foot injury midway through the second half, recalled the midfielder, who excelled in 2005.
Arsenal’s passing was just as impressive and the ball that Alexander Hleb delivered into the path of Fabregas was just incredible.
Not just for its accuracy, but its timing.
Hleb watched two team-mates drift offside before he spotted Fabregas, sucked in the Liverpool defence and then released the ball.
For Fabregas, a sense of relief must have accompanied the obvious sense of elation, when Reina’s outstretched hand failed to stop his shot.
It was the young Spaniard, after all, who was most at fault for Liverpool’s seventh-minute goal.
Not only did he commit the foul on Alonso that led to the free-kick, but he also drifted off the wall and so enabled Gerrard to meet John Arne Riise’s short pass to the right with a shot that flew through the gap.
Gerrard threatened again before the interval with a wonderful volley and when Peter Crouch then replaced the injured Fernando Torres, a second Liverpool goal seemed likely.
Crouch, as co-owner, Tom Hicks said this week, is "always good against Arsenal" and he forced Almunia to make his third save of the afternoon with a super strike.
At no point, though, did Arsenal panic.
Fabregas probably should have scored in the 54th minute, when Emmanuel Eboue drove a shot against a post and the ball rebounded into his path, but it was travelling at about 70mph.
Ditto when Fabregas hit the woodwork and Nicklas Bendtner had the chance to score what would have been the winner.
Not that Liverpool didn’t have their chances.
Crouch threatened on two more occasions and Riise and Gerrard also went close.
But when Wenger switched to 4-4-2 and so moved Hleb from the role of support striker to left wing, the tactical reshuffle proved decisive.
It was from the left, after all, that Hleb delivered his pass and left Fabregas with only Reina to beat to score his 10th goal of an already remarkable campaign.
A 10th goal that underlined just how brilliant a midfielder Fabregas has become. He had not come to Anfield and upstaged Gerrard.
But he had earned a great rival’s respect, as he discovered at the sound of the final whistle when the Liverpool captain walked over to him and gave him a hug.
For Liverpool, victory would have ended any more talk of Benitez’s future and cut Arsenal’s advantage over them to three points.
As it is, they will now have to hope that Manchester United can inflict some damage at the Emirates Stadium this weekend, while they take three points at Blackburn.
No easy task but, as Arsenal discovered yesterday, the kind that can provide the true measure of a team.
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