Arsenal climb to the top in goalless draw

Lowly Middlesbrough fend off the EPL leaders

Arsenal have hit top spot in English Premier League football but were still frustrated as they could only draw 0-0 with struggling Middlesbrough. Having won seven games in a row in all competitions, Arsenal could not find a way through at the Emirates yesterday and had to settle for a point.

The result moved them one point ahead of Manchester City, who play today, and Tottenham, who missed a chance to go top themselves as they were held 0-0 at Bournemouth.

Alexis Sanchez went closest to giving Arsenal victory when his shot was brilliantly saved by Victor Valdes while Adam Traore forced a superb stop from Petr Cech at the other end.

Mesut Oezil thought he had won it with a goal in injury time but his effort was ruled out for offside.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino watched his side fail to break down Bournemouth and admitted they “have to win games like this” if they want to compete for the title this season.

Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris saved well from Charlie Daniels early on while Erik Lamela hit the crossbar for the visitors. Dele Alli and Danny Rose went close.

“It was a very competitive game, they were ready to compete and it was tough,” said Pochettino, whose side remain unbeaten in the league. “We managed the whole game but, if you don’t score, it is difficult to win. We fought loads and it is one point more and a clean sheet.”

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said he was more proud of his players than he was last week when they hammered Hull 6-1.

“We went at it toe-to-toe with an outstanding team and it was a game of real quality,” he said.

“We did not deserve to lose it, we had good moments too. We managed to nullify most of their threat.”

Stoke City moved away from the bottom of the table thanks to a 2-0 win at Hull, Xherdan Shaqiri grabbing both goals.

Scott Arfield scored the winner as Burnley moved out of the bottom three with a 2-1 win over Everton, while champions Leicester picked up their first league win in more than a month, easing to a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace.

Kiwi Winston Reid scored in injury time as West Ham beat bottom side Sunderland 1-0 and Swansea and West Brom drew 0-0.