Arsenal and Liverpool failed to close the gap on new Premiership leaders Manchester United after drawing 1-1 at Highbury this evening. With United assuming their familiar mantle at the summit, their title challengers cancelled each other out in an uneventful match with chances few and far between. Freddie Lundberg atoned for a glaring first half miss with Arsenal's opener after 61 minutes, but Steven Gerrard dissected the home defence with a superb ball to set John Arne Riise up for a deserved equaliser six minutes later.
Liverpool's title challenge has faltered having picked up only six points from their previous seven games, and they understandably adopted a safety first approach against Arsene Wenger's men. Not even the return of Nicolas Anelka for the first time since his controversial move in 1999 or the return from injury of Michael Owen could spark Liverpool into life for long periods.
The onus was firmly on Arsenal to break them down but neither could they offer any real penetration amid a midfield battle with genuine chances sparse on the ground. Henry hit the top of the crossbar early on with a speculative cross, while Stephane Henchoz escaped appeals for handball. However, the only real chance of the first half fell to Ljungberg as he twisted onto Kanu's through-ball to beat the offside trap and go round Jerzy Dudek only to clip his shot wide from a tight angle as he lost his balance.
The visitors did finally threaten Arsenal's goal on the hour-mark as Danny Murphy arrived late on the edge of the six-yard box to head the impressive Riise's cross narrowly over the top. However, minutes later Dennis Bergkamp superbly controlled a long ball from Sol Campbell and fed the ball straight into the path of the onrushing Robert Pires, who crossed for Ljungberg to bundle the ball into the net from close range.
It was a lead Arsenal relinquished within six minutes, in a move started and finished by Riise. The Norwegian found Patrick Berger at the edge of his own area and raced to the edge of the Arsenal box where he calmly slotted home an amazing 50-yard first time ball from Gerrard to equalise. Thereafter, Bergkamp threatened with a volley but that was about it for both sides, to leave Arsenal and Liverpool two and three points adrift of United respectively.
Filed by Shane Murray
