Sky Sports Premier League Podcast
Arsenal move six points clear despite being held to a frustrating goalless by Liverpool
08 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Thanks for joining us on the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. A huge clash between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium took centre stage on Thursday evening. Here's how we saw things when the final whistle blew. The end of the game. A game so atypical in so many ways of this famous fixture, which might just might have produced a goal with the last touch of the ball. Good chance.
He's the man you'd want there. But it didn't, and it ends in anticlimax, and it leaves Arsenal, in terms of the title race, precisely where they were at the start of the week. City had dropped points, Villa had dropped points, Opportunity knocked, but Arsenal, as it turned out, couldn't pounce. Mikel Arteta remains animatedly in conversation with officialdom.
Chapter 2: What were the key moments in the Arsenal vs. Liverpool match?
And there are some vacant stares. And mild expressions of disappointment on either side. Biggest concern maybe for Conor Bradley, who actually in the first half was the closest to winning the game. For Liverpool, the third consecutive draw. And the extension of their unbeaten run to 10 games and certainly not the worst of their draws.
The manner in which they set about the game was in many senses, Gary, the most interesting aspect of it. Yeah, they set out the stall early with a real sort of defensive shape, man-to-man marking at times during the game and then... The big surprise was that we were able to flip from that into a really good, dominant, possession-based second-half performance.
They always lacked fighter power up front, but that's understandable. No Izak, no Ekotike, no Salah, so you can give them credit. It was a frustrating night for Mikel Arteta. His team were well off it, but he'll still be proud that they kept a clean sheet, and that's something they have going for them. They're a hard team to play against.
So they are, and notwithstanding the spillage here of a couple of points, they are where everybody else would love to be, right at the top of the Premier League, and indeed with a cushion, as it was at the start of the week, of six points now. Two goalkeepers who weren't to be beaten, and in the driving rain in north London, it finishes, Dave, Arsenal nil, Liverpool nil.
Thank you, Gary, as well. Seems to be a little bit of confusion that stands around us amongst Arsenal fans who we are surrounded by. Sort of not unhappy to have not lost the game, but wondering whether they should be celebrating that point and a really muted second-half display from their side. The first shot of that second half from Arsenal didn't come until stoppage time.
But for Liverpool, Daniel, what did you make of them, particularly in the second half? I think Arnaz Slat will be absolutely delighted with the performance of the players. Gotta give him credit for his game plan, the weather, the storm, the first 20 minutes. But after that, their work rate, how tenacious they were. It was a very experienced performance and they showed why they are champions.
Yeah, they lack the cutting edge up front. but they had very positive moments. Frimpong was a threat all night, missed the final pass. This man Virts on the picture right now was very good, picked up a load of pockets and looked very clean tonight. Soberslai, the list goes on. The defence was magnificent. They stuck to their tasks all night.
And I think the manager and the players should be very proud of themselves. They performed exceptionally tonight. Did they deserve more than they got, Roy? Might they have actually won the game? Well, no, because obviously you've got to put the ball in the back of the net. As Daniel just said, they lacked that cutting edge. I was worried about their midfield before the game.
I shouldn't have been because the second half in particular, they controlled it. By far the better team. Arsenal were probably... There was a bit of tension in the stadium because before the game, obviously, the build-up and Liverpool aren't in a great place and just go up and win it and you go X amount of points clear.
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Chapter 3: How did Arsenal's performance impact their title race?
Could you feel that tension grow as it went on? Yeah, I think as the game went on, and that's obvious as well. But also, if you get in the Arsenal dressing room afterwards, you go, listen, not great, but you take your point and move on.
It's still a nice lead for them to have, but the performance, they were a bit tentative and that would be a worry for the manager because obviously there's going to be bigger games coming up and before you get towards the end of the season, obviously, it's going to be more nerve-wracking.
They looked a bit frightened tonight to kind of grab that opportunity, but you take the point in the clean sheet, of course. Not too many smiles we can see on Arsenal faces, but they are very much in the box seat. And here's confirmation of that. They have a six-point lead after 21 games of this Premier League season.
Perhaps there a little bit of encouragement too for Manchester City and Aston Villa, who are both six points back. Liverpool, in fourth place, have moved up to 35 points, a two-point cushion over Brentford. It's going to be some scrap, it feels, for those Champions League places with Liverpool, Brentford up in fifth, then Newcastle, Manchester United, Chelsea under new management as well.
We wait to see what happens with Manchester United on that front. Fulham in ninth, Sunderland tenth. And this is how it looks in the bottom half of the table as we pause for the FA Cup third round. Brighton on 29 points. So too Everton. Then Crystal Palace on 28. Spurs on 27. Bournemouth with that victory against Spurs moving up to 26. Leeds losing late at Newcastle on 22.
Still not out of the woods yet. Nor to Nottingham Forest, who are averaging a point a game. And then that bottom three, West Ham, Burnley and Wolves. And as the Premier League pauses, the WSL returns. Arsenal Manchester United is coming your way first up on Saturday and then a whole host of games on Sunday as well. And there is confirmation of that.
You'll find the Arsenal-Man United game on Sky Sports Football from 11.30. And a midday kick-off for City, Everton, Chelsea, West Ham, Spurs, Leicester and Aston Villa, Brighton, all taking place on Sunday. It is play-off time in the NFL. And I know I've got two people alongside me who are very excited about this prospect. Rams at Panthers on Saturday evening.
And late on Saturday, Packers at the Bears. And on Sunday, Bills start us off at the Jaguars, Niners at the Eagles, Chargers at Patriots, and then on Monday late, it's Texans at the Steelers. Keep across it all on Sky Sports NFL and on Sky Cinema, there is the start of Friday. Film Club starts a historical drama to kick things off. It's Nuremberg. That's available tomorrow night on Sky Cinema.
Much more to come here from Daniel Sturridge and Roy Keane. Gary Neville will rejoin us as well as we reflect on a goalless draw which has got plenty of talking points. Liverpool closest to scoring and a much improved second half performance from them as well had Arsenal really on the back foot. Arsenal have extended their lead to six points but what did they make of the Gunners approach?
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Chapter 4: What adjustments did Liverpool make in the second half?
Touches in the opposition box. 23 to Liverpool's 11. But really this was a story of two halves. Liverpool incidentally without a shot on target for the first time since March 2010. They came very close. Conor Bradley hit the bar. But have a look at this breakdown. And particularly the passes in the final third tells an interesting story.
Arsenal with 113 to Liverpool's 28 in that first half, a half which the home side really dominated without managing to find that final edge. In the second half, almost a complete role reversal, 45 for Arsenal. Liverpool with 93 as they really managed to grab a hold in it. What was behind that, do you think, Roy? I think Arsenal maybe got a bit tentative, you know, before the game.
We talked about Arsenal going on to win the game, but I think the longer the game had done from Arsenal's point of view and they thought Liverpool looked comfortable in possession, they just probably thought, well, we'd maybe just take the draw. You know, a point's not the end of the world for them. I think the worry for them would have been
I suppose you keep a clean sheet, you take a point, you're the positives, but Liverpool kind of dominated the game so much. OK, they had no cutting edge, but I think it was the way Arsenal didn't go and take the initiative. I think there was a bit of tension in the stadium, and obviously that would get worse in the latter part of the season.
So that would be a worry, but all credit goes to Liverpool in terms of the way they dominated possession. Now, usually when you sit in, when I was watching Liverpool in the first half, when Liverpool went back, they weren't looking to break quickly. They were just looking to control the ball and kind of... kind of take the energy out of the stadium, which they've done perfectly well.
The only disappointing thing from Liverpool is, we just saw the stats there, no real cutting edge, didn't have enough quality, yet a missing part in the attacking players. But they showed a bit of fight, they showed a bit of swagger, that they are champions, but still didn't have that, obviously, kind of belief, cutting edge, they'd score a goal.
And what did you make, Daniel, of Arsenal's approach in the second half? Was it that they couldn't push Liverpool back, or they didn't really want to? It's a strange one, really, because I think that first-half performance, you go in as a player, typically, and the manager will get the videos out and he'll show you what's working, what they need to change in order to improve.
And I think whatever information they got, I think Liverpool's conversations they had at half-time probably were better. Arsenal didn't really seem to have a lot of solutions to break them down. Liverpool took a lot of the control out of the game. They found the outboard to Frimpong, which they didn't use in the first half. That wasn't on as often.
And to Roy's point, I don't think Arsenal took the initiative. There did feel like there was tension. It did feel as if... the players were content a little bit. But, of course, these are things that happen sometimes. As players, you go out there and you get that feeling like, damn, we should have broken down.
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Chapter 5: What concerns arose for Arsenal after the match?
Just coming to that, I think you had five shots in the second half. At one point you were the only player on the pitch who'd had a shot in the second half and a couple of those free kicks. just watching from the sideline felt like maybe we could have another Anfield moment. Obviously, you scored the free kick back in August.
Yeah, no, it looks like I still have to practice even more and also about my shooting. But yeah, they defended well and we take the one point. Can I just ask you what you made of what happened at the end? I saw that you were right there. Conor Bradley obviously went down injured. Martin Leeds trying to roll him off the pitch. What did you make of that?
I see that Conor twisted his knee, I don't know what is going on with him. Obviously he didn't want to come back to the pitch to make it time-wasting or something, he just had so much pain that he couldn't even think where he'd roll. Then you come there to push him off the pitch, I understand that you want to win, we want to win as well,
I think the health of a player is much more important than something else. Thank you for answering that. You weren't quite able to get the goal to go with your performance, but nonetheless, player of the match. Thank you very much. Well done. Thank you. Well played, Dominic Sabozlai. What did you make of that incident at the end there, Roy? It seemed a bit messy, didn't it, on the touchline?
No, I didn't like it at all. Happened to me once before when I was badly injured and a player stood over me and yeah, it's not good because clearly we could see, listen, we know football, we know players' reactions, we know he's a good lad.
First of all, throwing the ball on him, standing over him and if he's got a little knee in him here, if you watch it closely, he's trying to force him off and I'm surprised the Liverpool players didn't go after Martinelli a bit more. I think Martinelli, that behaviour is absolutely a disgrace because he's a good boy to roll around himself so no, not good scenes.
Hopefully Martinelli will have a look at it and hopefully apologise for it. And he's someone who's actually had a serious knee injury himself, Daniel. It's disappointing to see, to be honest with you. You know, there's passion, there's being a winner, there's wanting to help your teammates, but you've got to be respectful as a football player, you know.
In moments in the game, especially with injuries, I've been someone who's had injuries and it's never a nice feeling. I can see maybe he's thinking, oh, time-wasting, but, brother, you've got to be self-aware enough to know, OK, cool, the guy's down. You've been there before. And it's just disrespectful, probably even worse than disrespectful, to be honest with you.
It's just disappointing to see. Know your players as well. Know your players. You know what's under reaction? You could tell he's obviously injured. In the sense that it wouldn't be something that Conor Bradley would do lightly? Obviously not. I don't think he's the type of kid to do that. And if you're standing over him, you don't know the injury the player has got. Again, it looks pretty bad.
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Chapter 6: How did the draw affect Arsenal's position in the league?
Mikel Arteta with Patrick Davison. Well, Mikel, if you can't win, don't lose is a well-worn footballing phrase. Does it apply to Arsenal tonight? Well, we know that the margins are very small. I think we have two different halves. The first one where we have a lot of domination, created some big situation with players almost inside the six-yard box to pick a player up.
And we didn't find the right pass to score the goal. And the second half was... Abimor's struggle, we were very imprecise with the ball, which then allowed us to counter-press and be very close to the structure. Obviously, they have a lot of midfielders.
They start to drop everybody so they can put a lot of passes together outside the organisation without really having anybody in the box, because I don't think we conceded a single shot, apart from the mistake that we did in the first half. But, yeah.
these games then need some magic moment and at Anfield they did it and they won the game and today didn't happen but yeah you cannot win it you know that you cannot lose it you said before the match you kind of knew how they would play from seeing their team did they do what you expected yeah Can you elaborate?
Well, you can just see the game, so I knew that if they put a lot of midfielders in, you know what they're going to have. I knew that they're not going to be very aggressive in the high press, that after they're going to want to start to drop everybody, with Virits playing as a false nice and being difficult to press them if you don't regain the ball in the next three or four passes.
And that's what we expected. And then we have some moments where we have... the right positional advantages to really hurt them and when we got into these areas we lacked that quality to pick the player and score the goals. And maybe a few balls flashed across their goal mouth that you would have wanted someone on the end of?
Two or three times, a victory completely free between the keeper and the centre-backs and a lot of situations that we get there, the final one that we have an incredible cross from Noni, and Gabi is there, normally it's a goal, and it is not, but that's football.
We come from a very, very demanding schedule, the last six games that we played in this Christmas period, and we've come out of that in a really strong position.
So just in terms of maybe, not only Jokeres, but probably every attacking player on both sides having a difficult night, would you say that's more down, in Victor's case, to a lack of supply to him than anything he did right or wrong tonight? No, he did a lot of things right. At the end, the ball has to arrive there to have the opportunity to do it.
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Chapter 7: What were the standout performances from both teams?
I think then we won the Carabao Cup first the year before. It gave young players who hadn't won the title before a lot of confidence. So I think if Arsenal can go and win the Carabao Cup, get a medal around the necks, that really could catapult them forward. I remember a couple of years ago, two years ago, Arsenal were out of every competition and everyone said it's griff.
I think it was two or three years ago in a really good position. and they were out of every competition, and people said, oh, it's great, Arsenal have a clear run at the league, and they ran out of steam at the end of it.
I know they have a stronger squad now, but they're the challenges you face, because these games coming up, including the Chelsea game, they are going to be physically and emotionally more draining, but they do have the squad to deal with it. That's why they've spent so much money.
Do they actually need those games, though, Roy, to actually satisfy some of these players who aren't getting Premier League minutes? Yeah, because what happens, if you start playing tricks in your head, going, oh, we need three weeks, And then lads are agitated all week and you're trying to do training sessions.
I think the games, I think players before playing games, particularly if you're winning, that gives you momentum. It gives you a little routine going, we're not even training really, we're just getting ready for games, particularly if you're winning. To me, that gives you momentum. Instead of being out of every competition and going, we've not got a game for another week.
I think it's the games you need. I think it's good for your sharpness. It's good for the rhythm of the team. And when you've got a big squad, it gives players opportunity to go and play some games. Lots coming Arsenal's way, that is for sure. And Liverpool can be really proud of their work tonight. A point here. A beating in 10 now.
A lot of people thought it wasn't going to be Arnaud Slot's night. But they certainly grew into the game as well in the second half of this contest. His thoughts next. And we'll also touch on Manchester United as well. Hello, Andy Scott here, host of the Sky Sports Toe-to-Toe podcast. Alongside a host of top guests, we're here every Tuesday bringing you the very latest boxing news.
And we go toe-to-toe with the biggest names in the sport. So, if you love boxing, join me on Toe-to-Toe, wherever you listen to your podcasts. That's Toe-to-Toe, a Sky Sports podcast. Welcome back to the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. Let's get back to the studio for more reaction to today's game.
Liverpool arrived here tonight having conceded 18 away goals, the same as bottom side Wolves, but a clean sheet here at the Emirates tonight to hand them a well-earned point. Here is Arna Slott with Patrick Davison. Arne, you said in the run-up to this match, we have the quality to go there and put up a fight. Did you absolutely show that tonight? Yeah, I think we did.
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