Arsenal continues EPL dominance, Liverpool manages a draw

Arsenal’s midweek Champions League draw with Dynamo Kiev was apparently an aberration as Saturday found the Gunners back in fine form as they routed Bolton 3-1 to claim sole possession of first place in the English Premier League.  How long they’ll stay there will be determined by Sunday’s marquee matchup between Chelsea and Manchester United.  Meanwhile Liverpool was frustrated by a solid defensive effort from newly promoted Stoke City and could manage only a draw.

That Arsenal could manage no better than a draw during their midweek Russian trip to play Dynamo Kiev had as much to do with shoddy officiating as lackluster play.  The team was not in top form, but a terrible call awarding Kiev a penalty kick put them in a 1-0 hole.  They were fortunate to draw level, no thanks to more poor and/or one sided officiating, which has been publicly condemned in the UK media by Arsenal team manager Arsene Wenger.

Back in England, however, Arsenal quickly returned to their torrid early season form.  The Gunners spotted Bolton a goal by Kevin Davies at the 14 minute mark, then went on to dominate the game en route to a 3-1 victory at Reebok Stadium.  Arsenal held a lopsided 79%/21% possession advantage for the game to further underscore their superiority.

Arsenal amped up the pressure following Davies’ opener, and gained the equalizer at the 26 minute mark during a flurry of pressure in the Bolton end.  Emmanuel Adebayor and Alex Song both hit the post during the barrage, which finally yielded the desired result when Emmanuel Eboue netted a goal to draw Arsenal level.

The pressure continued after the restart, and Nicklas Bendtner put Arsenal ahead as he cashed in a nifty crossing pass from Denilson for his first goal of the season.  Arsenal had several more chances before the end of the half, but were thwarted by Bolton goaltender Jussi Jaaskelainen.  They finally put the game on ice when Denilson scored in the 87th minute for the final margin of victory.

Over at Anfield, Liverpool completely dominated all phases of their game against Stoke City except the one that mattered.  Despite a lopsided 76%/24% possession edge and a 30-2 shot differential Liverpool could only muster a scoreless tie with their newly promoted opponents, the result of stellar defense and goaltending.  Liverpool appeared to score at the 2 minute mark when captain Steven Gerrard cashed in a free kick, but it was disallowed by the linesman.

The result left Liverpool one point behind Arsenal for the league lead with Chelsea a point behind them in third.  Those seedings could likely change based on the outcome of Sunday’s big game between Chelsea and Manchester United.  A Chelsea victory would allow them to vault back into sole possession of first place, while a draw would pull them into a 2nd place tie with Liverpool.