Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool

by Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

at Ashburton Grove
LIVERPOOL maintained their unbeaten start to the new season after picking up a deserved point in the goalless draw against a misfiring Arsenal side at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night.

The Merseyside outfit were dominant in the first half and in truth should have gone in at the break with a comfortable lead, but were denied by a two world-class saves from Gunners keeper Petr Cech, who went some way to erasing the memory of his horror show against West Ham United two weeks ago.

His first save was nothing short of brilliant as he produced a stunning one-handed stop to prevent Christian Benteke from netting a second goal for the club in as many games following his big-money transfer from Aston Villa this summer.

If that stop was good then the second was even better as Philippe Coutinho, who hit the bar in the opening minutes, saw his curling shot miraculously pushed onto the woodwork by the Czech international’s fingertips on the stroke of half-time.

Manager Brendan Rodgers felt his side should have capitalised on their dominance in the opening period but admitted he was pleased with a point and their third successive clean sheet:“

We definitely could have had all three points, certainly performance-wise, I was very happy with how we worked,” the Northern Irishman said in his post-match press conference.“The first half in particular we created chances and should have been in front. Second half, you expect some pressure in the game, but we defended that very well and always looked a threat going forward.”

“Our performance level is growing all the time, you see our defensive organisation was very good against a top-class team. The overriding feeling is we get a point, a clean sheet and we move to the next game,” Rodgers added.

One moment of controversy came as early as the eighth minute when Aaron Ramsey had an effort disallowed for offside, although TV replays showed it was the incorrect decision and that irked Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger:“It was a regular goal.It was a period of the game where we maybe had the most problems defensively but it’s a regular goal.

“I can’t see why it was cancelled. It’s clear and on that front you cannot say that Liverpool can complain,” the Frenchman added.The home side went close to breaking the deadlock after the interval through Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud, but it’s now five out of the last six home games either side of the summer break in which they have failed to get on the scoresheet, however, Wenger insists he is not too concerned about his side’s struggles in front of goal.

“That will not last. It’s a fact, I agree, but I believe that we know we can score goals and that will come back,” he stressed.