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19 April 2024

Arsenal still goalless in absence of Van Persie

Published
By Reuters

Both Stoke City and Arsenal remained in search of their first Premier League win of the season after a goalless draw at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday.

A share of the spoils left Stoke 11th and Arsenal 12th in the table after they had each played two league games.

The Gunners had the best of the chances but, in the absence of star striker Robin van Persie -- sold to Manchester United -- failed to find the back of the net in a second successive goalless draw.

"It (two points from the first two games) is not good enough," Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports.

"We wanted the three points, but it is a hard place to come and try to get the points," he added

"We had some really good chances but at the moment we are not taking them, the same thing happened last week.

"We are making them and conceding few chances to the opposition but we lost two points again today."

But whereas Stoke have sometimes 'bullied' Arsenal at the Britannia, the Gunners stood up to the hosts' physical threat on Sunday.

"You know if you concede fouls and throw-ins they (Stoke) can put you in trouble because they get the ball in the box and are really organised at set pieces," Arteta added.

"We didn't concede many chances and were well organised."

Meanwhile Arteta said it was just a matter of time before new Arsenal signings Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski became fully integrated into the Londoners' set-up.

"We need three, four, five games together...They have the quality."

Liverpool, bottom of the table after a shock 3-0 defeat by West Bromwich Albion last weekend, are at home to champions Manchester City later Sunday.

English Premier League table after Sunday's early match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Chelsea                 3  3  0  0    8    2    9

Swansea                 2  2  0  0    8    0    6

Everton                 2  2  0  0    4    1    6

West Brom               2  1  1  0    4    1    4

Fulham                  2  1  0  1    7    3    3

Man City                1  1  0  0    3    2    3

Man Utd                 2  1  0  1    3    3    3

Wigan                   2  1  0  1    2    2    3

Newcastle               2  1  0  1    2    3    3

West Ham                2  1  0  1    1    3    3

Stoke                   2  0  2  0    1    1    2

Arsenal                 2  0  2  0    0    0    2

Sunderland              1  0  1  0    0    0    1

Tottenham               2  0  1  1    2    3    1

Reading                 2  0  1  1    3    5    1

Norwich                 2  0  1  1    1    6    1

QPR                     2  0  1  1    1    6    1

Southampton             2  0  0  2    2    5    0

Aston Villa             2  0  0  2    1    4    0

Liverpool               1  0  0  1    0    3    0