Arsenal Vs. Chelsea, 2012 Premier League: Final Score, No Goals In Poor Match

Arsenal and Chelsea were supposed to play an entertaining clash in their fight for Champions League places, but they instead decided to play one of the most dire matches of the Premier League season. Neither team was at their best, and it seemed very obvious that Chelsea were looking ahead to Barcelona and that Arsenal's best midfielders were missing. The biggest events were blocked shots and bad misses in a poor 0-0 draw.

The first half was mostly controlled by Chelsea, though Arsenal had the only two clear-cut chances of the period. Robin van Persie failed to make the most of a great free kick by Theo Walcott in the 13th minute, missing badly at the far post. Arsenal's other good opportunity of the half also came on a free kick, with Laurent Koscielny hitting a header off the crossbar.

Things didn't get much more interesting in the second half. Here is a summary of Robin van Persie's performance on the afternoon.

Chelsea did have one good attack late in the game, created by Juan Mata who came on as a substitute, but some great defending by Koscielny prevented it from ever being dangerous. In the 87th minute, the ball fell to Daniel Sturridge in the penalty area, but Koscielny got across for a great block.

In a poorly played and uneventful match that was basically devoid of highlights, Koscielny's play was almost certainly the highlight of the match. A man of the match award has to go to someone even in terribly poor games, and he was consistently the best player on the pitch in the game. Unfortunately for the Gunners, none of the players in front of Koscielny did much at all.

Arsenal are now six points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur for third, but Spurs have two games in hand. Spurs and Newcastle have one game in hand on Chelsea, and both now lead them by one point.