PEDRO NETO scored his first Chelsea goal as the Blues drew with Arsenal in a feisty London derby.
The Portuguese drilled in an effort from outside the box after Gabriel Martinelli had slammed the Gunners into the lead from close range.
Earlier, Chelsea defender Malo Gusto had missed a sitter from just a yard out while ex-Blue Kai Havertz had a goal correctly ruled out for offside.
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Potter on Arsenal
The former Brighton and Chelsea boss also gave his thoughts on the Edu Gaspar situation.
It’s that alignment with recruitment because if you continually make good decisions in recruitment you’ve got a chance with your environment and a chance with your team.
If you make the wrong decisions you’ve got the opposite and there’s problems.
It always works in tandem. You need good recruitment, you also need good coaching. Mikel has done that really well, he’s created an environment at Arsenal where there is a standard and a clear way they want to play.
That makes it easier for the recruitment team to make decisions.
Ultimately, whoever comes in has to be aligned with Mikel and has to be on the same wavelength, take the pressure of Mikel and take the workload off him but still be aligned and make the right decisions.
Graham Potter
‘Chelsea expect to win’
Former Chelsea boss Graham Potter was in the Sky Sports studio and had his say on the current Blues side under new boss Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea have identified that they want to sign young players. They want to build a team that has a lot of growth in it. Apart from the first window after the new owners came in they’ve switched to a more younger player profile.
They’ve got a coach with a clear style of play so every window now they can be making decisions about what qualities they need on the pitch but also what they need off the pitch. That’s the qualities you need when building a team. It is about the talent but also what you bring as a person and if you can handle the situation here at Chelsea.
In the end you have to win, Chelsea expect to win. They have to grow into that or they have to look for solutions to bring people from outside who can help them win.
Graham Potter
Odegaard impresses
Martin Odegaard showed Arsenal exactly what he was missing on his return to the side and registered his eighth open play assist of the calendar year – only Cole Palmer (11) and Mo Salah (9) have more.
Unbelievable… back doing what I love. It has been a long time, the longest I have been out of football in my whole life.
It felt good to be back out there although disappointed we didn’t get the win.
We’ve done a lot of work with the fitness coaches and physios pushing me every day. I wanted to come back as soon as possible.
I felt okay today. I didn’t expect it [to play 90 minutes]. I’ve only done three training sessions with the team or something.
It is a long season, long way to go. We had a tough period in December last season and came back. We know the quality and mentality we have and we just have to keep going.
Martin Odegaard
Cole Palmer struggles
It was not the best day for Cole Palmer who was crowded out in the No 10 position and struggled to get anything going at Stamford Bridge.
He created just one chance, completed only one dribble out of four and none of his four crosses found the mark.
Palmer had just one key pass and completed only 77 per cent of his passes, while only one of his four shots were on target – with two poor free-kicks going straight into the wall.
His heat map isn’t the best, either.
More from Maresca
The Italian made it also made it clear that Chelsea have a ways to go to compete with the likes of Arsenal and Man City (despite new Liverpool boss Arne Slot being top of the Prem).
It is the way we want to do the things. We try and play face to face against every team. We are Chelsea, so it is important to send this message.
There are managers that have been clubs for five and nine years so we are behind them.
Enzo Maresca
‘The performance is important for us’
Enzo Maresca appeared to be pleased with a point against Arsenal, stating:
I enjoyed it, absolutely. The performance was good. 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, all of them, complete.
We played in the way we wanted to, brave, and try and play from the back always.
Enzo Maresca
Trouble for Cole?
Cole Palmer was spotted limping out of Stamford Bridge after the game.
The England star had been a doubt in the build up to the game but was eventually cleared to play and completed the 90 minutes.
It would now appear he is a doubt for Lee Carsley’s squad next week.
Arteta on Odegaard
The Arsenal boss was full of praise for his star man, who was excellent as he completed 90 minutes and provided an assist.
Our player has been out for six weeks and barely trained with the team.
To be able to play at this level in the Premier League tells you how much he looks after himself and the leadership and character he has.
Everything flows better with players like this. Today we clicked much better. You could see everything was flowing but again it is about winning.
“What we have found is that every day we have had to change something big, you know, the engine, the wheels, steering wheel because we’ve had problem after problem.
Normally the team goes down but this team has unbelievable energy and spirit to play.”
Arteta on Odegaard
More from Arteta
On the Neto goal: “It is a second phase set piece and we were disorganised.
“We don’t reorganise quick 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.”
Proud Arteta disappointed by outcome
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta revealed the pride felt by his players’ performance, but also couldn’t hide his disappointment that they failed to register the win they deserved.
The Spanish coach highlighted the manner in which they defended the Chelsea equaliser as one of the only moments in which they didn’t measure up to the club’s high standards.
The disappointment of not getting three points is bigger, and it will be even bigger tomorrow after watching it back because once again the team has turned up. I think we dominated them, and I thought we were the better team in many phases. After going ahead, I am very disappointed with the way we conceded the goal – it’s so poor! After that though, the reaction from the team was unbelievable. I am very proud of them, but at the end we are here to get the three points and we didn’t manage to do it.
Mikel Arteta
Captain back to assist Arsenal
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard made his first Premier League appearance in more than two months – and immediately reminded supporters what they had been missing.
The Norwegian picked out Gabriel Martinelli to open the scoring, registering his eighth assist from open play in 2024.
Only Cole Palmer (11) and Mohamed Salah (9) have provided more open play assists this calendar year.
Gunners still searching for win
It would have been an unbelievable prospect at the start of the season, but Arsenal are now four Premier League games without a win (D2 L2).
It is the first time since April 2023 that the Gunners have gone as many matches without a victory.
Prior to this current run, Mikel Arteta’s men had picked up maximum points in 21 of 25 matches (D3 L1).
- L2-0 v Bournemouth (A), Oct 19
- D2-2 v Liverpool (H), Oct 27
- L1-0 v Newcastle (A), Nov 2
- D2-2 v Chelsea (A), Nov 10
Scorer Neto happy to help
Pedro Neto smashed in his first Premier League goal for Chelsea in a London derby – but afterwards revealed he’s just one more player trying to help the Blues progress.
That said, the former Wolves star couldn’t hide his delight after hitting a stunning second half equaliser.
I’m really happy to help the team. This is a group that works really hard every day so I am just one more to help the team and I’m really happy.
Pedro Neto
Match stats from Stamford Bridge
For the fourth time this season, Arsenal have faced 15+ shots in a Premier League game.
It’s already twice as many times as they did so across the whole of the 2023-24 campaign.
Full time – Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
A breathless – if rarely brilliant – London derby comes to an end at Stamford Bridge, and ends in a stalemate.
Both sides miss the opportunity to move within two points off second-placed Manchester City, but do rise to third and fourth respectively.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
90+6. With the last touch of the game, Trossard’s toepoke takes Saliba’s inviting cross away from Havertz and out for a goalkick!
Without the substitute’s intervention, the German would surely have tapped home the game’s winning goal!
Havertz can’t believe it! Mikel Arteta can’t believe it! The Arsenal fans behind the goal can’t believe it!
The Gunners will have to settle for a point in this London derby.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
90+2. Arsenal work a corner short, and look to have found a route to Saliba at the far post – until he too is called as being offside.
I’ve seen more flags in this second half than in my five-year-old son’s little book of countries.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
90. The board goes up for five minutes of stoppage time.
Both sets of fans still believe they can win it – but what do the players think?
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
89. Arsenal are the side pressing in the final stages, but that is allowing Chelsea those rare moments to counter at pace.
Meanwhile, Christopher Nkunku is on for Nicolas Jackson.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
87. Trossard smashes over from six yards out!
The Belgian looked certain to score a rebound from close range after Sanchez had pushed out Merino’s initial shot, but somehow got underneath the ball and thumped into the top tier.
Mind you, it would not have counted, and the offside flag on this occasion may save him some embarrassment.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
84. After a Jackson effort is routinely stopped by Raya, Arsenal look to progress forward.
A free-kick is won, and is eventually curled dangerously into the Chelsea area, where the linesman’s flag comes to the home side’s rescue.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
82. Bukayo Saka limps out of the action, and is replaced by Gabriel Jesus.
Meanwhile, Chelsea have introduced Reece James, on in place of Malo Gusto at right-back.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
80. Ten to go at Stamford Bridge.
Have both sides settled for a hard-earned point, or is there the opportunity still for one to grab the win that will lift them up to third in the table?
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
78. Cucurella wipes out Saka on the far touchline, and that will earn the Chelsea left-back a yellow card.
More worrying, however, is the realisation that Arsenal’s England international has stayed down.
He eventually rises to his feet with the Arsenal medical team in attendance, but is moving very gingerly, and it appears that he will play no further part.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal
76. Clean through, Nicolas Jackson cooly slots beyond David Raya.
But don’t get too excited, the striker was clearly three yards offside when played in on goal.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
