Mikel Arteta praised Arsenal’s players for their “phenomenal” mental strength after they recovered from two goals down to earn a draw against Chelsea and maintain an unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League since 2018.
A first-half penalty from Cole Palmer and Mykhailo Mudryk’s cross-shot that embarrassed Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya had given the hosts a 2-0 lead before Declan Rice scored with 13 minutes remaining after capitalising on an error from Robert Sánchez. Substitute Leandro Trossard’s volley completed the comeback, with Eddie Nketiah coming close to snatching all three points for the visitors late on.
“We didn’t play with enough purpose and clarity in the first half but the way we reacted was phenomenal,” said Arteta. “I have no doubt about our character. I could see at half-time that we knew we had to do much better. I love that about the team. This is who we are.”
He added: “Even though we conceded in a situation like the goal of Mudryk, we kept going and they did exactly what we asked of them, that you never give up and we continued to go and go. We should have scored a goal earlier, we didn’t, but the team was always there to fight until the end. In the end, we got a point after a really difficult result and the way it started.”
The draw leaves Arsenal – who missed the opportunity to go top for the first time this season – in second spot and level on points with champions Manchester City after nine matches. Chelsea have still not won a Premier League game at home since beating Luton at the end of August. Nonetheless, Mauricio Pochettino believes that his side will learn from their mistakes.
“I’m disappointed because until the 77th minute we had the game under control against an amazing team,” he said. “Mistakes can happen. It was unlucky because Arsenal’s first goal gave them belief. We need to know when to be calm and when to take risks. That will happen because we are still a really young team. There is a lot to be proud of and we need to take the positives.”
Mudryk’s goal was his first at Stamford Bridge since the Ukraine forward signed in January for £62m and Pochettino insisted that he had spotted Raya was off his line.
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“He tried to score,” said the Chelsea manager. “He knew [from] the position of the goalkeeper that it was possible to score. It’s so important – he needed his first goal here because he’s still very young. With this goal I think he will be more confident for the future.”