Arsenal maintain six-point lead over Man City after goalless Liverpool draw

Both teams made minor changes to their starting line-ups. For Arsenal, Leandro Trossard replaced Gabriel Martinelli. For Liverpool, Jeremie Frimpong started on the right wing, Dominik Szoboszlai moved into midfield, while Curtis Jones began the match on the bench.

Liverpool created the clearest chance of the first half in the 26th minute, when Conor Bradley’s shot struck the post before Cody Gakpo failed to convert the rebound. Arsenal also had several dangerous moments, but Liverpool defended well to preserve a clean sheet. The most controversial moment came in stoppage time, when Bradley suffered a serious injury and Martinelli attempted to push the right-back off the pitch, sparking anger among players and fans.

The match ended 0-0. Arsenal maintained a six-point lead over Manchester City, while Liverpool remained fourth, two points clear of Brentford. After the match, Liverpool manager Arne Slot chose not to criticise Martinelli for the incident.

“I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli, but he comes across as a nice guy,” Slot said. “I think the problem for him is - and that’s the problem in general in football - there is so much time-wasting and players pretending they are injured in the final parts of the game or during the game. You can sometimes get annoyed if you want to score a goal and think a player is wasting time.”

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta praised his team’s efforts following a demanding festive schedule. “We’re disappointed because we wanted to win the game,” he said. “But overall, with the domination and the situations we created in the first half, we should have been in a winning position. That’s the margins in this game.

“If you cannot win it, at least you get a point. The boys deserve massive praise for what they’ve done during this Christmas period, getting results and performances consistently and coming out of it in a really strong position.”

Arsenal’s upcoming fixtures include Portsmouth in the FA Cup (11 January), Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semi-final (15 January), Nottingham Forest in the Premier League (18 January) and Inter Milan in the Champions League (21 January). Liverpool will next face Barnsley (13 January), Burnley (17 January) and Marseille (22 January).