This London derby ended goalless but for the Gunners it was a gritty performance that earned them their first point at Stamford Bridge in six years.
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The performance itself was what had most Arsenal fans pleased.
“People forget that two months ago we beat Chelsea in the Cup final and they don’t give you the Cup, you know”, Wenger, whose side were lambasted after a 4-0 capitulation at Liverpool in their last away league game, told reporters.
Chelsea are now looking to also challenge for the Premier League title this season as they bid to improve of their impressive debut campaign under Conte last term. “It was an intense game”, Wenger said.
“The battle was total”.
Wenger claimed that Arsenal “could have won it”, and he was right in his assessment.
Lacazette, who joined from Lyon in the summer, appeared unhappy when he was taken off 65 minutes into Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Chelsea, having missed two first-half chances.
Pedro wasted Chelsea’s best chance in the first half when he was sent clear by Cesc Fabregas but finished tamely.
Arsenal could have sealed all three points in the second half, Shokodran Mustafi heading a Xhaka free-kick into the net only to be denied by the offside flag.
Gary Neville says only one player has ever been exempt from defensive work in a pointed message to Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.
Luiz was eventually sent off in the 87th minute after a reckless challenge on Sead Kolasinac that saw his original yellow over-ridden by a straight red card, and Thierry Henry said there was “no doubt” the Brazil worldwide should have been dismissed.
After the fine start Bakayoko has made to his Chelsea career, the decision to drop him to the bench by Conte seemed extremely questionable at kick-off.
“We were focused, determined, showed character and when we had the ball we tried to play every time and I think we were close to winning this game”.
“Even after the most bad tackle by my defender of the year last season, David Luiz, he rose to his feet determined to finish the game. Both teams are great teams, it’s a good draw”.
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“We started the game well but suffered a little after that against a really strong team”, Conte added.
