Arsenal suffered a 0-0 draw at home to Liverpool on Thursday, missing out on a chance to move eight points clear in the Premier League.
After a disappointing title defense so far this season, Liverpool put in a classy performance at the Emirates Stadium in the pouring rain to end Arsenal’s five-game winning streak in the league.
The closest either team came to scoring was a mix-up between Arsenal’s goalkeeper and centre-back William Saliba, which led to Liverpool’s right-back Conor Bradley chipping David Raya, but the ball only hit the crossbar and rebounded.
Arsenal had just nine shots for the entire game, their lowest at home in four years. The second half was fraught with frustration among the home supporters as they looked uncharacteristically disorganized.
Still, they have much to be happy about. Arsenal ended the latest round of games with a six-point lead over second-placed Manchester City and third-placed Aston Villa. With 17 games remaining, the Gunners remain favorites to win their first league title since 2004.
City and Villa drew with Brighton and Crystal Palace respectively on Wednesday.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of his team’s performance: “There were some moments where we had the right positional advantage to really hurt them, but we lacked the quality to pick out players when we got into those areas.”
“We went through a very tough schedule…six games over this Christmas period…and we came through that to come out in a really strong position.”
10 games undefeated
Liverpool remained in fourth place and extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games. The champions were lackluster up front with strikers Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike absent due to injury and Mohamed Salah away at the African Cup of Nations against Egypt, but they tightened up defensively and dominated the midfield battle in the second half.
“We played against an unbelievable team,” said Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, “but today we proved once again why we were champions last season. After the last few weeks, this was a step forward.”
In a big negative for Liverpool, the injury-prone Bradley was seen being carried off on a stretcher in second-half stoppage time with an apparent leg problem after landing awkwardly.
While Bradley was writhing in pain near the sideline, Gabriel Martinelli dropped the ball to Bradley, attempting to knock the defender off the playing surface. This led to a jostling between the players and Martinelli was booked.
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Steve Douglas is https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
