Manager Brendan Rodgers hailed the return of Liverpool's high-intensity pressing after the club's third clean sheet in a row during Monday's 0-0 draw at Arsenal and said their defensive cohesion would allow the team's creative talents to flourish.

Liverpool are yet to concede a goal in the Premier League this season after letting in 48 last year, the worst record of any side that finished in the top six apart from Tottenham Hotspur, and one that included a 4-1 rout the last time they visited the Emirates.

“Our performance level is growing all the time, you see our defensive organisation was very good against a top-class team,” the Northern Irishman said after the game.

“With my teams the focus is always very much on the football element.

“But anyone who has followed my career as a youth coach through into senior management, (knows) it’s very much about the intensity of how we press and that cohesion as a team,” Rodgers added.

“That was something that drifted last season, for sure, so it was very important, especially with a number of new players coming in, that our defensive organisation was super organised,” the 42-year-old said.

“That’ll be the platform for us with all our creative talent.”

Satisfied

Rodgers said he was satisfied with the performance but disappointed not to get the win after Liverpool dominated in the first half only to be kept at bay by the impressive Petr Cech.

“The overriding feeling is we get a point, a clean sheet and we move to the next game,” the manager said.

“We definitely could have had all three points,” he added.

“Certainly performance-wise, I was very happy with how we worked.”

Midfielders Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana, who started the 1-0 wins against Stoke City and Bournemouth, missed the Arsenal game due to injury.

Henderson was ruled out with a foot problem while Lallana missed the game due to a thigh injury.

Liverpool, who sit third in the table with seven points from a possible nine, take on West Ham United at Anfield on Saturday and Rodgers said the club would continue monitoring Henderson and Lallana before deciding whether they could play a part.

Criticism

Following the game Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger ruled out signing a defensive midfielder before the transfer window shuts, saying he is happy with his options. Despite the team again struggling in the middle third against Liverpool.

The Gunners have been criticised by pundits and some fans for not buying another holding midfielder to support Francis Coquelin, who broke into the first team last season after being recalled from a loan spell with second tier side Charlton Athletic.

The only competition for Coquelin is captain Mikel Arteta, 33, who has just returned from a calf injury after six months out, and an aging Mathieu Flamini, who has only one year left on his contract.

“Everybody has their opinion and everybody is entitled to have an opinion. I could prove to you that it’s not necessarily right,” Wenger was quoted as saying by the club’s website when asked about the need for more ‘powerful’ midfielders by reporters.

“When you don’t win, you’re wrong and people always find reasons why. Are they the good reasons?

“I think I have enough experience and intelligence to know when it’s right and when it’s wrong,” added the club’s longest-serving manager.

Wenger also conceded that his club have not been up top scratch this season after collecting just four points from their first three Premier League fixtures.

“We have started very average I must concede sharpness is missing a little bit in some players,” the former Monaco manager said.

“Our game is still not fluent enough in the final third.”