Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw by Southampton at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Gunners dominated proceedings by creating a host of chances but could not get past Fraser Forster and his Saints defence.
Mesut Ozil had two close-range volleys kept out by Forster while Olivier Giroud saw a curling right-footed effort acrobatically denied by the returning gloveman.
Arsenal had 10 shots on target throughout but were not clinical enough to get one past the Saints who have now kept four clean sheets on the trot.
The result sees Arsene Wenger's side drop to fourth on the table where they now sit five points behind Leicester City while Ronald Koeman's Saints moved up to seventh courtesy of a fourth game unbeaten.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Arsenal: 0
Southampton: 0
Emirates Stadium, London - 60,044
TALKING POINTS
- Are Arsenal dropping too many points at the moment? They have not won in the league in four matches and are slowly giving up ground on the top two. Also, Tottenham have passed them…
- Southampton the hardest team to score against at the moment. Koeman has made them more compact and the return of Forster just an added bonus.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Arsenal will be searching for an elusive league win when they travel to Bournemouth on Sunday while Southampton get set to host West Ham on Saturday.
TWITTER INSIGHT
Great team performance and work rate from the lads. Always a very tough place to go and we worked hard for that pic.twitter.com/YDMpF3ITiN
— Fraser Forster (@FraserForster) February 2, 2016
Solid performance from everyone today! Great to see @FraserForster back to his best!! pic.twitter.com/vI32oOB3ha
— James Ward-Prowse (@Prowsey16) February 2, 2016
QUOTES CORNER
Arsenal's Wenger on his side's attack:
"Our finishing is very bad at the moment - we have played three (league) games now without scoring a goal. In all those three games we had chances that we didn't take. At that level it's important.
"It's maximum frustrating, when your team puts the energy in and creates the chances."
Southampton's Koeman on his side's defence:
"It is now our fourth clean sheet in a row and that is giving confidence to the players.
"In the last few weeks our opponents have played with two up front and I prefer to play with three at the back but Arsenal play with three up front and if you put five defenders you miss one or two players to control the midfield."
STATS SPECIALS
*Thanks to Opta
10 - Arsenal had 10 shots on target without scoring tonight, the joint most in a PL game this season (+ West Ham vs Stoke in Dec). Repelled.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 2, 2016
3 - Arsenal have gone three PL games without a goal for the first time since February 2009. Fading.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 2, 2016
