Arsenal 0 Middlesbrough 0: Arsenal failed to break down a resilient Middlesbrough as seven game winning streak comes to an end
Middlesbrough parked the bus at the Emirates but had chances to take 3 points back to the Riverside
ARSENAL failed to break down Middlesbrough on Arsene Wenger's 67th birthday.
It will not be a happy milestone for Wenger as the Gunners missed the opportunity to move further away from Tottenham at the top of the Prem after their 0-0 draw at Bournemouth.
Middlesbrough could be forgiven for trying to park the bus as Arsenal dominated possession but could not find a way through the resilient Borough defence.
In the first half Middlesbrough grew in to the game and had the better of the chances to further frustrate the gunners and if it wasn't for Petr Cech Arsenal would have been trailing at the break.
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- Such was Arsenal's dominance from the kick off, it took all of seven minutes for any Middlesbrough player to get in the Arsenal half.
- Mesut Ozil drove into the box on 13 mins but went down far too easily under pressure from Marten De Roon and referee Mike Dean was correct to wave play on.
- On 19 mins Boro should have taken the lead where Adama Traore nicked the ball from Laurent Koscielny and bared down on goal, his effort was saved by Cech and so was the follow up by Alvaro Negredo.
- A Minute later Gaston Ramirez expertly taken free kick bent around the post and hit the bar. Cech was beaten all ends up.
- Another great chance for the visitors, great cross from Traore, Negredo flicked on and Ramirez header saved point blank by Cech. The Uruguayan should have scored.
- Its not been a great week for former Barca keepers. Victor Valdes was all over the place trying to claim a simple ball, he fumbled and Alexis Sanchez cross was just too high for Koscielny.
- Valdes redeemed himself moments later with a great save around the post to deny Sanchez from long range.
- Traore shows his incredible pace as he turns on the after burners past the Arsenal defence but his cross shot is superbly saved from Cech.
- Lot of talk this season about young Boro defender Ben Gibson and possible England call up. He was excellent today and kept Alexis Sanchez in check.
- Wenger started with Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin in front of his back four. After a bright start the home side lacked sharpness and failed to move the ball around quickly enough.
- Boro boss Aitor Karanka will have been pleased with his midfield trio of Adam Clayton, Adam Forshaw and Marten De Roon who worked tirelessly all afternoon putting out fires in front of the back four.
- Ozil had one of his quiet days and failed to add any real touches of class when Arsenal were in need of some magic from the German.
BIG PICTURE
NEXT FIVE FIXTURES
Arsenal
OCT 25 H Reading, EFL
OCT 29 A Sunderland, PL
NOV 1 A Ludogorets, CL
NOV 6 H Tottenham, PL
NOV 19, A Man United, PL
Middlesbrough
OCT 29, H Bournemouth, PL
NOV 5, A Man City, PL
NOV 20, H Chelsea, PL
NOV 26, A Leicester, PL
DEC 5, H Hull City, PL
DREAM TEAM RATINGS
ARSENAL: Cech 8, Bellerin 7, Mustafi 6, Koscienly 8 , Monreal 6, Elneny 7 (Oxlaide-Chamberlian 74, 6), Coquelin 7, Walcott 7, Ozil 6, Iwobi 6 ( Perez 67, 6), Sanchez 6
Subs not used: Ospina, Gibbs, Maitland-Niles, Gabriel, Perez, Adelaide
Booked: Mustafi
STAR MAN: Laurent Koscienly
Middlesbrough: Valdes 7, Barragan 7, Ayala 6, Gibson 7, Friend 6, De Roon 6, Clayton 7, Forshaw 6, Traore 7, Ramirez 7 (Downing 85, 6), Negredo (Stuani 92, 6)
Subs not used: Guzan, De Sart, Espinosa, Nugent, Fabio
SOCIAL SAYS
WHAT THEY SAID
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger
''We had a lot of the ball but that's not enough to win games. It was a frustrating match.''
''Both our goalkeepers have played well this week. It shows you how important it is to have two worl-class keepers.''
Middlesbrough defender George Friend
''We silenced the critics and the fans silenced the Emirates.''
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