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📻 IMPORTANT AUCKLAND UPDATE 📻
Arsenal, Liverpool play to Premier League draw
AP •  January 9th, 2026 12:17 pm
Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai and Arsenal's Declan Rice go toe-to-toe in London | Photo: AP
Arsenal have missed a chance to pull eight points clear in the Premier League after being stifled in a 0-0 home draw with Liverpool.
Disappointing for so much of their title defence this season, Liverpool put in a polished display at Emirates Stadium to bring an end to Arsenal's five-match winning run in the league.
The closest either team came to scoring was when Liverpool right back Conor Bradley chipped David Raya after a mix-up between the Arsenal goalkeeper and centre back William Saliba, only for the ball to rebound off the crossbar.
Arsenal had just four shots on target all match and looked unusually disjointed, leading to frustration among the home supporters.
Arsenal's Leandro Trossard and Liverpool's Florian Wirtz tussle for the ball | Photo: AP
Still, they have plenty to be happy about. Arsenal ended the latest round how it started with a six-point lead over both second-place Manchester City and third-place Aston Villa.
With 17 games left, the Gunners remain strong favourites to clinch a first league title since 2004.
City and Villa both drew matches on Wednesday (Thursday NZ time), against Brighton and Crystal Palace, respectively.
"We have some moments where we have the right positional advantages to really hurt them, and then when we got into these areas, we lacked quality to pick the players," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of his team's performance.
"We've come from a very demanding schedule ... the six games that we've played in this Christmas period ... and we've come out of that in a really strong position."
Liverpool's Conor Bradley is stretchered from the pitch after suffering an injury against Arsenal | Photo: AP
Liverpool stayed in fourth place and extended their unbeaten streak in the league to 10 matches.
Defensively, the champions have tightened up but they still lacked a spark up front without injured strikers Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, and with Mohamed Salah away with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.
"We faced an unbelievable team," Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai said. "But we showed again today why we became champions last season. This was a step forward after recent weeks."
A big negative for Liverpool was the sight of the injury-prone Bradley getting carried off on a stretcher in second-half stoppage time with an apparent ankle issue.
While Bradley was writhing around in pain near the sideline, Gabriel Martinelli dropped the ball on him then tried to roll the defender off the playing surface.
That sparked some pushing and shoving between the players, with Martinelli getting booked.
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