It was a scoreless draw, but it wasn’t of the dire variety as both Liverpool and Arsenal saw a variety of chances go begging in North London yesterday. Although you could say this player or that could have done better, the goose-eggs came largely down to a pair of ‘keepers in fantastic form with Gunners shot-stopper Petr Cech and Reds goalkeeper Simon Mignolet earning their crust in fine fashion, making a number of crucial stops throughout the 90-minutes.
“He asked me why I didn’t let one in, and I said the same to him!” joked the Belgian custodian of his Czech counterpart following the final whistle. “The important thing was we put in a great performance. Everybody did their jobs really well again and we didn’t give much away,” continued Mignolet, before adding, ““The defenders and the entire 11 did their jobs at set pieces, so we’re pleased with that and we have to keep it going.”
On the back of last season’s largely shambolic performances from the entirety of the Reds rearguard, few would have expected the Anfield outfit to start the season with three clean-sheets on the hop — especially one against a side as prolific in front of the net as Arsenal.
“When you come away to the Emirates, you know it’s going to be tough. We fought well, created some chances and could have won the game,” conceded the shot-stopper. “Everyone is pleased with the performance and again we kept a clean sheet, so we go forwards,” explained Mignolet, looking ahead to Saturday’s meeting with West Ham United on more familiar turf. “We have a home game next week before the international break, so if we win that, we’ll have had a great start to the season.”
