LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 24: Petr Cech of Arsenal thanks the support after the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on August 24, 2015 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

VIDEO: Arsenal’s Cech and Liverpool’s Mignolet put on goalkeeping clinic in thrilling 0-0 draw

The posts, the linesman, Petr Cech and Simon Mignolet all played a hand to keep this game between Arsenal and Liverpool to a 0-0 draw to close out the third week of EPL action.

Before the game even started, both teams were without some important players, Per Mertesacker (illness) and Laurent Koscielny (back) were both out for Arsenal and Jordan Henderson (foot) was out for Liverpool.

The game started off with Liverpool all but taking the lead. Coutinho got the ball from about 15 yards out and rocketed the shot off the crossbar. This was only the start of it.

Even though the game ended 0-0, there was actually a goal scored. It was scored by Aaron Ramsey in the 8th minute. The only issue was that Ramsey was offside. The replay showed that Ramsey wasn’t offside and Liverpool once again were on the fortunate side of an incorrect offside call resulting in a goal.

The goalkeepers were really on top of their game today. As both backlines struggled to get the ball out of their own defensive zone, Cech and Mignolet really stepped up. This Petr Cech point blank save on Christian Benteke in the 39th minute showed that they were on their game.

In addition, Cech made a terrific fingertip save on another Coutinho that was just enough to hit the post and go out right before halftime.

Not to be outdone, Mignolet put in some great saves of his own. This one on Alexis Sanchez in the 60th minute just defied all logic in how that ball didn’t go in. This would happen a few times throughout the end of the game as Liverpool played a more defensive “park the bus” game.

This was a game where both teams would have felt they deserved a win. Liverpool was more happier than Arsenal in settling with the draw but even Brendan Rodgers had to realized Liverpool had a few prime opportunities to score in the first half. I’m sure before the game, Liverpool would’ve been fine with the draw in the Emirates but as the game went on, the win was attainable. In the end, both teams, particularly the defenders, had way, way, way, way, way too many giveaways. It’s kind of ironic saying this about a 0-0 game but this wasn’t a great game to watch if you were a defensive purist.

Either way, the draw means that Liverpool join Manchester City and Manchester United as teams who have three clean sheets in a row to start the season. For Arsenal, they move up to the top ten in the table with four points and are slowly clawing themselves back to the top.

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp

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