MATCH REPORT: Arsenal vs Liverpool

It was another Premier League weekend that was marked with a clash between two of the heavy weights in the league. Liverpool sit the highest of the two in the table at the beginning of the night and would be looking to record their third consecutive win to maintain their 100% start to the campaign and sitting level with Manchester City with 9 points at the top of the table. Arsenal would be looking to build on last weekend's win and register their first home win of the season after a horrible start to the League against West Ham on the opening weekend. However, both teams were forced into making changes that affected their normal set ups, so the game was nicely poised between the two.

Liverpool certainly saw the better of the chances in the first half and looked increasingly dangerous as the half went on. In the early moments of the game, Emre Can set up Christian Benteke on the edge of Arsenal's 18 yard box, but his shot was narrowly wide of the near post. Only a minute later, the team was presented with another golden opportunity and this time it was Benteke who set up the chance. Philippe Coutinho took on the shot with his first touch and swerved it around, aiming for the far netting, but instead saw it bounce off the post before rebounding into play and getting cleared by Arsenal. 

Arsenal did get a couple of chances in front of goal, but they were wasteful. Nacho Monreal put a great cross in from the left to the far post where Alexis Sanchez tries to turn his header towards the goal, but he sent it just wide of the post. His second chance came within minutes after Liverpool failed to clear their lines. Martin Skrtel and James Milner both had their chances and it almost came back to them, but Sanchez missed the first attempt and was swiftly judged offside. It was another offside decision that stopped Arsenal from taking the lead as well. Santi Cazorla played a brilliant through ball to Aaron Ramsey on the edge of the 6 yard box who then slipped the ball under the keeper just before the flag went up. However, he was wrongly judged offside, and Arsenal fans weren't too happy about that decision. 

Arsenal's defence looked extremely shaky throughout the rest of the first half without Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny. 15 minutes in, Calum Chamber gave the ball away inside his own penalty area instead of clearing the ball, but Francis Coquelin made a good tackle which prevented the shot being taken. None of the Arsenal defenders were closing down the ball either which allowed Milner to make a run into the box where Coutinho played him in after being gifted the ball. Milner's first attempt at a square ball to his team-mate was cut out but he got a second chance but saw it turned off the near post by Petr Cech.

Benteke had another good chance as the half came to a close as well. Roberto Firmino, in his first start for the club, squared the ball across the box in a dangerous position that prevented the Arsenal defender from a sliding clearance at the risk of an own goal, and Benteke came onto the ball at the far post and almost got the better of Cech, but the keeper did well to get down and turn the ball away. Coutinho pulled off some fancy footwork to work his way into space and took on the shot from close range, but for the second time in the half saw the woodwork come to Arsenal's rescue after a fingertips save from Cech.

It was Arsenal who saw the best of the second half though. Their defensive frailties seemed to have been left behind, and they looked a lot brighter, and it looked as though they might just be able to steal this came out from underneath Liverpool. Something that certainly seemed to have changed was the speed of Arsenal's play as they pushed the Liverpool defence back. Olivier Giroud alone had a lot of good chances. The first of these was only a half chance though, as the ball came across to the forward, but Skrtel had matched him and beat him to stop the danger and the second was an attempted first touch finish that ended wide of the far post.

On the hour mark, Sanchez had a great chance following a set-up from Mesut Ozil, and he took the shot from a very close, tight angle which almost came off for him, but instead the woodwork of the goal got in the way of yet another chance and the danger passed. Giroud racked up another chance after this when he was left in a lot of space in the Liverpool area after the defenders had been led away. He slipped as he took on the shot, but still managed to poke it towards the goal, but Mignolet's brilliant reaction save prevented him from getting his goal. 

Ramsey also got a couple of chances towards the end of the half, and he was desperate to score after having his earlier effort ruled out. His first shot was a curled effort around the defender (the initial pass to play him in was from Giroud), but Mignolet was left with a comfortable save in the end. His second chance did cause the Liverpool keeper some problems though. Ramsey carried the ball through a good run, and took on the long-range shot which was low. Mignolet needed two attempts, but managed to hold onto it before any of the Arsenal players could collect the rebound. 

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain proved to be a handful for Joe Gomez when he came onto the pitch, and one of his first contributions was a whipped cross into the box which Skrtel got his boot to in a clearance, and although he cleared it, it was almost at the expense of an own goal. Oxlade-Chamberlain also had a long-range shot that curled round towards the far post turned away by Mignolet deep into added time which marked the end of the match.

In the end, a draw probably served as the right result between the two teams. Both had their own dominant half in the game, and although there definitely should have been more goals if either team had taken their chances, it was a strong display overall, especially defensively from Liverpool's points of view. This means the away side continue their unbeaten run at the beginning of the season, not quite level with Man City's record, but they are still sitting pretty at the top of the table for the time being. However, Arsenal's home form might be a slight worry for Arsene Wenger, but this early on in the season, there is still a lot of time for things to improve.