A draw in our tie against Leeds United on Sunday evening was not a result to be proud of especially for the fact that we were reduced to nothing in our last Premier League match before the commencement of the recently-concluded international break.
The inclusion of Nicolas Pepe and Willian in the starting lineup aided our commendable start to the tie that would later end fruitless on all fronts.
The former's attempted cross kissed the crossbar then Hector Bellerin did a nice job to set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who shot it wide.
The hosts began to up the game to take control and it was at this time that Bernd Leno had to be called to action on a number of occasions. In the contrary, Meslier had enough time on recess between the sticks.
Our German goalie hundred Patrick Bamford (twice), Raphinha, Stuart Dallas and Mateus Klick from hitting the back of the net in the opening half.
The introduction of Reiss Nelson at restart looked promising for our mission until we were hit with a red card to Nicolas Pepe following an incident off the ball with Alioski. VAR gave Anthony Taylor a clearer view of the incident and he didn't hesitate in brandishing the card to our forward.
Leno was once again called into action to prevent a Dallas header from finding its way into the top corner of the net. It was a one-handed save.
With all these many threats coming our way, we were set for more but we were able to up our game moments later as mounted some attacks upfront.
One of such ended in Aubameyang's path and when he struck it, Liam Cooper blocked it with his arms. There was no VAR check so he went away without sanction.
Both sides had late chances. Ours came through Bukayo Saka but Meslier kept it out then Bamford and Raphinha struck the post.
The day ended with none of the contenders going away with full points as the seemingly better but unfavourable result earned us a clean sheet.
Thursday brings us back into Europa League action against Molde away in Norway. We will follow that with a home league outing with the dreaded Wolves on Sunday.
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