‘Learning point’ as Arsenal miss chance to extend lead

Arsenal may feel like they could have done even better if they faced Tottenham, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea in a week-a run that any team would find an extreme test. Despite that, winning two victories and drawing a battling draw cannot be regarded as a positive return.

With recovery time limited and rivals Spurs and Bayern at the Emirates, Sunday’s game with Chelsea was always going to be challenging.

Important centre-back William Saliba was also ruled out with a knock he picked up in training, which added to the stress of preparation.

A 1-1 draw secured by Mikel Merino’s header to give the Gunners a five-point lead over the Gunners is not a bad result in that regard. However, manager Mikel Arteta acknowledged that a chance to increase the lead had been missed, despite seeing his side play against 10 men for the majority of the match following Moises Caicedo’s red card.

He declared, “The week has been a big one, starting with the derby.” Then, three days later, we played Bayern Munich, and we lost players in those games.

For instance, today’s team had to defend against a partnership that we had never played before in a particularly challenging match.

The team had to react to Leo (Trossard)’s midweek loss because the captain is still not here (Martin Odegaard), the nine are still not here (Viktor Gyokeres), and Kai (Havertz) is still not there.

In Chelsea’s second half, the Gunners did come off the bench.

“I think the difficulty was enormous,” Arteta continued, “I think overall it’s been a really positive week.”

Only the second time since August 2021 that neither Gabriel Magalhaes nor Saliba have appeared in an Arsenal lineup for a Premier League game was during the game against Chelsea.

The Gunners’ defensive backs rely heavily on the pair, who also play a significant role in their attacking set pieces.

Arsenal’s typically dangerous long throws, free kicks, and corners lacked the usual potency due to lack of either on the pitch.

Chelsea’s lead was also extended by a corner goal, which will disappoint Arsenal manager Arteta and set-piece coach Nicolas Jover.

Arteta remarked, “It’s been a headache.” “Because there are unquestionable options and adjustments that must be made over the next few months for various reasons.

That injury, according to Saliba, is not uncommon and occurred yesterday.

For the first time in the Premier League, Arteta chose Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie as his centre-back pairing.

The beauty of it is that you have players who are so eager to play and who are able to communicate with one another. We’ll improve our relationship, Arteta continued.

So today was a great learning experience for everyone of us, and it also gave you the confidence that everyone involved would perform.