Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool

Liverpool maintained their unbeaten start to the Premier League season as they played out a thrilling goalless draw with Arsenal at Emirates Stadium. 

In a game littered with chances, brilliant goalkeeping and defensive mistakes, it was almost beyond belief that neither side could carve out a victory and deliver an early psychological blow among the contenders at the top of the table.

Liverpool dominated the first half but found Petr Cech in magnificent form as the former Chelsea goalkeeper saved miraculously from Christian Benteke and turned Philippe Coutinho's shot on to a post.

Coutinho also struck the bar in the third minute - and while Arsenal's opportunities were few, they were furious that Aaron Ramsey's early strike was ruled out for offside.

Arsenal regrouped and dominated much of the second half, Alexis Sanchez hitting the post and Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet producing a fine reflex save from Olivier Giroud.

The Reds will be delighted with a third successive clean sheet on the back of victories against Stoke City and Bournemouth, while Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will be equally pleased by the character shown by his side after a difficult first half.

 

Cech shows his worth

When Arsenal bought Cech for £10m from Chelsea in June, the instant wisdom was that his presence alone could be worth an extra 10 points to the Gunners.

Time will tell, but this was the night when the 33-year-old showed just how important a signing he could be as the Gunners try finally to mount a serious Premier League title challenge.

Cech was castigated to an exaggerated degree after a poor debut in the home defeat by West Ham, but he was magnificent here when Liverpool laid siege to his goal in the first half.

He spread himself brilliantly to turn away Benteke's close-range effort when it seemed certain the Belgium striker would score, then showed he still retains the old athleticism to stretch and tip Coutinho's curling shot against an upright.

If any Arsenal fans harboured doubts about his purchase, this was a display to dispel them.

 

 

Coutinho plus Benteke equals danger

When Liverpool almost won the title in 2014, it was spearheaded by the superb attacking triumvirate of Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling.

Liverpool floundered last season with Suarez at Barcelona, Sturridge injured and Sterling disaffected and out of sorts before his £49m move to Manchester City.

While there can be no comparisons with that trio, there are so many signs of promise in the understanding already established between Coutinho and £32.5m summer signing Benteke.

Coutinho's darting runs and fast footwork are dangerous on their own while also looking for an outlet in Benteke, whose easy movement shows he is so much more than a big target man.

They have shown Liverpool can offer a different type of threat this season - and manager Brendan Rodgers will face an intriguing conundrum when Sturridge finally declares himself fit.

 

 

 

Will either of these teams be title contenders?

Top four is more realistic for both and they don't look like threatening Manchester City on this very early evidence.

Liverpool, however, will be delighted at maintaining their recovery from the trauma of last season, with a third successive clean sheet and more signs that confidence is slowly returning.

BBC Sport pundit Steve Claridge said Arsenal were lop-sided in commentary and, with the direction of play from right to left, this heatmap shows their main threat was from the left flank 

Arsenal showed great spirit to recover from a first half in which their defending was horrendous to have the better of the second.

It should be placed in context by the fact they were robbed of their first-choice central defensive partnership of Per Mertesacker through illness and Laurent Koscielny with a back injury.

 

 

Man of the match: Petr Cech

A magnificent performance from a goalkeeper who remains world class  he made eight saves and constantly rescued a weakened Arsenal defence.

 

 

Post-match reaction:

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger:
 
"We scored a regular goal that was disallowed, I don't believe I can do something about it. At the end of the day, the referee cancelled out a regular goal. Like it or don't like it, it is a fact.

"We had chances, but we couldn't finish them off. When you play at home and don't win, people always find problems.

"It is not the result or the complete performance, but we came back in the second half."

Arsenal keeper Petr Cech:
"It is a shame we couldn't snatch the three points, but the game was so crazy - 0-0 we can take. First half, we scored a goal and it was ruled out for offside. That could have changed the game.
"We could have won the game, we could have been losing after the first half."

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers:
"I thought we were very good. First half, Petr Cech was the man of the match.
"Second half, we were always a threat going forward. The players worked ever so hard."

 

What next?

Arsenal face a trip to Newcastle in the Premier League in Saturday's 12:45 BST kick-off, while Liverpool host West Ham on the same day at 15:00 BST.


Shaw Post believes that both sides will be happy with a point each as it's was very tightly contested match between to of England's most majestic sides.

Perhaps Liverpool will be feeling more happy than Arsenal as they managed to put in a much better performance than they did last season when they lost 4-1 in April. Benteke and Coutinho worked very well together and Liverpool have the making's of side that could come very close to finishing in the top four.

Liverpool fans will be very pleased to see that their team is managing to defend a lot better this season as they haven't conceded a goal at all this season.

Arsenal fans will be feeling sad as Aaron Ramsey had a perfect goal wrongly disallowed by the linesman in the eighth minute. Perhaps if the goal was given then Arsenal were going to go on to win the game.

The fans will be happy to see Petr Cech put in a man of the match performance to help guide an inexperienced back line to a battling point.

It was also great to see Gabriel Paulista and Calum Chambers do well on their first starts of the season. They were both nervous during first half but then improved quite considerably in the second half. 

Both were nervous as they've never been paired together yet and they were thrust into this match because both Arsenal's key center backs were both injured. 
Hopefully Wenger plays Gabriel Paulista and Chambers together in the Capital One Cup so they gain experience of playing together.

Arsene Wenger must also sign a top class striker and defensive midfielder before the transfer window ends. Arsenal must bring in a striker such as Edison Cavani or Karim Benzema and a top defensive midfielder such as Lars Bender or João Moutinho,