Liverpool Held at Home, Arsenal Grab First Place

Liverpool's English Premier League title hopes took a major hit today as Stoke City held on for a 0-0 draw at Anfield. Steven Gerrard appeared to have scored his 100th club goal just two minutes in.

The skipper's curling free-kick went by everyone—including Stoke goalkeeper, Thomas Sorensen. The celebration was short lived though, as the linesman's flag went up indicating that Dirk Kuyt was apparently offside.

Liverpool had a whopping 76% possession advantage and fired 30 shots towards the Stoke goal. Xabi Alonso had the best chance in the first half, firing a good shot from outside the box courtesy of a Gerrard pass from a corner kick.

Sorensen held his composure though, and made another fine stop early in the second half to deny Robbie Keane his first goal of the season from a couple yards out. Many Liverpool players launched long range efforts towards goal as the frustration was beginning to build.

Fernando Torres missed two great chances in the box as well. There's a sentence I thought I'd never say. That's how it was going for the Reds though with plenty of awful touches. After a terrible pass attempt from Kuyt, the Setanta commentator actually said, "What was that?".

Stoke fans were at their loudest during their side's throw-ins near the Liverpool goal. Rory Delap can sure whip the ball into play and that's as close as the visitors came to beating Pepe Reina.

I lost count of how many corners Liverpool had during the match. I just looked at the stats and it reads 19. Had the Gerrard goal not been disallowed, Liverpool surely would have cruised to victory. A tough way to go down after wins against Manchester United and Marseille.

Arsenal meanwhile, won their third straight game to claim top spot in the EPL. Bolton tested Manuel Almunia early as Kevin Nolan nearly made him pay for going off his line. He sent a floating shot on goal that the Spaniard tipped away.

Bolton went ahead after 14 minutes from a Kevin Cyril Davies header off a corner-kick. Arsene Wenger's men turned it on then, and the Wanderers were stunned. Emmanuel Adebayor hit the right post after he was sent in alone by a neat through-ball.

Moments later, Alexandre Song hit the other post with a header in the box. It seemed like it was going to be Bolton's lucky day, until the Gunners fired in two goals a minute apart.

Emmanuel Eboue struck at the near post after a fine pass from Nicklas Bendtner. Replays showed that Eboue was just offside, but the goal stood.

A minute later, Bendtner was rewarded with a goal of his own. Denilson received a great through-ball on the left side and sent a cross to the Dane for his first Premier League goal of the season.

Wenger rested Theo Walcott and Robin Van Persie after the tough match with Dynamo Kiev Wednesday. In the 74th minute, Walcott came on and dazzled the fans with his quick plays.

Three minutes from stoppage time, Walcott would run by a few Wanderer defenders before sending a pass to Adebayor on the right side in the box. The Togo striker would then send a perfect cross to Denilson for the Gunners third of the game.

Arsenal fan not, there's no denying the true poetry in all three goals today. They have outscored their opponents 10-1 in the last three EPL matches. It's hard not to imagine them as serious contenders for the EPL and Champions League when they perform like this.

The first goal from Eboue was offside, but it opened the gates for Arsenal. Offsides were the big story in these two matches. Liverpool had one go against them, while the Gunners had one go their way.

Those two calls greatly affected the standings this week in the EPL.