Szoboszlai: Liverpool showed quality of champions in Arsenal draw

Dominik Szoboszlai says Liverpool showed why they won last season's Premier League title by frustrating the current leaders in Thursday's goalless draw with Arsenal.

Arsenal and Liverpool were forced to settle for a point apiece following a low-key encounter between challengers and champions at Emirates Stadium.

Liverpool were the better team for long periods, particularly in the second half, despite being without Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike due to a mix of international duty and injuries. 

Szoboszlai interchanged with Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo at the tip of the Reds' attack, but they failed to register a single shot on target for the first time since firing a blank against Wigan Athletic in March 2010, 600 games ago.

They also registered just 0.36 expected goals (xG), though Arsenal only fared marginally better as they were held to 0.57 xG, failing to attempt a single shot between the 45th minute and second-half stoppage time.

In his post-match interview with Sky Sports, Szoboszlai said Liverpool will need to keep showing the same fighting spirit in their chase for a top-four finish. 

"We faced an unbelievable team," he said. "We showed again why we became champions last season. This was a step forward after recent weeks. 

"We showed again, against a team that is top of the table, that we can compete. We need to take it with us for the next few weeks. 

"Of course, it's not easy to play here against such a great team, but I think no teams like to run against the ball in the Premier League, so in the first half we tried to get the ball as much as we could and the second half the same."

Thursday's stalemate was the first 0-0 draw between Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League since August 2015. There had been 79 goals scored across their previous 20 league meetings, at an average of 3.95 per match.

There was a major flashpoint in second-half stoppage time, with Arsenal substitute Gabriel Martinelli throwing the ball at Conor Bradley when he was down injured, then attempting to push the Liverpool man off the pitch.

Liverpool's players reacted furiously and Martinelli was booked, and Bradley was carried off on a stretcher with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.

Asked about that incident, Szoboszlai said: "I saw that Conor twisted his knee, I don't know what happened with him [Martinelli]. 

"Obviously, he didn't want Conor to come back onto the pitch for time-wasting, but he was just in so much pain he couldn't even think where he rolled, and Gabriel came there to push him off the pitch.

"I understand you want to win, we want to win as well, but I think the health of a player is much more important than something else."