Graphic: Gunners on target

Rafael Benítez conceded that Liverpool’s title hopes had suffered a severe blow against Arsenal last night after watching Andrey Arshavin score four breathtaking goals on an evening of high drama at Anfield.

A mesmerising 4-4 draw was enough to take Liverpool above Manchester United on goal difference at the top of the Barclays Premier League, but the champions will move three points clear if they win the first of their two games in hand, against Portsmouth at Old Trafford this evening.

Arshavin appeared to have won it for Arsenal in the 90th minute of an extraordinary game, putting his team 4-3 in front, only for Liverpool to come from behind for the third time when Yossi Benayoun scored his second in stoppage time.

Liverpool’s 4-4 draw in their previous outing, against Chelsea in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final at Stamford Bridge last week, had been hailed as a classic, but if anything this rollercoaster ride of a game bettered it, even if Benítez acknowledged that the result had swung the title momentum firmly in United’s favour. “United had the initiative before, so they are still in the driving seat, but we will see what happens,” said Benítez, who refused to respond to claims by Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, that he was “arrogant” and “contemptuous”.

“If they do win [against Portsmouth] it be more difficult for us, but United still have to play Arsenal as well. Before we were talking about needing to win almost all our games, but we have to keep pushing. We showed tonight that we can fight until the last minute and we need to do the same until the end of the season.”

Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, paid tribute to Arshavin, his £12 million signing from Zenit St Petersburg, and claimed that the outcome of United’s game against Portsmouth could come to determine the title race, even though Benítez will hope that the championship is still up for grabs by the time last night’s opponents visit Old Trafford on May 16.

“Arshavin can play everywhere, like all the great players,” Wenger said. “I have been in the job a long time and I have not seen many players take goals like that. He has scored seven goals in seven games now, but I didn’t expect him to score so many.

Arshavin said: “I have scored two hat-tricks before, but never four goals. It was a great game for the fans but not for the team. It was like basketball out there.”

Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the estranged Liverpool co-owners, sat together in the directors’ box for the first time since December 2007, when Liverpool lost 1-0 to United, and if ever there was a game that might convince them to bury their differences and work together in the best interests of the club, it was this. Arsenal were ahead 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3, but every time Liverpool found it within themselves to force an equaliser.

Having come from behind to lead 2-1 with goals from Fernando Torres and Benayoun during a seven-minute burst at the start of the second half, Liverpool were trailing again in the space of three frantic minutes when Arshavin completed a memorable hat-trick to make it 3-2. Torres hit back almost immediately to level the scores again, before the game reached a remarkable climax.

“We wanted three points, so it’s two points dropped,” Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool captain who was watching the drama from a TV studio, said.

“We’re relying on others to do us favours. It was a tremendous game for the neutral, but not for me. It would have been a disaster if we’d lost, but in the end that point could be big.” However, Ladbrokes now make United 8-1 on to win the title.