Chelsea were full of confidence when they hosted Arsenal in round 11 of the Premier League as star Cole Palmer was fit enough to start. The Englishman almost scored in the first half with a beautiful long-range shot but David Raya made a brilliant save.
The Blues were the team that created more chances with Noni Madueke's header and Malo Gusto's clear miss.
On the other side, with Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice back in the starting lineup, Arsenal also looked equally uncomfortable. In the 34th minute, Kai Havertz scored against Chelsea but the goal was disallowed due to offside.
The tense match continued after the half-time break. In the 60th minute, after a pass from Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli finished towards the far post to open the scoring for the Gunners. But just 10 minutes later, Pedro Neto scored a beautiful goal to tie the score 1-1.
In the final minutes of the second half, Mikel Merino had at least 3 clear chances to put Arsenal ahead, but he could not beat goalkeeper Sanchez.
With the 1-1 draw, both teams are currently on 19 points, ranking 3rd and 4th respectively on the rankings. They are 9 points behind the leader Liverpool, making the ambition of winning the Premier League gradually becoming unrealistic. Coach Mikel Arteta and his team still have a lot of work to do if they want to end the title drought since the 2003-2004 season.
