Jamie Carragher: It must be a long time since Liverpool won the title - I was an Everton fan then

Jamie Carragher watched two more points swallowed up in the black hole of north London but insisted: "Top of the league is where we should be."

In six visits to Tottenham and Arsenal in three different competitions during 2008, Liverpool have failed to win once - and they missed the boat again against the 10-man Gunners on Sunday.

And with just seven points from their last five Premier League games, the Kop's latest bid for the Holy Grail which has eluded them since 1990 has looked shakier than a suspension bridge in an earthquake.

When Kenny Dalglish was in the cockpit for Liverpool's last championship triumph 18 years ago, Carragher was supporting Everton and Maggie Thatcher was Prime Minister.

And the Reds' inspirational defender, borrowing a line from an up-tempo sixties band, says it is time for Liverpool to get back to where they once belonged.

Carra said: "We've been top a couple of times at Christmas in the past. But it is nothing to do with the mental aspect. There is no secret ingredient, it is just the best team which wins the league in the end, and hopefully that will be us.

"People keep talking about us being top of the league, but we are not a small football club - we are Liverpool and that is where we should be. A lot of the supporters have not seen us win the title, especially the young ones, because it has been that long. They grew up on stories from their fathers and grandfathers.

"That is why winning the Champions League a few years ago was great for the younger generation so they could see what it means.

"But it has been too long since Liverpool won the title - the last time they did, I was an Everton fan.

"A lot of teams seem to be taking points off each other, which is better than the last few years when teams have been winning the title with over 90 points - which does not say a lot for the league when they are just steamrolling everyone.

"For the last 18 months, we have been as hard as any team to beat, we do not lose too many games. We've had a few draws and we have to start turning those into wins. But we are still a difficult side to beat and that is what we will need until the end of the season because even Arsenal, in fifth, are not out of it yet.

"If we'd won on Sunday, there would have been a big gap between us, but both ourselves and Arsenal have got a pretty decent record against the other big teams, which will be important.

"Like us, Arsenal have got to improve against the other sides now and there is still a long way to go. We've got a bit of a lead over them now and it's going to be difficult with four other teams going for it.

"We have decent players still to come back and there is still a long way to go."

Liverpool rescued a point at Arsenal thanks to Robbie Keane's fifth goal of the season - and the £20million misfit admitted his brilliant strike was particularly "sweet" after scoring parochial baiting from Gunners fans.

Keane, dismissing talk of him being shipped out of Merseyside in next month's transfer window, said: "I'm not frustrated at all - the only thing that frustrates me is when people outside the club are trying to create something which isn't there.

"I've already said I know I will score goals for this club and I would prefer to be judged at the end of the season, not December.

"For me, it's always nice to score against Arsenal, especially as I had been getting a bit of stick just before the goal. I suppose that was always going to happen with me being a former Tottenham player, so it was sweet for me.

"It was important for us to equalise when we did, but we responded in exactly the right way after falling behind and we could have gone on to win.

"We dominated at times, but it can be more difficult to play against 10 men than 11 and that was certainly the case.

"Arsenal sat behind the ball and allowed us to have most of the possession, but we weren't able to create many chances."

BATTLE FOR PREM TITLE: THE KEY GAMES

Boxing Day: A.Villa v Arsenal

Jan 11: Man Utd v Chelsea

Feb 1: Liverpool v Chelsea

Feb 21: A.Villa v Chelsea

Mar 14: Man Utd v Liverpool

Mar 21: Liverpool v A.Villa Apr 4:

Man U v A.Villa

Apr 18: Liverpool v Arsenal

May 9: Arsenal v Chelsea

May 16: Man U v Arsenal

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