CHELSEA 1-1 ARSENAL: Gabriel Martinelli put the Gunners ahead in the London derby at Stamford Bridge, but Mikel Arteta’s men were again unable to hold onto a lead
CHELSEA 1-1 ARSENAL: Gabriel Martinelli put the Gunners ahead in the London derby at Stamford Bridge, but Mikel Arteta’s men were again unable to hold onto a lead CHELSEA 1-1 ARSENAL: Gabriel Martinelli put the Gunners ahead in the London derby at Stamford Bridge, but Mikel Arteta’s men were again unable to hold onto a lead
The plain truth is that Arsenal cannot see the job through in 90 minutes.
So, how does anyone expect them to get across the line over the course of a full season?
For the fourth time this campaign, Arsenal let a lead slip and they now find themselves a staggering nine points behind runaway leaders Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table. We are not quite into last rites territory for Arsenal’s title chances just yet but it already feels like they need a miracle and it’s not even mid-November.
This time, Arsenal surrendered a lead to Chelsea and you can add that to the list of missed opportunities this season as they took the lead against Brighton, Manchester City and Liverpool and yet still only grabbed a point in each. That at least shows they are competing with their direct rivals – but, ultimately, they are not good enough to get the job done. That is eight points dropped from a winning position in just 11 games. That is unforgivable.
They are not as good as they were last season defensively and nowhere near as creative or ruthless with their finishing.
Gabriel Martinelli gave Arsenal the lead on the hour, they only held out for ten minutes before Pedro Neto was given time and space to pick his spot for the equaliser and then, try as they might, the visitors could not find a winner.
It was probably a fair result in the end but it is Chelsea making strides under Enzo Maresca while Arsenal have arguably gone backwards this term under Mikel Arteta.
Yes, they have been missing players through injury – they welcomed back Martin Odegaard for his first start in two months – but their summer recruitment was underwhelming.
Mikel Merino is a solid but unspectacular midfielder, Riccardo Calafiori looks good but is injury prone and they were crying out for a new left winger as much as a new No.9 to give them more creativity.
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Arsenal may now be facing a battle for a top four place rather than the title while Chelsea probably thought that would be the most they could hope for this season and yet they are definitely in the mix.
It was a typically feisty London derby and, despite Arsenal having the better of recent encounters, it was an even first half from the moment Cole Palmer’s fierce 20 yard shot was tipped over by keeper David Raya early on. Malo Gusto should have scored, Martinelli wasted a big chance and then VAR intervened to give an offside after Kai Havertz had the ball in the net following Declan Rice’s quick free kick.
Arsenal finally got a breakthrough after 60 minutes when Odegaard’s lovely cross picked out Martinelli, the Brazil winger spotted Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez had left his near post and squeezed a shot into the net. The away end went wild.
But the hope lasted all of ten minutes. Chelsea substitute Enzo Fernandez started the move, Neto raced forward and Arsenal’s defence opened up for the Portugal winger to arrow a shot into the bottom corner.
From then on, Arsenal took charge while Chelsea threatened on the break. Bukayo Saka’s teasing cross was just beyond Merino. Odegaard’s cross was inviting for Merino but his header was weak.
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Chelsea were dangerous but Arsenal held firm as they pressed for a late winner. Twice Leandro Trossard had his blushes spared when he missed great chances only for the offside flag to go up.
It ended in frustration for Arsenal and Chelsea go into the international break ahead of their London rivals.
Arsenal surely cannot claw back the title from here and, sooner or later, Arteta should find himself under pressure to deliver trophies as this was supposed to be the season.
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