Ten-man Arsenal with two shots on target draw 2-2 with Chelsea
Well, as first halves go that was an unmitigated disaster for Arsenal. It was as bad as we have seen all season, in fact, if Arsenal had set out to register one of the worse 45 minutes possible then they can say they achieved that feat.
David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi combined to not only get a man sent off, concede a penalty and go a goal down but also to distract us all from how woeful the whole team was.
There was not a single shot on target and that in itself gives you a picture of how dire they were.
The worse thing was that Chelsea was not that good either, a half-decent performance would have seen them put Arsenal to the sword but they hardly needed to get out of first gear to be leading at the interval.
The blame is not just with the players though, Mikel Arteta has to be held responsible, he picked this team, he is deluding himself if he thinks a partnership of Mustafi and Luiz is ever going to be effective and before anyone says he had lack of options there was Rob Holding on the bench.
It was a relief to hear the half time whistle and one had to hope that the second half had more energy, passion, determination and fighting spirit. I was not going to be holding my breath.
The second half obviously started off with Chelsea on the front foot, they were clearly going to push home their advantage. However, it has to be said that there was a better spirit on show and the substitution of Ozil was a massive positive move from Arteta, but the question was, how long would the improved spirit last?
It would turn a lot longer than we could have possibly hoped for.
That young sensation Gabriel Martinelli produced a moment of sheer magic, a brilliant solo effort and a goal of pure composure to level the score at 1-1 on the 62nd minute. What must his value be now?
Hard to see how the teenager can be dropped when Aubameyang returns, Lacazette or Pepe have to make way for the majestic one.
Chelsea laid siege to the Arsenal goal from that point onwards but the lack of quality on show from Chelsea was a sight to behold. Arsenal also employed some very good spoiling tactics and did look dangerous on the counter. It should also be said that Leno came into his own with some crucial saves as well.
You just knew it was never going to last, a simple low cross with Mustafi, again, losing his man and Cesar Azpilicueta sneaks in to get Chelsea’s second goal on the 83rd minute.
But if you thought it was over think again, Hector Bellerin of all people scored a beauty of goal and ten-man Arsenal were on level terms once again just three minutes later. Phew, it was becoming hard to catch one’s breath.
The question now was, could Arsenal hold on? To the final whistle was the answer.
No doubt the draw will be seen as a huge result and it was under the circumstances but wow, do they need new signings urgently this month.