Man City and Arsenal draw to hand Liverpool advantage in Premier League title race

Manchester City and Arsenal fought out a tense stalemate as they drew 0-0 at the Etihad Stadium – to hand the initiative to Liverpool in the Premier League title race.

Jurgen Klopp’s side had earlier come from a goal down to beat Brighton at Anfield and go top of the table.

And they stayed there after their title rivals failed to take their chance to keep the pressure up.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who could have leapfrogged Liverpool with a win, will still be the happier of the two sides.

The result leaves Liverpool top on 67 points, with Arsenal two behind them and City a further point adrift on 64.

Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in both of their league meetings with Manchester City this season, making them just the fourth side to shut out a Pep Guardiola side in two league matches in the same season, after Borussia Monchengladbach in 2014/15, Manchester United in 2020/21, and Crystal Palace in 2021/22.

City failed to break down Arsenal as the highly anticipated clash failed to live up to its hype. A share of the spoils preserved City's unbeaten home run stretching back to November 2022 and ended Arsenal's eight-match winning run in the Premier League.

City dominated possession but struggled to make anything of it against a defence that has conceded the fewest number of goals in the Premier League this season.

Arsenal have also been in free-scoring form at the other end, netting 33 times during their eight-match winning streak. However, the visitors had lost on their last eight trips to the Etihad, including a 4-1 thrashing as the title race swung decisively in City's favour last season, and opted for a counter-attacking approach.

Gabriel Jesus came into the Arsenal side on his return to the Etihad and had the visitors'