Arsenal in top flight as Wiltord takes off

Aston Villa and Liverpool picked up their first points of the season in an entertaining 0-0 draw at Villa Park earlier on Sunday.

Striker Thierry Henry put Arsenal in Front in the fifth minute with a low right-foot shot after Boro keeper Mark Schwarzer had pushed away Freddie Ljungberg’s attempt.

Brazil’s Gilberto increased the lead when he drove home a low shot from a Robert Pires pass and Arsenal went three up when Wiltord scored from Henry’s cross from the left.

Wiltord made it four on the hour. Defender Sol Campbell sent a fine low ball up to the unmarked Ljungberg who broke through the Defence on the right to square it for Wiltord to side-foot the ball into the roof of the net. Middlesbrough’s Brazilian playmaker Juninho hit a fine left footed shot that brought a good diving save from Arsenal’s German keeper Jens Lehmann midway through the second half.

Boro paraded their new loan signings Gaizka Mendieta of Spain and England’s Danny Mills before kickoff but neither played.

At Villa Park, the goalkeepers had plenty of work and made some outstanding saves as both sides created numerous chances, with Liverpool’s new forward Harry Kewell guilty of a glaring miss in the 10th minute. Villa’s Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen parried El Hadji Diouf’s volley from the right in the 10th minute and Kewell had only to turn the rebound into the net. But the Australian misdirected the ball just wide with his weaker right foot.

Villa, marginally the better side, were unlucky when Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel’s curling free kick on the hour came back off the top of Jerzy Dudek’s near post.