The Premier League’s festive celebration became stale on Thursday as the New Year’s program served up three 0-0 draws, the biggest being Manchester City’s stalemate at Sunderland which left them four points behind leaders Arsenal.
Second-placed City would have reduced Arsenal’s advantage to two points but were left frustrated as their winning streak in all competitions ended at eight.
Liverpool’s attack was also found wanting as they drew 0-0 at home to Leeds United while there were no goals at Brentford while they earned a draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
The only goals of the day came at Selhurst Park, where Fulham’s Tom Cairney equalized late on in a 1-1 draw.
Sunderland have proved tenacious opposition on their return to the Premier League and have now drawn with third-placed City, Arsenal and Aston Villa at their Stadium of Light.
They are only the second promoted team to go unbeaten in their first 10 home games in a Premier League campaign, after Ipswich Town in 1992-93, and they were worth their point.
City did everything in their power to break through, but home goalkeeper Robin Roefs made a series of saves as the visitors came closest to scoring thanks to Josko Gvardiol’s header which skimmed the post in the second half.
“They are so physical. They are so strong, so it’s no surprise. We take the point,” City boss Pep Guardiola said. “Really happy with the performance, especially in the second half. There’s still a long way (to go).”
A boost for City was the sight of Rodri back in action as a replacement for the injured Niko Gonzalez after recovering from a hamstring injury which had limited him to a handful of minutes over the past three months.
Arsenal’s 4-1 defeat to Villa on Tuesday put them on 45 points at the halfway point of the season while Pep Guardiola’s City are on 41 after only their second league draw of the season.
Next up for Arsenal is a trip to struggling Bournemouth on Saturday while City are at home a day later against Chelsea who parted ways with manager Enzo Maresca on Thursday.
Defending champions Liverpool are 12 points behind Arsenal in fourth place as they produced a lackluster performance.
Their best chance fell to Hugo Ekitike, but his miss instead summed up Liverpool’s day, somehow directing an inviting cross from Jérémie Frimpong wide of the goal when he looked set to score.
It could have been worse for Arne Slot’s side too, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin having an 81st-minute goal disallowed for offside after latching onto a pass from Noah Okafor.
“You’d like to start (2026) with a win,” Slot said. “But it was difficult. I don’t think we were able to play many times because of their low block.
“Sometimes we didn’t have enough bodies in front of goal and in other moments when we created or were close to the goal we were a bit unfortunate.”
For Leeds, it was another important point in their bid to stay away from the relegation zone. They sit in 16th place with 21 points, seven ahead of West Ham United, third from bottom.
“It doesn’t happen that often that you get a clean sheet and a point at Anfield,” Leeds boss Daniel Farke said.
“We had to defend and suffer but we are newly promoted and arrived at the defending champions.”
Spurs manager Thomas Frank returned to his old club Brentford but it was a forgettable affair as Tottenham’s run of 137 Premier League matches without a goalless draw ended.
Their last was also against Brentford in May 2022.
The draw left Tottenham in 12th place with 26 points while Brentford, who had the best chances, are ninth with 27.
Palace are now without a win in six matches in all competitions, as they were denied victory by a superb curling shot from Cairney.
Jean-Philippe Mateta had headed Palace into the lead, but the hosts faded and Fulham would have snatched all three points had Dean Henderson not made a great save to deny Timothy Castagne and had Joachim Andersen not unleashed a shot.
“When the legs and the mind are not so fresh, it’s a bit difficult. It was a good point today,” Palace manager Oliver Glasner said. Palace are 10th and Fulham 11th, both on 27 points.
