There are not so many goalless matches that I watch and think "well, that was fun" but this was one of them. FOr what it's worth, it is not due to the fact that both teams were extremely brilliant but neither was also horrible.
We came into this fixture on the back of some quality performances in the league and I honestly thought we were going to finally do the double over Manchester United for the first time in over ten years.
We started strongly, and controlled the game for the first twenty minutes but didn't particularly scare the opposition. Lacazette was the only one with an attempt on target but that was straight at the goalkeeper and came after a string of basic passes.
As the game proceeded, the opposition grew into the occasion and started to look a bit more threatening, at least that's what the stats would say. I never actually felt worried about conceding in the first half and the half ended in parity.
The second half came and we started strongly, pressing up top and forcing the opposition to make mistakes. We came close a couple of times through Willian, Nicholas Pepe and Lacazette that rattled the crossbar from a freekick.
Love to see it
Nicholas Pepe looks and plays like a man on a mission; this makes me glad. He was amongst the goals in the game against Southampton from the left flank, while Saka played on the right.
Today, Pepe was once again playing like a possessed beast and came close to breaking the deadlock on two occasions. His movement and dribbling prowess caused problems for Luke Shaw. On a different day, one of his curlers could have slipped passed De Gea.
Our defence also looks a lot better than it used to be. United attackers created some great goalscoring opportunities but thanks to our compact defending, they never had enough time on the ball.
In the second half, there were scares; particularly through the Bruno Fernandes shot and that one that came extremely close from Cavani but on both occasions, the opposition attackers were well marshalled, so they didn't have time to pick their spot.
One defender that looked quite accomplished today was David Luiz, who I presume would be the man of the match. Leno also made one fine fingertip save to keep out a shot from Fred, while Holding, Bellerin and Cedric can all feel proud of their displays today.
The Worries
Willian came on in the second half to replace Gabrielle Martinelli after the young Brazillian attacker had put in a very good shift. It hasn't' been revealed what the problem is but I hope it isn't anything too serious.
I have to give credit to Willian for putting in a relatively decent shift today but to be completely honest, I really hope we get either Saka or Martinelli back on the left-wing.
Another bit of worry was seeing Laca going off the pitch after that terrible collision with Harry Maguire. Our French striker experienced the worse of the collision and I hope he will be fit enough for the next fixture. Without the french striker, all we have to rely on is Eddie Nketiah, and that's not something I'm looking forward to.
Stalemate
At the end of the day, the match ended in a stalemate, on a day that both teams didn't deserve to lose. Then again, I'm a glass half empty kind of guy, so it seemed more like neither team deserved to lose since they didn't take their chances.
Our next game is a tricky fixture away to Wolves and I'm expecting a feisty match. They've grown into a real force in the league and will give us a good run for our money. If we have a fit side and keep up the momentum, I suspect that we can come out of that fixture with smiles on our face. Until we meet again, up the Arsenal.
