James saves Liverpool

Anxious Arsenal were tonight left needing to beat Bolton -- boss Bruce Rioch's former club -- in Sunday's Premiership climax to snatch the final European berth.

The Gunners staged a relentless second-half assault against FA Cup holders Liverpool at expectant Highbury. But their failure to find a way past goalkeeper David James has left them little room for slip-ups against their already-relegated opponents.

North London rivals Tottenham will draw level with Arsenal on 60 points if they can win at Leeds tomorrow. But Everton and Blackburn, now two points adrift of Rioch's side, will also figure in the shake-up for UEFA Cup action.

By rights, the Lancashire duo should already be out of the running -- and they owe a big vote of thanks to James, who pulled off a string of superb saves.

Arsenal were without the injured Ian Wright and, added to the James super-stops, was a desperate miss by Wright's stand-in, John Hartson, two minutes before the break. Competitive Ray Parlour -- running, tackling and passing for the 90 minutes -- dispossessed Jamie Redknapp and it was Paul Merson who set up Hartson. The Welsh international surged into the area and appeared to have done everything right as he chipped over James, but the ball landed the wrong side of the left-hand upright. It was a critical cameo -- and a goal then would surely have sealed all three points.

Liverpool, already guaranteed a place in Europe and with Saturday week's FA Cup final against Manchester United in mind, displayed many neat moves. But largely they were content to soak up the pressure and look for the occasional counter-thrust. Arsenal have now failed to win in their last four games, but Rioch knows that must change against Wanderers whom he quit last summer after a successful promotion campaign.

The urgency was there alright against the Merseysiders and Hartson had a close-range shot charged down by defender John Scales after only five minutes. John Barnes replied with a fierce 25 yarder which David Seaman did well to hold, diving to his right, but Liverpool's real commitment to attack failed to materialise. It was a particularly frustrating night for 36-goal Robbie Fowler, who has hit 28 in the League and had ambitions of closing in on leader Alan Shearer, currently three ahead.

Fowler didn't have a worthwhile effort all night and the closest Liverpool came was four minutes after the interval when Jason McAteer drove a first-time shot a couple of inches outside of Seaman's right-hand post.

Arsenal, on the other hand, will be ruing a catalogue of unconverted chances. Skipper Martin Keown moved up for a Dennis Bergkamp free-kick after 25 minutes and was twice denied in his effort to convert, James finally smothering on the line. James was there again on the hour, this time beating away a shot by Bergkamp after Neil Ruddock had been caught dallying on the edge of his area.

But the moment that Arsenal must finally have realised it wasn't going to be their night came after 74 minutes when James twisted to produce a magnificent one-handed save from Hartson, McAteer whipping away the lose ball as Nigel Winterburn followed up.

James' next block was from Bergkamp, Merson firing over when the ball rebounded. And the Gunners were almost caught by a sucker punch when substitute Ian Rush sent McManaman streaming clear two minutes from time, but the England man fired his shot straight at Seaman.

Roy Evans hit out at FA Cup finalists Liverpool after a below-par performance in the goalless draw at Arsenal tonight. "Our second-half performance was poor," admitted manager Evans, whose side finish their Premiership programme on Sunday away to relegation candidates Manchester City. Evans added: "It was the tale of us, really. We can pass it and look exciting yet in the second half we couldn't put two passes together. Whether or not it's an end of season game you have got to have standards. And we have fallen below them on occasions when we have changed in five minutes from being a good team to a bad team. We have done that too many times."

Evans, however, rightly praised keeper David James for keeping the UEFA Cup place-chasing Gunners at bay. "He has been exceptional this season," he said. Evans, though, admitted that Arsenal would probably have taken the points had Ian Wright not been out injured. He said: "His pace is always going to be a threat and I think that had they had Ian Wright tonight they might have won it."

Copyright -"Press Association"