Premiership: Arsenal and Liverpool scoreless at interval

Arsenal 0, Liverpool 0 (half-time)

Nicolas Anelka returned to Highbury for the first time since his controversial protracted move away from the club two-and-a-half years ago as he partnered Michael Owen up front for Liverpool.

The on-loan Frenchman kept Emile Heskey and Jari Litmanen on the bench as Liverpool looked to revitalise their seemingly faltering title challenge against fellow contenders Arsenal.

Arsenal, meanwhile, were without Ashley Cole, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ray Parlour through suspension, while Lauren was also absent.

That meant Matthew Upson being lined up to start at left-back, while Gilles Grimandi was expected to partner Patrick Vieira in midfield and Kanu was up front just behind Thierry Henry.

Arsene Wenger had appealed for Arsenal fans to remember Anelka’s contribution to their double-winning season of 1997-98 and to concentrate on supporting their own side rather than barracking the striker who left Highbury for Real Madrid.

Anelka still dominated the minds of the crowd in the opening spell as they booed his first touch and showed little remorse for his departure, especially with Henry as his strike successor.

The Frenchman did not have too many early touches as Arsenal established a slight advantage, with Robert Pires almost inevitably offering their main source of penetration.

Henry’s fierce free-kick was flicked over by Kanu, while the Frenchman’s speculative cross bounced on top of the crossbar as goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek frantically attempted to recover his ground.

Stephane Henchoz also escaped appeals for handball after he had blocked a header by Upson following a corner.

But the only real chance fell to Fredrik Ljungberg on 21 minutes as he twisted on to Kanu’s through ball to beat the offside trap and go round Dudek only to then clip his shot wide across the far post from a tight angle as he lost his balance.