A game uncharacteristically devoid of attacking quality between Arsenal and Liverpool saw the two sides play out a goalless draw in the Premier League on Thursday night.
Arsenal and Liverpool played out an uneventful goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium to round off matchday 21 of the Premier League season.
Liverpool were without top scorer Hugo Ekitike, with the French striker unable to recover from injury in time to make the matchday squad.
Before today’s game, the Reds had only won 30% of competitive match this season without Ekitike in their starting XI (3/10 – D2 L5), compared to a 63%-win rate when the Frenchman had been named among their starters (12/19 – D3 L4).
All the early pressure came from the home side, but it was Liverpool who came the closest to scoring in the opening half hour.
After a defensive mix-up between David Raya and William Saliba, the ball broke to the edge of the box where Conor Bradley sent a chipped shot over the stranded goalkeeper, only to see the ball cannon off the crossbar before Cody Gakpo was unable to find the target with the rebound.
There were no further clear-cut chances in the first half, but it was a half that Arsenal largely dominated the ball. They held 60% possession and completed more than double the tally of passes in the opposition half, while all 10 Gunners’ players had an average touch position inside the Liverpool half.
With Liverpool (28%) and Arsenal (35%) coming into this match ranking inside the bottom five teams for percentage of Premier League goals scored in first halves of matches this season and being the two top scorers in second halves (26 Arsenal, 23 Liverpool), it was expected that the game would come to life after the break. It didn’t.
Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool Stats Opta
Arne Slot’s side did improve in the second half and began to attack Arsenal after their first-half caution. They had more possession than the home side after half-time (65%) and completed more than double the number of passes in the final third of the pitch than Arsenal (80-30). Despite this, they still went the entire match without attempting a single shot on target – the first time they’ve not had one in a Premier League game since March 2010 (vs Wigan).
Just after the hour-mark, Mikel Arteta decided to replace Viktor Gyökeres after an extremely quiet display. The Swede had just 8 touches in 64 minutes tonight – the fewest touches he’s had in a competitive match for Arsenal that he’s played at least 20 minutes in. His replacement Gabriel Jesus had more in his 26 minutes on the pitch (11).
Arsenal had one final chance to win the game, but Gabriel Magalhães was unable to convert from close range at the back post following Declan Rice’s fantastic inswinging corner.
The game ended in a stalemate, but it means Arsenal finish the matchday as they started it – six points ahead of both Manchester City and Aston Villa at the top of the Premier League table.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Arsenal vs Liverpool stats from their Premier League meeting at the Emirates Stadium, London on Thursday 8 January 2026.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool Post-Match Facts
This was the first 0-0 draw between Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League since August 2015. Coming into tonight’s game, there had been 79 goals scored across their last 20 league meetings, at an average of 3.95 per match.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta remains winless against Arne Slot (D3 L1), with the Dutchman being the only opposing manager to avoid defeat in his first four games against the Spaniard (all between Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League).
Arsenal failed to score in a Premier League game for the first time since their reverse fixture with Liverpool in August (0-1 at Anfield) – indeed, the only two occasions they’ve failed to find the net across their last 32 league matches have both been against Arne Slot’s side.
Liverpool failed to land a shot on target in a Premier League match for the first time since March 2010 versus Wigan Athletic, with tonight being their 600th game in the competition since then.
Premier League Stats Opta
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