Gunners stay goalless sans van Persie

Both Stoke City and Arsenal remained in search of their first Premier League win of the season after a goalless draw at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday.

A share of the spoils left Stoke 11th and Arsenal 12th in the table after they had each played two league games.

The Gunners had the best of the chances but, in the absence of star striker Robin van Persie -- sold to Manchester United -- failed to find the back of the net in a second successive goalless draw.

"It (two points from the first two games) is not good enough," Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports.

"We wanted the three points, but it is a hard place to come and try to get the points," he added "We had some really good chances but at the moment we are not taking them, the same thing happened last week.

"We are making them and conceding few chances to the opposition but we lost two points again today." But whereas Stoke have sometimes 'bullied' Arsenal at the Britannia, the Gunners stood up to the hosts' physical threat on Sunday.

"You know if you concede fouls and throw-ins they (Stoke) can put you in trouble because they get the ball in the box and are really organised at set pieces," Arteta added. "We didn't concede many chances and were well organised." Meanwhile Arteta said it was just a matter of time before new Arsenal signings Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski became fully integrated into the Londoners' set-up. "We need three, four, five games together...They have the quality.”

Chelsea sink Magpies
London: Fernando Torres announced his return to form with a superb display in Chelsea's 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday, as Roberto Di Matteo's side cemented their position on top of the Premier League.

Torres struck his second goal of the season on the stroke of half-time after earlier winning a penalty that Eden Hazard converted as the European champions made it three successive wins. Hazard also maintained his superb start to the season with his first goal for the club and a clever assist for the Torres strike.

City hold Liverpool
Liverpool: Two defensive howlers cost Liverpool all three points as they drew 2-2 with Premier League champions Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.

The Merseysiders twice went ahead through Martin Skrtel and Luis Suarez on manager Brendan Rodgers' home debut, but failed to hold the lead on both occasions with costly errors at the back gifting Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez goals.

It means Rodgers' wait for a first Liverpool victory will wait another week after his side lost 3-0 to West Bromwich Albion last weekend. After a sluggish start, Liverpool began to dominate.