ER’S SUPER SHOW KEEPS THE BORO BOYS AT BAY ON WENGER’S BIG DAY
cted ints heir and but ch. and n of d– half lent for aid: ech ood pete oud very did ing inst enal was f. the ould eve were oro to ead in ny 19th ech a uble ARSENAL: save from Adama Traore – who had robbed Laurent Koscielny – and Alvaro Negredo.
Almost immediately, Gaston Ramirez shook the frame of the Arsenal goal with a magnificent free-kick.
And in Boro’s next attack, speed-merchant Traore was haring for goal when Cech snatched the ball at his feet.
Arsenal were genuinely close to scoring only once in the opening half-hour, when an Alexis Sanchez free-kick was turned for a corner by Victor Valdes.
And it was Boro who were close to scoring again when Cech came to the rescue once more as he beat out a Ramirez header following a Traore cross whipped in from the left.
Mesut Ozil then just failed to slide Arsenal in front when he missed a low, driven delivery by Theo Walcott on the stroke of half-time.
Sanchez should have given Arsenal the lead at the beginning of the second half after he was caught by Daniel Ayala’s flailing arm.
From the resulting free-kick, Valdes failed to gather the ball but Sanchez miscued across the face of the goal from close range.
Valdes denied Sanchez with a fine diving save, then Cech shone again when turning a Traore drive for a corner following a break.
Shkodran Mustafi was in double trouble when he followed up a misplaced pass by hauling down Ramirez and was punished with a yellow card.
Arsenal then should have made the breakthrough when a chance fell to Sanchez. But he did not connect cleanly with his shot and Valdes was able to make a comfortable save.
When the Gunners did get the ball into the net in the third minute of added time, Ozil was clearly offside when he netted and the goal was rightly disallowed.
But that came after Koscielny had made a vital challenge on Negredo in the final minute of normal time, when Boro seemed poised for a breakaway winner.
Wenger said: “Petr Cech had a great game today and David Ospina did too in midweek. It shows the importance of having two good goalkeepers.
“We couldn’t win this match but at least we were intelligent enough not to lose it.” MIDDLESBROUGH: