Arsenal looked finished. Trailing by two goals, there were just 13 minutes to go and the story looked set to be about a statement win for Mauricio Pochettino and Chelsea; Arsenal goalkeeping woe, too.
David Raya was at fault for the Chelsea second, allowing a swirling ball in from Mykhailo Mudryk to sail over his head and drop into the far corner. Was it a visionary lob from the left or an intended cross? Only Mudryk knows.
What was more obvious was that Raya’s positioning was suspect. He seemed to lose his bearings under the ball and was a good way off his line. Moments later, he would pass straight to Cole Palmer, who had opened the scoring from the penalty spot and was only just denied now by Raya for 3-0.
It said everything about the frustration of the Arsenal support that they would chant the name of their deposed No 1 Aaron Ramsdale, who was absent from the bench after his wife gave birth to a baby boy.
Yet Raya was not the only goalkeeper to suffer. Robert Sánchez saw Raya’s travails and re-raised. The Chelsea No 1 went for a low pass out and got it horribly wrong, missing blue and finding red in the shape of Declan Rice, who returned the ball with interest from 25 yards into the mainly empty net.
Chelsea’s hold was broken, the comeback was on and Arsenal would complete it almost immediately after Pochettino had introduced his captain, Reece James, for his first football since the opening weekend of the season as part of a double substitution.
James slotted in on the right of a midfield three, in front of the right-back, Malo Gusto, and it was the latter who lost another substitute, Leandro Trossard, after a Bukayo Saka cross. With Sánchez rooted to his line, Trossard steered home with the outside of his right boot.
Chelsea had been the better side until Rice’s goal, their performance teeming with intensity. And yet Arsenal might have burgled all three points when another substitute, Eddie Nketiah, stretched in front of Thiago Silva to hook a shot just beyond the far post.
Mikel Arteta looked as though he was ready to implode towards the end of seven minutes of stoppage time, balling up his fist and shaking it, his expression one of thunder after a decision had gone against his team. But the Arsenal manager had to be happy with the point, especially as the Chelsea substitute Nicolas Jackson had almost beaten Raya moments earlier.
Arsenal were off colour in the opening 25 minutes, their passing loose, second best in the duels, and they were reeling when the penalty was awarded. Mudryk had headed a Gusto cross at goal and, in the moment, it really did look as if it had hit William Saliba’s hand.
The referee, Chris Kavanagh, allowed the play to continue but the VAR wheels were turning and, moments after Marc Cucurella had chopped into Saka, Kavanagh was asked to take a look at the pitchside screen. Arsenal argued that Saliba was too close to get his hand out of the way, also that it is impossible to jump without using said limb for leverage. It was to no avail. Palmer’s kick was nerveless.
It was feisty, Palmer booked early on for a scrape down the back of Gabriel Jesus’s heel, and it was easy to think that Cucurella had targeted Saka. Arteta was unhappy at Cucurella’s first challenge on Saka in the sixth minute; there were 17 on the clock when the full-back took another swipe at his opponent. There was irony to Cucurella’s yellow card on 71 minutes; the foul on Saka was the softest of the lot.
Pochettino had started with Palmer at centre-forward, Conor Gallagher behind him. Gallagher had gone close at the very start, seeing a shot blocked by Ben White while he also released Palmer on the half hour, who dragged narrowly wide.
What did Arsenal create before the interval? Very little, despite gradually establishing themselves higher up the pitch. A cross-cum-shot by Rice was not enough of one or the other. Jesus crossed to nobody after Sánchez had hared out of his area, on the left-hand side. Jesus also saw a shot blocked by Silva.
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Mudryk’s streaky goal was a hammer blow to Arsenal’s hopes and it had to be him, not only because of the narrative strand that clung to him – the one about how Arsenal tried to sign him before he went to Chelsea in January. The winger is finding his feet at Stamford Bridge, his confidence stabilising after a tricky start.
Arsenal had their chances in the second half. Gabriel Martinelli saw a shot diverted wide by the outstanding Silva while the substitute Takehiro Tomiyasu headed over after Sánchez had bolted from his line on a corner. Gabriel Magalhães had another header blocked by Levi Colwill.
But Pochettino was probably right to say it was closer to 3-0 than 2-1. Jackson ran through only for Raya to deny him and Palmer got a curled finish wrong. Chelsea were comfortable. Then they were not.
