EPL Table: 2016 Week 22 Top Scorers After Sunday's Premier League Scores
A 0-0 draw with Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium saw Arsenal return to the top of the Premier League on goal difference on Sunday, but the Gunners' failure to claim three points represents a missed opportunity.
Earlier, a goal from the resurgent Wayne Rooney was enough to give Manchester United an uninspiring but important 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield.
Here are the latest results, standings and the top scorer's table following Sunday's action:
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| Liverpool | 0-1 | Manchester United |
| Stoke City | 0-0 | Arsenal |
| 1 | Arsenal | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 37 | 21 | 16 | 44 |
| 2 | Leicester City | 22 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 39 | 26 | 13 | 44 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 22 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 43 | 21 | 22 | 43 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 22 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 38 | 18 | 20 | 39 |
| 5 | Manchester United | 22 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 28 | 20 | 8 | 37 |
| 6 | West Ham United | 22 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 34 | 26 | 8 | 35 |
| 7 | Stoke City | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 24 | 22 | 2 | 33 |
| 8 | Crystal Palace | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 23 | 24 | -1 | 31 |
| 9 | Liverpool | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 25 | 28 | -3 | 31 |
| 10 | Southampton | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 31 | 24 | 7 | 30 |
| 11 | Everton | 22 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 39 | 32 | 7 | 29 |
| 12 | Watford | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 25 | 24 | 1 | 29 |
| 13 | West Bromwich Albion | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 22 | 30 | -8 | 27 |
| 14 | Chelsea | 22 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 31 | 34 | -3 | 25 |
| 15 | Bournemouth | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 26 | 37 | -11 | 24 |
| 16 | Norwich City | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 24 | 38 | -14 | 23 |
| 17 | Newcastle United | 22 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 24 | 39 | -15 | 21 |
| 18 | Swansea City | 21 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 19 | 30 | -11 | 19 |
| 19 | Sunderland | 22 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 27 | 45 | -18 | 18 |
| 20 | Aston Villa | 22 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 18 | 38 | -20 | 12 |
| 1 | Jamie Vardy | Leicester | 15 |
| 1 | Romelu Lukaku | Everton | 15 |
| 3 | Riyad Mahrez | Leicester | 13 |
| 3 | Odion Ighalo | Watford | 13 |
| 5 | Olivier Giroud | Arsenal | 12 |
| 6 | Harry Kane | Tottenham | 12 |
| 7 | Sergio Aguero | Man. City | 10 |
| 8 | Georginio Wijnaldum | Newcastle | 9 |
| 9 | Jermain Defoe | Sunderland | 9 |
| 10 | Andre Ayew | Swansea | 7 |
Recap
With the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez sidelined, Olivier Giroud was left to spearhead Arsenal's attack on Sunday.
The Frenchman has scored nine goals and assisted twice since the start of December but was unable to make the difference against the Potters and add to his impressive haul of 12 Premier League goals.
After a fairly strong start for the hosts, Arsenal crafted the first real chance of the game around 20 minutes in when Joel Campbell picked out Giroud with a lovely pass. But as Stoke's official Twitter feed captured, the striker's curling effort was denied by an excellent save from the on-rushing Jack Butland:
The 29-year-old had Arsenal's next strong chance immediately after the restart as he rose to meet Aaron Ramsey's corner, but despite directing the powerful header at the bottom corner, Butland once again proved equal to the effort, per Sky Sports:
Giroud was otherwise involved relatively little as clear-cut chances proved few and far between for Arsenal with the team clearly lacking the composure and incisiveness of Ozil and Sanchez. Indeed, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain certainly struggled as a creative replacement for the German:
Though blame for the stalemate should hardly be placed at the often underrated and harshly criticised Giroud's door, he is a player who largely relies on opportunities being presented to him in order to score.
While that's not normally a problem given Arsenal's wealth of creative talent, Sunday demonstrated the way the Gunners seriously struggle to threaten without their key personnel in place.
United similarly struggled to create chances against Liverpool—as has been their problem all season. But they managed to do one better than the Gunners and their opponents by taking one when it came along when Rooney fired home after Marouane Fellaini's header came back off the crossbar.
England's captain has been in particularly poor form this season but has shown sparks of life in recent weeks, per Squawka Football:
The Mail on Sunday's Oliver Holt and ESPN's Tommy Smyth came out in defence of the 30-year-old:
Though his total of just six Premier League goals puts him well behind the players currently in contention for the Golden Boot, his resurgence in form is excellent news for United.
He's not yet at his imperious best, but if he can continue to lead by example and revitalise the struggling Red Devils he may yet be able to salvage their season as well as his own.
