Having already beaten Manchester United and Chelsea this season, a point against Arsenal at the Emirates would usually be viewed as a great result for a Liverpool team going for the league championship.
But when Arsenal went down to 10 men early in the second-half with the score at 1-1, I expected Liverpool to go over the top, create some chances and go for the win.
It didn't happen, though, and the end result was another draw – Liverpool's fourth in five league games. All of the top teams are dropping points at the moment, especially at home, but the simple fact for Liverpool is that they could have been nine or 10 points clear of the pack by now. But they failed to beat any of Fulham, West Ham or Hull at Anfield, teams you would have expected them to put away.
If Chelsea fail to win at Everton tonight, then Liverpool will spend Christmas at the top of the Premier League. On that basis alone, you would have to admit that the half-term report would say they have done brilliantly, but they have more to do to show that they will ultimately be genuine title contenders.
They could have made a real statement by putting more points on the board. Let's be fair, they aren't the only club to fall into that category because the title race would have been over by now had Chelsea not dropped so many points at Stamford Bridge.
But the real winners with the way things stand at the moment are Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United.
They went to the Club World Cup in Japan last week with the prospect of being some distance behind the leaders on their return to England.
They now lie seven points behind Liverpool, but with two games in hand. Sir Alex would have worried that, with United's schedule and slow start to the season, there would have been no way back by now. His big bonus, though, is that they could be right back in it after Christmas.
Liverpool are obviously missing the goals of Fernando Torres at the moment, but the baffling thing for many people, myself included, is the Robbie Keane situation.
Against Hull last week, Rafa Benitez chose to keep Keane, a £20 million striker, on the bench as his team attempted to get a winning goal. Keane scored a wonder goal against Arsenal, but was then taken off instead of being given the full 90 minutes to make something happen.
That's 16 times now that he has been taken off this season. Rafa can point to the fact that he has started 19 times, but if a centre-forward is judged on his goals, he needs to be on the pitch to get them.
There has been talk of Emile Heskey returning to Liverpool from Wigan in January. Heskey is a great player, but I'm not convinced that he is the answer. If he is, then why was he sold in the first place?
The perfect answer would be Didier Drogba, but I'm not sure iverpool would be able to get him from Chelsea. Liverpool do lack height, though, and the one thing that Drogba offers is the knowledge that, whatever is hit down the middle, he will get a head to it.
Liverpool can play it out wide and also use the pace of Torres through the middle, but teams need variation and height is the one thing they don't quite have at the moment.
Because of the way Rafa wants his team to play, Liverpool are cautious and they don't really go after teams, so the fans have had to be educated into understanding the style of play.
People will accept it when you are top of the league, but that won't be the case when you are struggling.
The league title is the thing that matters most to Liverpool supporters, however, and everybody on the red half of Merseyside wants to see the team where they are right now.
Winning the title has never been easy, though. When you are top, the pressure to perform never goes away, but if Liverpool think the pressure is on now, just wait until March and April because they can multiply it by 100 then.
Once you get the Champions League games and league fixtures coming at you thick and fast, it becomes much more difficult.
But Liverpool are top of the league right now and they have at least given themselves their best chance of finishing up as champions for the first time since 1990.
But when Arsenal went down to 10 men early in the second-half with the score at 1-1, I expected Liverpool to go over the top, create some chances and go for the win.
It didn't happen, though, and the end result was another draw – Liverpool's fourth in five league games. All of the top teams are dropping points at the moment, especially at home, but the simple fact for Liverpool is that they could have been nine or 10 points clear of the pack by now. But they failed to beat any of Fulham, West Ham or Hull at Anfield, teams you would have expected them to put away.
If Chelsea fail to win at Everton tonight, then Liverpool will spend Christmas at the top of the Premier League. On that basis alone, you would have to admit that the half-term report would say they have done brilliantly, but they have more to do to show that they will ultimately be genuine title contenders.
They could have made a real statement by putting more points on the board. Let's be fair, they aren't the only club to fall into that category because the title race would have been over by now had Chelsea not dropped so many points at Stamford Bridge.
But the real winners with the way things stand at the moment are Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United.
They went to the Club World Cup in Japan last week with the prospect of being some distance behind the leaders on their return to England.
They now lie seven points behind Liverpool, but with two games in hand. Sir Alex would have worried that, with United's schedule and slow start to the season, there would have been no way back by now. His big bonus, though, is that they could be right back in it after Christmas.
Liverpool are obviously missing the goals of Fernando Torres at the moment, but the baffling thing for many people, myself included, is the Robbie Keane situation.
Against Hull last week, Rafa Benitez chose to keep Keane, a £20 million striker, on the bench as his team attempted to get a winning goal. Keane scored a wonder goal against Arsenal, but was then taken off instead of being given the full 90 minutes to make something happen.
That's 16 times now that he has been taken off this season. Rafa can point to the fact that he has started 19 times, but if a centre-forward is judged on his goals, he needs to be on the pitch to get them.
There has been talk of Emile Heskey returning to Liverpool from Wigan in January. Heskey is a great player, but I'm not convinced that he is the answer. If he is, then why was he sold in the first place?
The perfect answer would be Didier Drogba, but I'm not sure iverpool would be able to get him from Chelsea. Liverpool do lack height, though, and the one thing that Drogba offers is the knowledge that, whatever is hit down the middle, he will get a head to it.
Liverpool can play it out wide and also use the pace of Torres through the middle, but teams need variation and height is the one thing they don't quite have at the moment.
Because of the way Rafa wants his team to play, Liverpool are cautious and they don't really go after teams, so the fans have had to be educated into understanding the style of play.
People will accept it when you are top of the league, but that won't be the case when you are struggling.
The league title is the thing that matters most to Liverpool supporters, however, and everybody on the red half of Merseyside wants to see the team where they are right now.
Winning the title has never been easy, though. When you are top, the pressure to perform never goes away, but if Liverpool think the pressure is on now, just wait until March and April because they can multiply it by 100 then.
Once you get the Champions League games and league fixtures coming at you thick and fast, it becomes much more difficult.
But Liverpool are top of the league right now and they have at least given themselves their best chance of finishing up as champions for the first time since 1990.
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