A blunder by Pepe Reina handed Arsenal a point.

The season opener for Liverpool ended with disappointment. Earlier in the match Joe Cole was sent off on his debut for the Reds for a clumsy challenge on Arsenal debutant Laurent Koscielny who was himself dismissed just before the end for a second yellow card.

Liverpool were given the lead by David Ngog just after half time. Arsenal had a lot of possession but created few chances. They would have surely been thankful to Reina, his mistake helped them equalise when Chamakh headed against the post which Reina spilled into his own net with just 15 seconds of normal time remaining.

Pepe Reina reacts after fumbling the ball into his own net.

Hodgson was disappointed with the draw and commented on the match:

“It was a bit disappointing to lose two points so close to the end, but it was a remarkable performance having to play the whole of the second half with 10 men. There was no intention from Joe Cole to foul the player, he threw himself in to try and block the ball.. but when players try to block the ball, the referee often sees it as a worse foul than it was.”

On the other hand Arsene Wenger was naturally pleased to grab a point and said:

“We had a lot of possession but Liverpool defended very well and we did not create many chances,” he said. “We kept going and did not give up and in the end came back to 1-1 which is a very good result at Liverpool.”