Arsenal's winless run continues after Chelsea draw
Arsenal squandered a golden last-gasp chance as it failed to make up ground on Premier League leader Liverpool after a 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Having lost two of their past three league games, Mikel Arteta's Gunners entered the match 10 points adrift of Liverpool and in need of a victory.
Although Kai Havertz saw a first-half strike disallowed for offside after latching on to Declan Rice's quick free-kick, Arsenal was en route to claiming that win when Gabriel Martinelli, assisted by fit-again captain Martin Odegaard, struck on the hour.
The Brazilian was played onside by Levi Colwill as he took down Odegaard's excellent pass from the corner of the box, allowing him to side-foot past Robert Sanchez at his near post.
However, the lead was short-lived as Pedro Neto cut inside from the right to drill into the bottom-right corner 10 minutes later, scoring his first Premier League goal for Chelsea.
Leandro Trossard failed to capitalise on a brilliant opportunity with the last kick of the game as he took William Saliba's searching left-wing cross off Havertz's toe with the goal gaping, leaving Arsenal winless in four Premier League games.
It sits fourth with 19 points, behind third-placed Chelsea on goal difference and already nine points adrift of leader Liverpool.
Arteta said Arsenal must not accept the standards it showed defensively to allow Chelsea's equaliser.
"The disappointment of not getting three points is bigger [than being satisfied] and it will probably be bigger after watching it back," he said.
"I think we dominated them, we were the better team in many phases and situations in the game and after going ahead, very disappointed in the way we conceded.
"It was so poor. It is not [at] our standards and we don't accept [it].
"It is a second phase set piece and we were disorganised. We didn't reorganise quickly enough and you can't allow the pass that way. You need the quality of Neto to do it but our standards were not good enough."
Chelsea did not get the result it wanted either, but manager Enzo Maresca believed his team made a statement by fighting back to draw.
"I enjoyed it, absolutely. The performance was good," he said.
"We know them quite well and we competed pretty well. The performance is very important for us in this moment and it was good. We can rest now and go again.
"The performance from Pedro [Neto] was very good. We played in the way we wanted to, brave, and try and play from the back always.
"It is the way we want to do things. We try and play face-to-face against every team. We are Chelsea, so it is important to send this message."
