In a bruising encounter, which will have the players jumping into their ice-baths immediately after the 90 minutes, Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw by Everton, leaving both sides pondering what could have been.
The major talking point of the game came in the first half, when Darron Gibson, already on a yellow card, inexplicably stayed on the pitch after a blatant body-check on Theo Walcott.
The draw does not do either side too many favors, even if Arsenal stay third and extend their lead from Chelsea and Tottenham to two points. Everton remain sixth on 56 points, four behind Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger decided to stick with Jack Wilshere, with Theo Walcott and Per Mertesacker coming into the starting lineup for Gervinho and Thomas Vermaelen respectively.
Expectedly, Everton went about their game on a physical note, with all their players pressing the Arsenal players on the ball, while their tackles were right on the edge of correctness.
Marouane Fellaini, back in a midfield role in the absence of Leon Osman, was extremely lucky not be shown a yellow card in the early stages, after committing quite a few challenges.
The Arsenal players were a little aggrieved by the referee's leniency, but Everton went about their business in a professional manner and were the better side for the first 20 minutes or so. Steven Pienaar came close for the away side, while at the other end, through balls and final passes just kept going astray for the Gunners.
Aaron Ramsey was easily the home side's best player in the first 45, making tackles while also showing intent to go forward.
Everton continued their physical approach, and Darron Gibson was the first to be booked for a robust challenge on Theo Walcott.
Just past the half hour mark, Everton should have really gone down to ten men, when Gibson, cynically flattened Walcott, while the Arsenal forward was looking to break on the counter.
Referee Neil Swarbick, though, chose to keep his card in his pocket, and his decision was further brought into question when he booked Steven Pienaar a minute later for a similar body-check, again on Walcott.
Arsenal, realizing, the manner of Everton's game, were slowly getting into the flow things, as the home side cranked up the pressure in the final five minutes of the half.
The excellent Ramsey broke through on the right and played a perfect low cross in between the defenders and goalkeeper, with Olivier Giroud missing the target from eight yards out as a gaping goal stared back at him, wondering how he failed to hit the target.
Soon after, some nice work from Wilshere saw Cazorla break into the box, but his strike was well blocked by Phil Jagielka, as both teams went into the break locked at 0-0.
The second half was similar to the first, even if Arsenal had more control of possession. Cazorla was the first to work goalkeeper Tim Howard, with the playmaker taking a stinging shot from 22 yards, off a pass from Kieran Gibbs, which was well saved by the American.
Giroud then curled a shot high off another pass from Gibbs, as the home side looked to step up a gear.
Every time Everton poured forward, they were in serious danger of getting caught on the counter, with Walcott coming close on a couple of occasions.
Everton had their best chance of the half via Ross Barkley, who saw his brilliant 22-yard effort whistle inches wide of the post with Wojciech Szczesny well beaten.
Wenger brought on Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Wilshere and Walcott, and the duo immediately brought some impetus into the Arsenal attack.
Oxlade-Chamberlain had a glorious opportunity to make it 1-0, but when in space, he chose to cross for Giroud, instead of taking the shot, allowing Seamus Coleman to get in front of the Arsenal striker and clear.
Cazorla then played through Mikel Arteta, but the Arsenal skipper took too much time allowing Everton to snuff out the chance.
The Gunners were creating all the pressure in the final moments, winning umpteen amounts of corners, but the Toffees stuck together and held fort for a point.