LONDON – Chelsea and Arsenal shared the spoils in a tense 1-1 battle at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, keeping the London sides level in the Premier League but still nine points adrift of leaders Liverpool.
In a finely balanced game, the sides enjoyed almost equal possession and both had three shots on target.
It was Arsenal who looked the more disappointed at the whistle, Mikel Arteta holding his head in disbelief after substitute Leandro Trossard failed to put away two late chances.
Gabriel Martinelli had put the visitors in front in the 60th minute, turning in a neatly lifted ball from captain Martin Odegaard, whose influence on his return from injury proved crucial after the Gunners’ failure to score in their last two games.
Chelsea equalised 10 minutes later when substitute Enzo Fernandez pushed the ball to the ever-lively Pedro Neto just outside the Arsenal area and the Portuguese stepped to one side and shot low to David Raya’s left.
“We came to win, so we’re not as happy as we wanted to be, but we didn’t want to lose and it’s a good point against a good team,” Neto told Sky Sports.
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer had almost made the perfect start but his third-minute rocket was tipped over by the ever-vigilant Raya.
Arsenal thought they had gone ahead in the 32nd when former Chelsea striker Kai Havertz latched on to a speedily taken free kick and sent the ball across Robert Sanchez into the bottom corner.
But VAR showed the German was fractionally offside.
Sanchez had been called into action five minutes earlier, getting his hand to a shot from Martinelli.
Chelsea fluffed a couple of second-half chances with Levi Colwill shooting just over and Noni Madueke firing high and wide.
But as the minutes ticked down it was Arsenal who pushed forward. Sanchez kept out substitute Mikel Marino, before Trossard fired over from close range.
In time added on, William Saliba sent the ball across the six-yard box but Trossard could not connect with it despite an open goal.
The result lifted Chelsea to third and Arsenal, who have gone four Premier League games without a win, to fourth in the table, both on 19 points.
(Reuters)