Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw by Arsenal yesterday in a game that was surprisingly lacking in goals and excitement given the firepower available to both sides.

It was hard to separate the two teams and a draw was generally considered a fair result by both managers, especially for Arsenal boss Unai Emery who made it a 14th game without loss.

“At the end I think 1-1 is a good result for how we played,” Emery reflected afterwards. “Today was a good test for us. The spirit and the atmosphere is how we want it.”

There was controversy as both sides had first-half goals ruled out for offside, wrongly in Liverpool’s case.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s through ball to Roberto Firmino was incorrectly flagged by the official who may have confused the Brazilian for Sadio Mane, who was in an offside position but didn’t interfere with play. Firmino’s chip over Leno rebounded off the bar to Mane who tapped it in.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made it clear his feelings of the incident. I think it should have been a goal. It was a brilliant attack, it’s what we do on the training ground. It’s a pity it didn’t count,” he said.

Despite the array of attacking talent on show, both teams opted for a conservative approach, prioritising tight, defensive discipline over expansive, exuberance in attack.

The result was that extremely limited space inside the box led to a more direct game plan being employed, particularly by Liverpool.

Mohamed Salah picked out Virgil van Dijk in the middle who brought the ball down but keeper Bernd Leno was quick off his line to smother the ball and stop the danger.

Set pieces provided the best opportunity to breach the well-drilled defences and Van Dijk was denied only by the post with Leno caught flapping trying to claim James Milner’s wide free-kick.

Klopp added: “I think our set pieces were outstanding. We should have scored from them. Virgil [van Dijk] said to me immediately afterwards that he should have had a hat trick, but he didn’t even have one.”

Milner eventually put the visitors ahead just after the hour mark with a well-taken finish. Mane’s cross was parried by Leno at full stretch but only to the midfielder who smashed it into the net.

Arsenal threw everything into pushing for an equaliser, introducing Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi. However, that created more space in behind for Liverpool’s front three to explore and Salah soon broke and crossed for Mane who was just short of sliding the ball into the net.

Eventually the Gunners got the breakthrough when Alexandre Lacazette made a darting run that was spotted by Alex Iwobi.

Goalkeeper Alisson wasn’t sure whether to make an attempt for the ball so found himself caught in no-mans land just as Lacazette swivelled and thumped a curling shot into the top corner 10 minutes from time.

The draw keeps the top five teams just four points apart and the title race remains wide open.