Chelsea 1 Arsenal 1: Neto’s strike cancels out Martinelli opener as Gunners drop more points in title race

NO London club has won the Premier League in the last seven seasons and we can safely say that run will be extended to eight.

The capital’s two best teams contested a derby with plenty of ferocity but precious little class and both are now nine points adrift of runaway leaders Liverpool.

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Chelsea and Arsenal shared the points in a drab London derby[/caption]

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Both sides hit the target in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge[/caption]

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A physical match saw both sides put in big challenges[/caption]

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Tempers threatened to spill over at times in a heated clash[/caption]

While Enzo Maresca has been applauded to the high heavens for making some sense of the Chelsea madhouse, he is yet to score a win against any of the ‘Big Six’ clubs.

And Mikel Arteta – who was finally able to field a full-strength side here – has seen his Arsenal team slide out of the title hunt by failing to win any of their last four Premier League matches.

Pedro Neto drilled home an equaliser to cancel out Gabriel Martinelli’s second-half opener after Kai Havertz, the man who won Chelsea the European Cup in 2021, had a first-half effort ruled out for a fag-paper offside.  

Arteta’s frustrations were compounded by Bukayo Saka limping off late on – suggesting the England winger might miss England’s games against Greece and Ireland.

Although given that the England manager Thomas Tuchel isn’t even turning up for those, few will be too concerned about that.

Chelsea have won only once in five league matches although the Blues can point to a marked improvement from the last time they played Arsenal, when they were gubbed 5-0 under Mauricio Pochettino. 

Gunners skipper Martin Odegaard had returned to the starting line-up after a two-month lay-off with an ankle injury while Declan Rice played despite a broken toe.

And while this might not be the most spiteful London derby – both clubs hate Tottenham far more than each other – you wouldn’t really have guessed as much.

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The noise of the crowd crackled around the Bridge, interspersed only by the occasional sound of studs on bone.

Moises Caicedo welcomed Odegaard back to the Premier League with a bruising late challenge, then Levi Colwill was booked for a reducer on Saka.

There had been a clear, and understandable, Chelsea policy of suffocation towards Saka – who spent much of the afternoon being pursued by Marc Cucurella, with the eagerness of a King Charles spaniel after a stick.

Meanwhile, there was a little football too – Cole Palmer, who passed a late fitness test, forced David Raya to push over a powerful 20-yarder and Neto was threatening carnage down the left.

First, the speedy Portuguese had a cross nodded wide by Noni Madueke, then after he had taunted Ben White with his bobs and feints, he centred again for Malo Gusto to head over from close range.

Arsenal, with more of the ball but fewer of the chances, did go close through Gabriel Martinelli – whose shot was beaten away by Robert Sanchez – before they thought they had taken the lead.

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Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring when he fired past Robert Sanchez[/caption]

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The ace was one of the brighter players on the pitch[/caption]

It was the two men decried as ‘Chelsea rejects’ by the Bridge faithful – Declan Rice and Kai Havertz – who combined to find the net.

Rice, ditched by the Blues at the age of 14, played a cute quick free-kick which Chelsea off-guard and off-balance, allowing Havertz to slot past Sanchez.

Rice and Havertz bumped chests but their glee was cut short by the dreaded Stockley Park Killjoy Squad who deemed the German forward’s shoulder had leaned a few millimetres ahead of the foot of the last defender.

After half an hour of enjoyable old-school cut and thrust, here was a moment of forensic nonsense to slow the pulse. 

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Pedro Neto had other ideas as he banged in Chelsea’s equaliser[/caption]

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The winger’s impact sent Stamford Bridge wild[/caption]

After the break, Wesley Fofana spooned over a Madueke cross but on the hour, Arsenal were in front.

As with the disallowed goal, Chelsea simply switched off and forgot to defend one flank as Odegaard’s crossfield pass found two men in wide open space, one of whom, Martinelli, tucked home.

The Arsenal fans who had been slaughtering ref Michael Oliver for the petty booking of Havertz, forgot about all that and rejoiced awhile.

Jurrien Timber threatened to double the lead by beating three Chelsea defenders only to ping his shot narrowly wide.

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Kai Havertz missed a sitter at the death[/caption]

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Mikel Arteta pounded the ground in frustration[/caption]

But when Maresca introduced his £106million sub Enzo Fernandez, the Argentinian soon teed up the equaliser.

Fernandez located Neto, who had drifted inside and into space, where he drilled one past Raya into the bottom corner.  

Nicolas Jackson soon had the ball in the net but was miles offside and then he duffed a header after Raya had duffed a punched clearance – a sequence which pretty much summed up the afternoon.

Yet Havertz could have won it at the death when he threw himself at a ball travelling across Chelsea’s box.

But the former Blue could not get near it, leaving boss Arteta pounding the turf in fury.