Martinelli's sour act main talking point of dull draw

Arsenal wanted a statement, but there won't be much more said about this 0-0 draw with Liverpool at all - outside the controversy surrounding Gabriel Martinelli's shameful moment.

- MIGUEL DELANEY AT THE EMIRATES STADIUM

It was perhaps surprising that Arne Slot's players didn't respond with even greater fury after he pushed a clearly injured Conor Bradley off the pitch.

It was otherwise very much like the game in August, except without a moment of magic to settle it, or pretty much any creativity at all.

An otherwise great Christmas for Arsenal still ends up feeling, well, like a rainy midweek evening in January. The entire occasion involved a certain restlessness, but the home crowd can at least remind themselves that they are in a better position than they were a month ago, and a commanding six points clear.

It was just that Mikel Arteta's side were too willing to cede control, in a game that will at least offer Slot some solace.

This was a third successive draw, but one that wasn't like the others.

If Arsenal are to end up winning the title, they will have done so without actually beating last season's champions in the league. Liverpool have claimed four points against them, out of two matches where the best you can say is that both showed each other an awful lot of respect. That's despite constant murmurs that they don't really like each other too much.