Peter Cech To The Rescue As Boro Spoils Wenger’s Party

Arsenal moved to the summit of the Premier League table on Saturday, as they played out an entertaining goalless draw against Middlesbrough at the Emirates.

Wenger had Cech to thank on his 67th birthday as he kept the Gunners in the game with strings of saves, while Mesut Özil’s late goal was ruled out for offside.

Arsenal bossed the game in the early hours of the encounter but couldn’t find a way through a dogged Middlesbrough defence.

Mohamed Elneny tried his luck from long-range, while playmaker Mesut Ozil went down in the box but his claim for a penalty went down on deaf ears.

Arsenal’s large chunk of possession led to few carved out chances to test Victor Valdes who was in superb form, will have frustrated the Arsenal gaffer.

Arsenal might have seen a lot of the ball in the first half but they failed to make it count, only to see Alexis Sanchez’s free kick saved by Valdes.

Against the run of play, Boro almost took the lead when Lauren Koscielny gave the ball away to Adama Traore who then outpaced the Frenchman but Petr Cech denied him before Alvaro Negredo’s follow-up Was also saved by the brilliant Arsenal goalkeepper.

Gaston Ramirez’s free kick hit the bar while Alexis Sanchez saw his effort parried away by Victor Valdes.
Ramirez went close again before the break when Traore’s cross had found a way to his path, but Cech was in hand to save Arsenal’s again.

Arsenal heaped pressure in the visitors after the break but Valdes was in line to thwart Arsenal forwards as Sanchez in awe to see his fine left foot effort tipped away Boro’s number one.

Traore continued to pose a threat for the visitors and drew a fine save from Cech just before the hour with a driving shot only to drift just wide at the far post.

Arsenal made series of changes in the second half, without the injured Cazorla and Xhaka but could not find a way through a much disciplined Boro defence.

Ozil thought he had scored when he scored from an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s shot, but he was deemed to be in an offside position.

For the first time in over two months Arsene Wenger’s men were to be held goalless after winning seven games in a row but did very little to find a way pass a stubborn Boro’s  defence