EPL: City dominance fails to count as Arsenal escape from Etihad with a point, Liverpool now on top

Arsenal ended their losing streak in the Premier League at Manchester City but failed to produce the knockout blow they needed to go back top of the table.

The Gunners arrived at the Etihad Stadium on the back of eight straight league wins but didn't land a punch on their opponents, who had beaten them seven times in a row previously at home in the league.

City extended their unbeaten home run to 39 matches in all competitions, yet are three points adrift of Liverpool with nine matches to go in the title race, while Arsenal are a point better off.

In a dull first half, the best chance fell to Nathan Ake, but he couldn't generate any power on his close-range header from a corner. Arsenal's best openings fell to Gabriel Jesus, who hit the side-netting with a half-chance at the back post.

Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta both introduced attacking players off the bench but there was still little to get excited about in the second half as the defences won out. Arsenal will reflect on a hard-earned point against a side who had scored in 57 consecutive home games, but there was no grandstand finale. Here are the talking points from the first goalless draw in the Premier League in two months.

This was a first half worthy of all the stock football phrases which are rolled out to describe what would better be termed ‘dull’. Was this a ‘chess match’? A ‘tactical battle’? Were Guardiola and Arteta’s teams ‘feeling each other out’? Whatever it was, it wasn’t particularly enjoyable to watch.

It is understandable – if disappointing – that these big matches often tend to underwhelm once we’ve given them the hype and build-up they deserve. The stakes are high and, as such, the players can perhaps be forgiven for going conservative early on, easing their way into it and avoiding risky passes.

We should’ve known it was coming, really, with both managers so familiar with each other and both sides playing four central defenders across the backline. But you can imagine how many disgruntled neutrals there were watching on from pubs across the country as this played out. As the half-time whistle went, even Peter Drury's famous turn of phrase couldn't dress it up as anything other than a disappointment.

It may not have made for the most enthralling viewing, but credit must go to Arsenal’s defence, which proved why it is the best in the Premier League – and why they had seven clean sheets on the road this season. Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba are a rock-solid partnership built on organisation, anticipation, and physicality – and they dominated Erling Haaland.

Haaland is renowned for barely touching the ball, not letting it get to him, and then still popping up with a goal, or two, or three. But the big Norwegian was silent and there was no goal out of the blue. When the ball went up to him, Gabriel was there, touch-tight, ready to nick the ball or foul him. And when the ball came into the box, the Brazilian, Saliba, or their auxiliary center-backs, Ben White and Jakub Kiwior, were there to head away.

On the hour mark, Guardiola blinked first. He brought on his two most exciting attacking players - Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku - and asked them to go and wreak havoc on the wings. Arteta reacted by summoning Takehiro Tomiyasu and Thomas Partey and that was that. In a game in which both sides were terrified of letting the other counter-attack, there was little to get excited about.

Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli were Arteta's trump cards, and while the Belgian forced a save from Stefan Ortega late on, it wasn't too troubling for the second-choice City keeper.