Advantage Liverpool after Arsenal draw

Liverpool FC and Arsenal FC reconvene at Anfield for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final with the Mersey Reds marginal favourites to advance to the last four following the sides' 1-1 draw in London.

• Dirk Kuyt's equalising goal at the Arsenal Stadium shifted the balance of the tie slightly towards Liverpool although Arsène Wenger's side are unlikely to be overawed by a visit to Anfield where they eliminated the home team from two domestic cup competitions last season.

• Emmanuel Adebayor headed Arsenal in front 23 minutes into the first leg on 2 April. Three minutes later, Kuyt drew Liverpool level.

• The teams last Wednesday were:
Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Kolo Touré, William Gallas, Philippe Senderos, Gaël Clichy, Emmanuel Eboué (Nicklas Bendtner 67), Cesc Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini, Aleksandr Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie (Theo Walcott 46).
Liverpool: Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypiä, Martin Škrtel, Fábio Aurélio, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso (Lucas Leiva 77), Dirk Kuyt, Steven Gerrard, Ryan Babel (Yossi Benayoun 58), Fernando Torres (Andriy Voronin 86).

• The teams then met again at the Arsenal Stadium in the Premier League on 5 April. This time it finished 1-1, Nicklas Bendtner cancelling out Peter Crouch's 42nd-opener nine minutes after half-time.

• The teams on Saturday were:
Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Justin Hoyte (Emmanuel Adebayor 57), William Gallas, Kolo Touré, Armand Traoré (Gaël Clichy 72), Emmanuel Eboué, Cesc Fabregas, Gilberto, Mathieu Flamini (Aleksandr Hleb 81), Nicklas Bendtner, Theo Walcott.
Liverpool: Pepe Reina, Steve Finnan, Jamie Carragher, Martin Škrtel, Álvaro Arbeloa, Damien Plessis, Jermaine Pennant (Steven Gerrard 66), Yossi Benayoun (Andriy Voronin 75), Lucas Leiva, John Arne Riise, Peter Crouch (Fernando Torres 80).

• Arsenal fought back to earn a 1-1 draw when they last played at Anfield in the Premier League on 28 October, Cesc Fabregas scoring after 80 minutes to cancel out a seventh-minute Steven Gerrard opener.

• Liverpool had previously recorded three consecutive home league victories against Arsenal under Rafael Benítez: 2-1 in 2004/05, 1-0 in 2005/06, and 4-1 in 2006/07 when Crouch scored a hat-trick.

• Arsenal may take confidence, however, from the fact they eliminated Liverpool from both English cup competitions at Anfield last term. The London club beat then FA Cup holders 3-1 in a third-round tie on 6 January 2007, Tomáš Rosický (37, 45) and Thierry Henry (84) scoring for the visitors while Kuyt (71) got Liverpool's goal.

• Arsenal returned to Anfield three days later and beat Liverpool 6-3 in a League Cup quarter-final match. It was the first time the Reds had conceded six goals at home since a 6-0 reverse against Sunderland AFC in April 1930.

• Liverpool have recorded three wins and one defeat at home in Europe this season. However, they have never lost a home European tie against a rival English team, recording three 1-0 wins and two 0-0 draws.

• Arsenal have won two of their four UEFA Champions League away games in this campaign, with one draw and one defeat.

• Liverpool progressed to the knockout rounds as the second-placed team in Group A after winning their final three matches to finish with a record of W3 D1 L2. They were subsequently impressive 3-0 aggregate winners against Italian champions FC Internazionale Milano in the first knockout round, winning 2-0 at Anfield and 1-0 in Milan.

• Arsenal advanced to the quarter-final by deposing holders AC Milan in the first knockout round, winning 2-0 at San Siro following a 0-0 home draw. They had previously finished second in Group H, ending the group stage with a record of W4 D1 L1.

• For Arsenal this is only the second time they have faced English opposition in Europe and they will not want reminding of their quarter-final defeat by London rivals Chelsea FC in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League season. Arsenal finished that campaign unbeaten in the Premier League but they went down 3-2 on aggregate to Chelsea, losing the second leg 2-1 at home after a 1-1 away draw.

• Liverpool, by contrast, have fared well in previous all-English ties. Although beaten 2-0 on aggregate by Nottingham Forest FC in the first round of the 1978/79 European Champion Clubs' Cup, they recorded victories in their three other knockout contests – all against London clubs.

• In 1972/73 the Merseyside club got past Tottenham Hotspur FC on away goals in the UEFA Cup semi-finals following a 2-2 aggregate draw. More recently, they beat Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League semi-final in 2004/05 – winning the second leg 1-0 at Anfield following a 0-0 first-leg draw – and then repeated the feat last season when Daniel Agger's goal cancelled out a 1-0 first-leg loss in London and the Reds prevailed 4-1 on penalties.

• Arsenal may be above Liverpool in the Premier League standings but domestic form has counted for nothing in recent all-English duels. When Chelsea beat Arsenal in 2004 and Liverpool bettered Chelsea in 2005 and 2007, it was the losing side that finished higher in the Premier League.

• Benítez got the better of Arsenal in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League second group stage when in charge of Valencia. The teams drew 0-0 at Highbury in December 2002 and met again in their final group match at Mestalla in March 2003, when a 2-1 Valencia victory secured first place in the section for the Spanish side – and relegated Arsenal to third.

• The clubs have met 201 times previously, with Arsenal winning 70 and Liverpool 80 and 51 drawn.

• In 95 home games against Arsenal, Liverpool have recorded 53 wins, 17 draws and 25 defeats.

• Liverpool's biggest home win in this fixture was a 5-0 triumph in the English top flight in 1963/64. Arsenal's biggest victory was 5-1 in 1952/53.

• Arsenal's most famous win at Anfield came on 26 May 1989 when the teams met in their final league fixture of the season. Three points behind Liverpool at the start of play, the London side needed to win by two clear goals to pip their rivals to the league championship on goal difference – and did so thanks to efforts from Alan Smith and Michael Thomas, the second coming in the final minute.

• Liverpool and Arsenal last met in a two-legged tie in the English League Cup semi-final in February 1978. Liverpool won the first leg at Anfield 2-1 and held out for a goalless draw in north London in the return.

• The teams are meeting for the third time in seven days yet their counterparts in the 1979/80 season played each other five times in 20 days. After drawing their FA Cup semi-final 0-0 on 12 April, they drew two subsequent replays – 1-1 on both 16 and 28 April – before Arsenal finally prevailed in the third, winning 1-0 through a Brian Talbot goal on 1 May. In the middle of all that the teams also met in the league, drawing 1-1 at Anfield on 19 April.

• Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini was part of the Olympique de Marseille team defeated 2-0 by Benítez's Valencia in the UEFA Cup final in May 2004.

• Liverpool's Ryan Babel featured for former club AFC Ajax in their home defeat (1-2) and away draw (0-0) with Arsenal in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Arsenal midfielder Fabregas is a colleague of Liverpool's Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina, Álvaro Arbeloa and Torres in the Spain national squad.

• The tie also pits Arsenal forward Robin van Persie against his Dutch international team-mates Babel and Kuyt. Van Persie and Kuyt have also played together at club level, during the 2003/04 season at Feyenoord.

• Arsenal pair Jens Lehmann and Rosický finished on the losing side against Liverpool with BV Borussia Dortmund in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League first group stage. Rosický was denied a winning goal by the woodwork in a 0-0 home draw with the Merseyside club in September 2001, but a 2-0 defeat at Anfield the following month eliminated Dortmund and confirmed Liverpool as group winners.

• Arsenal, meanwhile, have won one and lost two of three previous penalty shoot-outs in European competition:
4-5 v Valencia CF, 1979/80 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final
3-2 v UC Sampdoria, 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final
1-4 v Galatasaray SK, 1999/00 UEFA Cup final