10 men Rovers hold on for a point

Arsenal have now fallen further behind Manchester United in the title race after a goalless draw with Blackburn at the Emirates. Despite the sending off and the Gunners having plenty of opportunities to score, Arsenal could not force the win but there were some good points as key men returned from injury. Walcott and Song came straight into the starting lineup after returning from injury, as did Fabregas and Diaby but they only made the bench.

The first chance of the game fell to Arsenal as Walcott got to the byline and delivered a cross which came off Robinson and almost bounced into the back of the net but for the Blackburn defence.

From the resulting throw in Arsenal got another chance as Walcott got another run at the Blackburn defence but he could only stick his shot at Robinson.

Nasri then had to come off the field for a few minutes as he clashed heads with Nelsen which left him with quite a large bump on the corner of his forehead.

Arsenal then really should have been ahead as Nasri played the ball into Wilshere who was in acres of space on the edge of the six yard area but he put the shot wide.

Blackburn then had two chances in quick succession, as first Olsson tested the hands of Almunia and then Hoilett drove wide from inside the penalty area.

Just before the break the visitors had a great chance to take the lead as Nzonzi got ahead of Almunia from the set piece but he put his header wide.

The score at half time was 0-0.

The first big chance of the second half fell to Koscielny who from Nasri's corner could only find the hands of Robinson in the Rovers goal.

They then had another chance to test Robinson as Van Persie drove a shot from range but it was tame and the Blackburn goalkeeper made an easy save.

With 15 minutes to play Blackburn went down to 10 men after Nzonzi went into a tackle two footed on Koscielny.

Bendtner came on for Nasri and had a glorious chance from the cross of Van Persie but he sent a looping header over the bar. The dane shortly after had another great chance as Van Persie's in swinging corner was met by the head of Bendtner but Salgado was on the line to stop the effort.

The last chance of the game fell to Van Persie as Sagna's cross found his head but with Chamakh jumping up with him he could not control the effort and it went over the bar.

The final score ended Arsenal 0-0 Blackburn.

The teams lineups:

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy, Arshavin(58), Nasri(78), Walcott(73), Wilshere, Song, Van Persie.
Subs: Lehmann, Eboue, Diaby, Fabregas(58), Rosicky, Chamakh(73), Bendtner(78).

Blackburn: Robinson, Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Olsson, P. Jones, Nzonzi, J. Jones(90), Emerton, Santa Cruz(62), Hoilett.
Subs: Bunn, Hanley, Dunn(90), Rochina, Benjani, Roberts(62), Diouf.

My man of the match: Jack Wilshere

Referee: Phil Dowd
Attendance: 60,087