Liverpool’s appetite for the Europa League has not been in question, only their longing for adventure, but three goals in Romania and a personal landmark for Steven Gerrard delivered an emphatic response to accusations of conservatism tonight. This was Unirea Urziceni’s first defeat on home soil in Europe this season and brought Gerrard the immense satisfaction of replacing Alan Shearer as the leading English goalscorer in continental combat.

The margin of Liverpool’s aggregate triumph does a disservice to the pandemonium Unirea often caused the visiting defence. But having been admonished for innate caution at Manchester City on Sunday and witnessed his team record only two goals in seven away matches before this contest, Rafael Benítez will not be unduly troubled by an open affair. Gerrard’s 33rd goal in European competition provided welcome gloss.

Unirea, in the simplest terms, were up for it from the start. Benítez had claimed this tie was a fixation for the Romanians on their return from a mid-season break and after two defeats in Rony Levy’s first two matches in charge – at Anfield and in the league against Cluj – their opening confirmed the Liverpool manager’s view. An initially subdued response from the visitors added to the concerns for Benítez.

Levy’s side displayed more attacking intent in the first two minutes in Bucharest than in more than 90 on Merseyside but the problems they caused a nervous Liverpool defence were not reflected in the scoreline. Sorin Frunza was first to show on a sodden, heavy pitch with a dipping half-volley from 18 yards that dropped just over José Reina’s crossbar. Gerrard tested Giedrius Arlauskis with a trademark drive moments later yet Liverpool did not stretch the Unirea defence again until their captain and centre-half George Galamaz limped off in the 27th minute as a consequence of his own clumsy foul on Martin Skrtel.

Galamaz departed with his side level on aggregate courtesy of the first goal of Levy’s reign. The home side found space on the left of the Liverpool defence with alarming frequency but it was the pace and accuracy of their set-piece delivery that caused constant mayhem inside the visiting area. Marius Onofras latched on to a long ball over Skrtel and was foiled inside the box by a well-timed challenge from Daniel Agger, making his 100th Liverpool appearance. With the first example of Razvan Paduretu’s impressive armoury at a dead-ball, Bruno Fernandes towered above Agger from the corner and dispatched an unstoppable header past Reina.

The loss of their first-leg advantage so early in the game helped awaken Liverpool to their task. Of the four changes Benítez made to the side that started the first leg – with Alberto Aquilani, Dirk Kuyt and Fabio Aurelio on the bench and Albert Riera overlooked completely. The performances of the relentless Lucas and Javier Mascherano showed how difficult it will be for Aquilani to secure a regular first-team role in central midfield this term.

Liverpool’s midfield core was integral to the team’s gradual improvement and only two minutes after Galamaz’s injury they equalised in superb fashion. There appeared no immediate danger when Jamie Carragher floated a deep cross to the far post but Gerrard’s header back and David Ngog’s presence induced panic in the Romanian defence. Onofras sliced a desperate clearance to the edge of his own area and Mascherano, with only one officially recognised goal for Liverpool before the game, doubled his tally with an outstanding drive beyond Arlauskis from 25 yards.

Unirea almost regained the lead courtesy of two excellent Paduretu corners, the first piercing the penalty area and deflecting inches wide of the far post off Emiliano Insua, only to fall behind to another cross from the right five minutes before the interval. This time the home defence could not deal with a Gerrard free-kick and Babel, having taken an exquisite first touch away from Skrtel, tucked a nonchalant finish inside the near post from close range.

The tie was beyond the Romanians yet they refused to divert from their adventurous game-plan and continued to cause Liverpool problems. The visitors maximised the space they were afforded and added a third when Lucas released Yossi Benayoun inside the area and his mazy run enabled Gerrard to achieve another personal milestone with a deflected shot from close range. This was the first time since the 6-1 trouncing of Hull City on 26 September that Liverpool had scored more than twice, although their night ended on a worrying note when Skrtel was carried off with a suspected broken foot after a heavy challenge from the substitute, Antonio Semedo.

Uefa Europa LeagueLiverpoolUnirea UrziceniDaniel Taylorguardian.co.uk

Arsenal started as if their pre-match energy drinks had been laced with tranquilisers but after a hectic conclusion showed they can’t be written off

Was this the third-place play-off that turned into a revival of Arsenal’s bid to be taken seriously as contenders for the Premier League title? Recovering from an anxious and error-plagued first half last night, Arsène Wenger’s players did enough to suggest that they cannot quite be written off, particularly on a night when Chelsea and Manchester United lived up to the Frenchman’s prediction that they will continue to drop points as the season approaches its climactic phase.

In a sense we had been here before – or so Rafael Benítez will feel. It was at Anfield on 13 December, with Arsenal trailing by the only goal at the end of the first half, that Wenger gave his players an uncharacteristic roasting and received the desired response. Several of them shed the gloves they had been wearing, got stuck into Liverpool and won the match. Coming a fortnight after a traumatic home defeat at the hands of Chelsea, it looked temptingly like a turning-point in the north London club’s season.

Last night they met Liverpool again, this time having just lost to Manchester United and Chelsea in matches that severely damaged their hopes of capturing the title for the first time since 2003-04. Wenger, in his programme notes, refused to admit any similarity between the two defeats. Against United, he said, “we didn’t turn up”. Their failings, he explained, were “down to nerves on the day”. At Stamford Bridge they had “played like the home team” but suffered the misfortune of finding themselves two goals down after 20 minutes, having been “punished for our impatience”.

At the start of the evening it was difficult to imagine, even in this strange season, when eccentric results have been piled one atop another, that either of these teams would find themselves mounting a new challenge to the current top two. So concerned were Arsenal not to repeat the skittishness with which they played into Manchester United’s hands that they started last night as though their pre-match energy drinks had been laced with tranquillisers. What they seemed to be doing was trying to replicate their training-ground routines to calm themselves down.

In their preceding 180 minutes of competitive football those routines had not worked at all, despite being afforded the sort of time and space at Stamford Bridge that must have exceeded all their expectations. Penetration was almost entirely lacking and in last night’s first half they showed little more in the way of explosive dynamism.

Liverpool certainly started as though they had taken note of Chelsea’s success on Sunday in sitting back, allowing Ars­enal to advance in numbers and then hitting them on the counter. In Steven Gerrard and Emiliano Insúa the visitors had the players to launch quick breaks, with David Ngog and Dirk Kuyt ahead of them to take advantage. In a largely tedious opening period, however, they made no significant chances.

Once again Arsenal’s midfielders were being given plenty of space in which to weave their patterns, without being able to make the most of it. Nicklas Bendtner added weight and strength to the centre of the attack but for an hour he looked some way short of match sharpness. The supporters are having to wait a long time for Andrey Arshavin to produce another match-turning performance of the sort that secured the victory at Anfield while the Russian attempts to recover from his unhappy experience as a stand-in centre-forward.

But in the second minute after the resumption, as Arshavin scuttled in from the left and drilled a fierce shot into the side netting, it looked as though Wenger might have succcessfully repeated the sort of angry outburst that did the job at Anfield. Perhaps Benítez, too, had followed suit, since chances suddenly started to appear at both ends.

At last a desultory evening acquired intensity as both sides tried to convince themselves that this was a battle between prospective title challengers. The physical aggression and the foul count mounted and, as the match entered its last 20 ­minutes, Arsenal’s forwards finally ­combined to create the goal for Abou Diaby, a largely peripheral figure until he steamed through the middle to head home Tomas Rosicky’s cross.

Here, at last, Arsenal’s habitual quick thinking and geometrical neatness ended with a punch that carried some weight, although Liverpool’s defenders had been found wanting and might have conceded further goals. The visitors’ frantic attempts to snatch something from the match contributed to a hectic conclusion that could not have been predicted in the early stages, when both sides had the listlessness and inaccuracy of also-rans. But if this season has taught us one lesson, it is that only the very rash would draw firm conclusions from the events of a single night.

Premier LeagueArsenalLiverpoolRichard Williamsguardian.co.uk