Arsenal missed the chance to go eight points clear in the Premier League after losing to a 0-0 home draw with Liverpool on Thursday.
Having disappointed for much of their title defense this season, Liverpool put in a brilliant performance in pouring rain at the Emirates Stadium to end Arsenal's five-game winning run in the league.
The closest either team came to a goal was when Liverpool right-back Conor Bradley hit David Rye after a mix-up between the Arsenal goalkeeper and centre-back William Saliba, but the ball bounced off the crossbar.
Arsenal had just nine shots in the entire match – their lowest total at home in four years – and looked unusually disjointed, leading to a frustrating second-half for the home fans.
However, they have something to be happy about. Arsenal finished the final round the same way they started – with a six-point lead over second-placed Manchester City and third-placed Aston Villa. With 17 games remaining, the Gunners remain strong favorites to win their first league title since 2004.
On Wednesday, City and Villa drew with Brighton and Crystal Palace respectively.
“We have moments where we have the right positional advantage to really hurt them and then when we penetrated into those areas we didn't have enough quality to pick up players,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of his side's performance.
“We had a very tough schedule… the six games we played over the Christmas period… and we came out of it in a really strong position.”
Liverpool remained in fourth place and extended their unbeaten run to 10 matches. The champions lacked a spark in attack without injured strikers Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike and Mohamed Salah away to Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations, but they tightened up defensively and dominated midfield in the second half.
“We were up against an incredible team,” said Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, “but today we showed again why we were champions last season. It was a step forward after recent weeks.”
The big negative for Liverpool was the sight of the injury-prone Bradley being carried off on a stretcher in the second half with an apparent calf problem after landing awkwardly and clearing the ball.
As Bradley writhed in pain on the sideline, Gabriel Martinelli dumped the ball on him and then tried to throw the defender off the playing surface. This caused altercations between the players, resulting in Martinelli being booked.
