Arsenal returned to the top of the Barclays Premier League after a tight 0-0 draw at bogey club Stoke City, in which both goalkeepers shone.
Stoke's Jack Butland made terrific saves to deny Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud twice, while Petr Cech, the visiting 'keeper, made a superb double stop to keep the scores level.
Arsenal had not won at Stoke since February 2010 and never looked likely to find a way past Butland, who continues to pile pressure on Joe Hart's England place.
Stoke, having already beaten Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City at home this season, had the better of the match without really creating clear chances and Mark Hughes' men could not break the deadlock.
The draw takes Arsenal above Leicester City and back to the top of the BPL standings on goal difference, while Stoke remain handily placed in seventh spot.
Arsenal were without playmaker Mesut Ozil due to a foot injury, with Alexis Sanchez not ready to return and new signing Mohamed Elneny named on the bench, while Xherdan Shaqiri's hamstring injury kept him out for Stoke.
Openings were rare as the contest began in cagey fashion, Marko Arnautovic and Ibrahim Afellay both failing to hit the target with efforts from long range as the hosts started the better of the two sides.
Arsenal's first chance arrived on 20 minutes. Joel Campbell's through-ball freed Giroud but Butland sped off his line to block the in-form France international's shot.
Butland was in action again on 29 minutes, acrobatically tipping over Oxlade-Chamberlain's curling effort, before Laurent Koscielny inadvertently deflected another Oxlade-Chamberlain shot wide.
Stoke switched off from an Arsenal corner in the first minute of the second half, Giroud running clear of his marker to divert a header towards Butland's bottom-left corner, but the goalkeeper was again alert to tip the effort around the post.
The visitors knew a point would be enough to send them back to the top of the table and Cech pulled off a brilliant double save to keep the game scoreless on 55 minutes. He plunged to his right to deny Joselu, before scrambling to keep out Bojan Krkic's shot.
Cech turned another effort from Joselu around the post as Stoke cranked up the pressure in search of a third straight home BPL victory.
Aaron Ramsey then cleared a goalbound header off the line in the final minute of normal time, with Cech thrusting out a leg to deny Joselu from the rebound.
Ultimately neither side could force a breakthrough, meaning Hughes continues to enjoy an impressive individual run at the expense of Wenger, with the Welshman's teams now unbeaten in eight home league exchanges with Arsenal.
Stoke City manager Mark Hughes: "Probably a draw was a fair result. Two evenly matched sides I would suggest. I didn't think there was too much between both sides. From our point of view that shows how far we're progressing this year.
"We've added Arsenal to Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, teams that are the elite teams in the Premier League and in Europe and they found it very difficult to get positive results and I am sure Arsene and Arsenal are delighted that they have come here and got a point out of it. I was delighted with our performance."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "It was an old-fashioned Stoke battle because they made the game very physical. The crowd was up for it, the players were up for it and they went for a very direct game and we had to show a physical response, solidarity, fighting spirit, togetherness.
"We lacked a bit of creativity to force a way through and on top of that we missed two or three good chances. They were really up for it, they tried from the first to the last minute and looking at the history we have here, it is a positive result. Looking at the results of the other top teams here, it's a positive result but overall we missed two points today."
No comments:
Post a Comment