Arsenal draw 1-1 against Liverpool in Premiership

Arsenal rallied to a 1-1 draw against Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday, three days after the two teams played to the same result in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.

Nicklas Bendtner leveled for Arsenal in the 54th minute after Peter Crouch put Liverpool ahead in the 42nd.

The result doesn’t help either club in the title race — Arsenal now has 71 points for third place, three less than second-place Chelsea, which beat Manchester City 2-0.

“In my brain it is not over, because it is not over mathematically,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “It depends on the results of the other teams. I said we would need at least five wins and a draw.”

Premier League leader Manchester United had 76 points ahead of its match at Middlesbrough yesterday.

“It is good to win first, ahead of United,” Chelsea manager Avram Grant said. “But I expect a good result for them [yesterday].”

Liverpool stays in fourth place with 63 points.

The Gunners knocked Liverpool out of the League Cup and FA Cup last season with victories at Anfield and the two clubs meet again at Anfield tomorrow in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez fears Arsenal’s shrinking chances in the English title race could affect tomorrow’s match.

“Maybe the only option now for them is the Champions League, which means they will be more dangerous for us too,” Benitez said.

Liverpool dominated the first half at Emirates, with Crouch regularly troubling the Arsenal defense, forcing goalkeeper Manuel Almunia to jump and punch away a shot in the third minute.

In the 17th, Liverpool defender John Arne Riise shot over the bar before Crouch put Liverpool ahead. Yossi Benayoun flicked on a long goalkick from his own goalkeeper Pepe Reina to Crouch, who scored with a low shot from the edge of the box.

Arsenal’s best first-half chance came in the 34th when Bendtner sent a tame shot straight at Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina. In the second half, Kolo Toure headed wide, two minutes before Bendtner outjumped Crouch to head the equalizer.

Shortly afterward, Emmanuel Adebayor, Arsenal’s leading scorer, was sent on as a substitute for defender Justin Hoyte, adding to Arsenal’s strikeforce which also included Theo Walcott.

That gave Arsenal a more attacking edge and Mathieu Flamini had a 70th-minute shot saved by Pepe Reina.

Liverpool reacted by sending on Steven Gerrard in the 65th for midfielder Jermaine Pennant. Substitute Andriy Voronin had a shot blocked by Toure 10 minutes later.

Fernando Torres came on in the 80th and while he helped to set up Voronin and Gerrard for chances, neither side could score the winner.

Portsmouth — the only Premier League club left in the FA Cup — will face a League Championship side in the May 17 final.

The other semi-final was at Wembley yesterday between Cardiff, the only club outside England to lift the trophy (in 1927), and Barnsley, which beat Liverpool and Chelsea to reach the final four.

Manchester City, which has now won once in its last seven games, gifted Chelsea the lead after six minutes when Richard Dunne poked the ball into his own net. Chelsea made it 2-0 in the 53rd through Salomon Kalou.

Chelsea left out striker Didier Drogba and defender Ricardo Carvalho, with one eye on the second leg of its Champions League quarter-final against Fenerbahce tomorrow.