Gerrard made a suicidal back pass just eight minutes from time only for Arsenal anticipating striker Thierry Henry to scuff the ball and drill the winner home.

"It’s my fault. I thought I'd knock it back to the keeper, waste a bit of time," BBC Sport quoted the England midfielder as saying in Sunday’s post-match press conference.

"But Henry was hiding behind the centre-backs. If there's only one player you don't want it to fall to it's Henry."

Henry opened the score line earlier at Highbury with a superb curling shot and Luis Garcia brought the visitors level after Gerrard’s initial effort was parried into his path.

Liverpool’s defeat capped a miserable week for the Anfield side whose European title-defending campaign came to an end after losing 3-0 on aggregate to Benfica and bowing out of the tournament.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez admitted it was Gerrard’s mistake but avoided blaming the team skipper.

"It was a bad week, this kind of mistake is bad luck, a bad decision in one moment, it is a bad result for us but we have to keep going," the Spaniard said.