Arsenal and Everton played out a 0-0 stalemate last night at the Emirates Stadium.

Both teams are chasing a place in the top four of the Premier League this season. Everton came out strongly in the first half and came close in the sixth minute.

Phil Jagielka played the ball through the Arsenal defence and found Steven Pienaar, who fired over when through on-goal.

Arsenal’s first attempt on goal came in the 24^th minute, full-back Kieran Gibbs not causing Tim Howard any problems in the Everton goal.

The game was a feisty affair. In the 28^th minute, Darron Gibson was given a yellow card for a tackle on Theo Walcott, then a few minutes later was lucky not to be shown a second yellow for a body check on the England international.

Steven Pienaar also escaped punishment, as the South African committed a similar foul on Walcott. Referee Neil Swarbrick again decided not take action when Olivier Giroud went through the back of Everton full-back Seamus Coleman.

French striker Giroud fired wide from a tempting Aaron Ramsey cross. Victor Anichebe could have given the visitors the lead, but could not connect properly with Leighton Baines’ free-kick from the left.

The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock was in the 65^th minute. Young Everton midfielder Ross Barkley picked-up the ball just outside the penalty area and curled a superb effort just inches wide of the post, with Wojciech Szczesny well beaten.

The Gunners’ looked to have finally found a way through the Toffee’s backline on 78 minutes. Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain combined well, just as Olivier Giroud looked set to fire home Everton full-back Seamus Coleman came in with a last ditch tackle.

Giroud then fired wide when well-placed minutes later when he really should have done better. In the end, 0-0 was arguably a fair result.

Will either side make the top four this season?