Arsenal wasted the chance to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League as Liverpool came to life in a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium.
\nThe Reds are one of only two sides to beat Mikel Arteta’s men this season and came closest to breaking the deadlock when Conor Bradley hit the crossbar.
\nArsenal failed to score for the first time at home all season but did enough to extend their advantage over second-placed Manchester City to six points.
\nThree consecutive draws for City over the past week had opened the door for Arsenal to close in on their first league title in 22 years.
\nThe Emirates was bouncing before a ball was kicked in anticipation, but the spectacle between the defending champions and apparent champions elect fell flat.
\nBoth sides struggled to deal with the treacherous conditions as Storm Goretti unleashed torrential rain and swirling winds.
\nLiverpool have long since fallen out of the title race since beating the Gunners at Anfield in August, but are now 10 games unbeaten to consolidate their place in the top four.
\nThe visitors were penned in for much of the first 45 minutes but still came closest to opening the scoring before the break.
\nWilliam Saliba’s backpass nearly caught out David Raya and, with the Spanish goalkeeper stranded, Conor Bradley’s lob came back off the underside of the crossbar.
\nThe roles were reversed in the second period as Liverpool dominated possession and territory.
\nHowever, the Reds were shorn of three of their biggest attacking threats with Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike out injured and Mohamed Salah away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
\nThat lack of firepower in the final third showed as Arsenal were only ever troubled by the pace of Jeremie Frimpong, who lacked the final ball to make his dangerous bursts count.
\nDominik Szoboszlai’s stunning free-kick separated the sides when the last met and nearly repeated the trick with a powerful effort that dipped just too late.
\nAt the other end, Viktor Gyokeres was hauled off by Arteta after another poor performance as his goal drought from open play extended to 10 games.
\nArteta had to turn to his wealth of options off the bench to try and turn the tide as Gabriel Jesus, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Martinelli were all introduced in the hunt for a winner.
\nBut they took until stoppage time to register a shot on goal in the second half as Jesus and Martinelli fired too close to Alisson Becker.
\nA point edges fourth-placed Liverpool three points clear of Newcastle and Manchester United in the battle for a place in next season’s Champions League.<\/p>\n
Martinelli ‘deeply sorry\u2019
\nArsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli said he had apologised to Conor Bradley for shoving the Liverpool defender off the pitch when badly injured.
\nSome pundits felt Martinelli should have been sent off after the Brazilian dropped the ball on Bradley as he lay on the turf at the Emirates and then tried to manhandle him off the pitch so the game could quickly resume.
\nThe 22-year-old Bradley left the stadium on crutches and wearing a supportive brace on his knee.
\nMartinelli was booked but not dismissed following the incident late in the game on Thursday which provoked an angry reaction from Liverpool’s players.
\nFormer Manchester United captain Roy Keane called Martinelli “a disgrace” on Sky Sports.
\nIn response to the backlash, Martinelli posted on Instagram: “Conor and I have messaged and I’ve already apologised to him.
\n“I really didn’t understand he was seriously injured in the heat of the moment.
\n“I want to say I’m deeply sorry for reacting.
\n“Sending Conor all my best again for a quick recovery.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal wasted the chance to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League as Liverpool came to life in a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium. The Reds are one of only two sides to beat Mikel Arteta’s men this season and came closest to breaking the deadlock when Conor Bradley hit …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}