Man City, Arsenal in goalless draw

Manchester City failed to break down Arsenal as a highly-anticipated clash at the top of the Premier League failed to live up to the hype in a 0-0 draw at the Etihad yesterday.

Liverpool were the big winners of the day in the title race as they beat Brighton 2-1 to go top, two points ahead of Arsenal and three clear of City with nine games to play.

A share of the spoils preserves City’s unbeaten home run stretching back to November 2022 and ends Arsenal’s eight-match winning run in the Premier League.

But it is the Gunners who will be happier with a point as they prevented Pep Guardiola’s men from scoring at the Etihad for the first time in two years.

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.

Meanwhile, striker Mohamed Salah scored the winner as Liverpool came back from a goal down to beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 and go top of the Premier League.

Danny Welbeck gave Brighton the lead after 84 seconds when his side broke up a Liverpool attack and burst forward to find him just inside the box and he drilled an unstoppable shot past Caoimhin Kelleher to break the deadlock.

The early goal jolted Liverpool into life and Luis Diaz put them level in the 27th minute after Joel Veltman’s attempted clearance went awry, allowing the Colombian winger to steal in behind the defence and hook the ball home.

Liverpool’s suffocating pressure and incisive attacking paid dividends again when Alexis Mac Allister teed up Salah to fire them into the lead.

Diaz thought he had put the Reds 3-1 up six minutes later but his goal was ruled out for a razor-thin offside that was confirmed by the VAR and Salah went close on the break in the 74th minute, but fired his effort straight at the keeper — SuperSport.