Title race is 'open for everybody', says Wenger

Although his side's bitter rivals, Manchester United, went to the top of the table yesterday, the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, was as reluctant to make them favourites as he was to rule them out when they slumped to their sixth league defeat, at home to West Ham, a little over a month ago.

"I was one of the few who didn't write them off – but the title is not won for them," he said after his side's 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Highbury. "It's open for everybody. Each game is a cup game for the teams that want the title."

He added: "We feel we have lost two points because we had the right attitude and fought hard. When you're 1-0 up you expect to win the game – the fact we got caught on the break is disappointing. But overall we gave everything and that's important for the future – in the last two or three months we've lost only one game."

Arsenal's goalscorer, Fredrik Ljungberg, agreed the Gunners were disappointed to let their lead slip. The Swede gave Arsenal a deserved lead just after an hour, but John Arne Riise equalised four minutes later.

"I'm a little bit disappointed," Ljungberg said. "It was a tough game that was very tight but we fought well – we went 1-0 up and I feel disappointed they scored."

Liverpool's assistant manager, Phil Thompson, said: "I'm very happy with the result – the lads have done extremely well. I thought with the effort and determination of the players we thoroughly deserved the draw.

"It was a big point and the lads are very confident. They're not jumping off the tables, but they're well content – it's a good place to get a confidence boost. There weren't many chances, but if we'd got beaten I'd have felt it was extremely unjust."

He added: "We had more players playing to their abilities than on Wednesday when we lost 2-0 at Southampton. But if you're a big player you look forward to big games and they knew they had to react after Wednesday.

"We're still in the title race, but there are a lot of games to come for all clubs – it'll be extremely tight at the end of the season, I can promise."