Martinelli & Pedro Neto score as Chelsea and Arsenal split points in London derby

For the second consecutive week, Chelsea came from behind to earn a point in the premier league yesterday when new signing Pedro Neto scored his first goal for his new club with some finesse in the 70^th minute, cancelling Gabriel Martinelli’s opener 10 minutes prior that gave the visitors a slender lead at the Stamford Bridge.

Marc Cucurella was brought in the left back by Enzo Maresca, dropping Reece James who played in the 1-1 draw against Manchester United last weekend. Apart from that, the Italian manager preferred to stick with the same set of players in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation. At the other end, club captain Martin Odegaard returned to the starting line-up after a long injury break to form the three men midfield comprising Declan Rice and Thomas Partey, while Ben White was back in his preferred right back position.

The hosts started quite positively and they got their first opportunity in the 3^rd minute when Cole Palmer tried his luck from range. However, his powerful shot was acrobatically tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Raya. Chelsea again came close to score in the 24^th minute when Pedro Neto’s swinging cross found Malo Gusto who got his head to it but the resulting strike flew over the crossbar. A few minutes later, Martinelli had time and space inside the box after picking up a neat pass, but the Brazilian’s finishing was poor as Sanchez hardly had to make any effort to save the same.

The crucial moment came in the 32^nd minute when a free kick taken by Rice found Kai Havertz who won the ball and smashed it low into the middle of the goal to score against his old club. However, the German’s joy was short-lived as the VAR disallowed Arsenal’s lead due to an offside in the build-up play. The score-line remained goalless at the break after an evenly contested first half.

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Following a rather muted start to the second half, in the 53^rd minute an incisive swinging cross from Noni Madueke sparked the contest into life as Wesley Fofana volleyed over the bar on the stretch. A couple of minutes later, a penalty appeal from Chelsea players was ruled out by referee Michael Oliver after Malo Gusto went down under a challenge.

The deadlock was finally broken on the hour mark when Martinelli scored the opener from a seemingly impossible angle after receiving a sublime assist from skipper Odegaard. To counter the situation, Chelsea made a double attacking change in the 68^th minute, sending Mykhailo Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez on the pitch and the impact was instantaneous. Fernandez slid a pass towards Pedro Neto who unleashed a thunderous drive from long range surprising Raya to find the bottom right corner.

Mikel Arteta also introduced his attacking options like Trossard, Merino and Jesus later into the game but that didn’t change the complexion much. In the 75^th minute, Nicolas Jackson thought to have put Chelsea in front but he was correctly adjudged offside and the score remained level. A last-gasp attack from Arsenal almost stole the show for the visitors but Saliba’s low cross was diverted away from the toes of Havertz by Trossard in the last action of the encounter and the match ended 1-1.

In other significant results of yesterday, Manchester United demolished Leicester City 3-0 at Old Trafford while Newcastle United (3-1) and Ipswich Town (2-1) grabbed full points on the road against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotpur respectively.

Liverpool lead the table with 28 points after 11 rounds of matches, 5 clear to second placed Manchester City while Chelsea, Arsenal, Nottingham and Brighton are all sitting further 4 points back.

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