Torres (abductor) and Alonso (metatarsal) suffered recurrences of injuries that had kept both Spaniards out for a month.

Mascherano suffered a foot injury and left Anfield with his left foot encased in a heavy medical boot.

Coming days after winger Jermaine Pennant was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the shin, which will rule him out until after Christmas, these latest injuries are major blows for Benitez.

He said: “We had problems when we lost Torres and then Alonso. We could not control the midfield then, we also had Mascherano with a foot injury and had lost (Mohamed) Sissoko beforehand with sickness.

“In the end there were too many problems against a really good team.

“Alonso has suffered the same injury again, the metatarsal, he felt something go in his foot. Torres also has a similar injury, a problem with an abductor muscle.

“Maybe he is not as bad as before. But he could not work as hard as we wanted, we wanted his pace and it was not available.

“He just was not fit. We talked beforehand and he said he was fine. Now we must wait again, he had been out for some time and we have been pushing to get him back, but he has not been right and he still is not right.

“We will need to check them all before we have any idea how long they will be without.”

Benitez praised Steven Gerrard’s contribution and goal after a difficult week for his captain.

He said: “Stevie has been playing better and this was a very good performance. We had a plan to use the strikers wide and for Stevie to attack through the middle with two holding players behind.

“But when we started losing players through injury, it just became too difficult to get forward.

“What pleased me most was the commitment of the players, our supporters should be happy with the efforts they put in against a very good team like Arsenal.

“Arsenal are playing well, a fantastic team. But it is too early, we are six points behind with a game in hand and there is a long way to go yet.”

For Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger, there was an exciting comeback, a late goal from Cesc Fabregas and a return to the top of the Barclays Premier League.

Wenger said: “We have come out of our first big test this season stronger. We played without the hand brake on, without any restrictions and we were faithful to the game we wanted to play.

“That is based on our technical quality and movement. Overall we handled the game very well. I cannot fault anyone, it was a fantastic game.

“I have always been very confident of what we could achieve this season, I said it before the season started and now we have convinced a few more people.

“There is a long way to go, but we have the talent to fight right at the top for the championship.

“The change from last season is that the players are growing, they are very young, the confidence is stronger.

“You could see signs last season – in the big games we did well, but we have now matured.

“We will go into the Manchester United game next Saturday knowing it will be another big test, but after this performance we will be facing United much stronger.”