Not a great surprise to get a goal-less draw between 2 of the 3 meanest defences in the league. But comforting at least that we managed to keep that sheet clean with a defence missing Keown, Adams, and Seaman.

The England keeper pulled out at the last minute with a back problem. The latest news we have is that he isn't necessarily out of the England game. We've heard conflicting reports abotu Keown rceently, by the way. Either he's back in training or he's definitely out for the season if not more. Or something in between, of course.

Both sides today did some nice approach play, but both found it hard to find a telling final ball, and most goal attempts from both sides were long-range efforts which either flew miles over or rolled passivley to the keeper.

Arsenal had the best chances. In the first half, a great ball from Vieira found Ljungberg's ghosting run into the box fromt he left. His first touch just took it away from him enough for James to get there in time. Ljungberg went done over thge keeper's challenge and the ball went out. TV replays suggested that James didn't get the ball, but did make contact with Freddie.

In the second half a corner was cleared as far as Bergkamp outside the D, and his ball into the box found Grimandi, whose excellent movement had created the space for it. Gilles first touch was superb too. He controlled the ball nicely then lobbed it tamely into James's arms.

That's about it really. A dull encounter enlivened, for the connoisseur, only by the renewal of the entertaining relationship between Lee Dixon and David Ginola. A narrow win for Dixon this time, on points only since neither of them was sent off. Ginola didn't have a great impact on the game, and got increasingly frustrated by the ref's refusal to penalise Lee for not letting Ginola show off.

In injury time, Grimandi was a little late with a tackle on Darius Vassell as he carried the ball down the wing. The ref saw it as bookable, Gilles's second, and off he went. Grimandi will now miss the FA Cup semi-final in 3 weeks time. See his diary at Icons.com for Gilles' reaction.

See match report page for list of links to reports on other sites.

Liverpool could only draw with Derby today, so we're still just about ahead of them (even assuming they win their games in hand).