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Neither Arsenal not Liverpool were able to find the crucial finishing touch as they played out an exciting 0-0 draw at the Emirates. Both keepers were on song as the attacks failed to breach the opposition goals despite the enormous number of chances created in the 90 minutes.
The Merseysiders would have been apprehensive of their latest visit to the Emirates as they have only earned a single win at the Emirates in all the games played at Arsenal’s new home ground. Further, any negative feeling would have been amplified by the fact that they only managed a single point from all games against the top sides last season.
The game got off to a quick start with both teams creating ans spurning good chances. In just the 3rd minute, Coutinho hit the underside of the crossbar with a thumping shot from range. Petr Cech remained rooted to his spot and could do little about it but Arsenal were lucky not to have conceded early in the game.
Just 5 minutes later, Liverpool would count themselves lucky as Santi Cazorla played in Aaron Ramsey with a superb through ball and the Welshman put the ball in the back of the net only to be denied by a controversial offside flag. The second time this season that Liverpool have had an offside decision go their way.
Then it was the new Arsenal goalkeeper’s time to shine. Cech pulled off a few couple of saves worth their weight in gold to single-handedly keep the Gunners in the game. His stop in the 24th minute from James Milner’s tame shot would be made to look childish next to the next save he made in the 39th minute from point blank range. Benteke ran on to a low cross and took a shot towards goal and even Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers thought the Belgian had given his side the initiative, but the Czech shot stopper had other ideas as he made a world class save to deny the former Aston Villa striker.
He would repeat his feat in the 45th minute as Coutinho in trademark fashion pulled the ball back in the penalty area to curl it into the far post but Cech was on hand again to get fingertips on the ball and guide it onto the post and out.
The two sides went into the break level but both sides looked threatening. At about the hour mark, Sanchez came within inches of putting his side ahead but from a good position could only hit the outside of the post.
Only 10 minutes after Arsenal had come close through the Chilean, Mignolet made a splendid save to deny Olivier Giroud as the French striker took a shot as he was going to ground from minimal contact on him from Martin Skrtel but it stretched Mignolet to the limit as he dived to save it.
Despite a real attempt from Arsenal to win the game towards the end as the away side looked to set up shop and settle for a point, they were not able to break the deadlock. In fact they exposed themselves to a couple of counter attacks from a quick Liverpool side.
The result will disappoint Arsenal more than it harms Liverpool as the North London side failed to capitalise on their home advantage and now sit in 9th place with a 5 point gap between them and leaders Manchester City early on in the season. Brendan Rodgers’ side, on the other hand, are third by alphabetical order having achieved identical results to that of Manchester United in the first three fixtures.
Arsene Wenger will ponder the disappointment of losing points as he will look to mount a stronger challenge for the Premier League crown as they were expected to do before the start of the season but there appear to be several issues that Le Professeur will need to address if he is to lead Arsenal into war against the big guns in England.
Liverpool seem to have improved in terms of performance from the first two games where they managed two 1-0 wins but didn’t look too threatening. In this case it was a better performance with perhaps a result that does not reflect either teams performances.
