LONDON — Under normal circumstances, a point at Chelsea, who look more like a serious team, wouldn’t be something Arsenal could sniff at. With Martin Odegaard pulling the strings again, the visitors looked completely more like themselves, a team whose final third line-up came with a little more incision.
On the other hand, few Arsenal fans would claim they have experienced anything like normal circumstances since Declan Rice waved a coy boot in the direction of a yet-to-be-taken Brighton free-kick. Too much time with ten men, too many injuries: it had been two months and change since anyone had even seen this title contender at full speed.
If they weren’t quite there yet at Stamford Bridge, they were pivoting in that general direction. This wasn’t a match that either side necessarily dominated, but Arsenal at least made sure they played it where they wanted, 156 attacking third touches to 122, slightly more possession, even if the area in that familiar way didn’t particularly result in so many high-quality shots from touches in the penalty area, as it could be. The margins were fine, painful even with three offside games.
A moment of genuine ingenuity from Declan Rice, with Kai Havertz quickly sliding back from a free-kick, didn’t come soon enough. Twice in the final ten minutes, Leandro Trossard was able to thank his lucky stars for nearly denying open goals when his teammate moved too quickly. Nine points behind leaders Liverpool feels like a huge gap, but it is determined by small margins.
“We can’t change that today,” Arteta said. “What I just pray is that after the international break I have the team fully physically equipped. That they are available and fit, because it has been an absolute nightmare for eight weeks. Doubt after doubt, problem after problem, not just the ones that don’t can play, but those who can only play certain times or certain days and cannot train.
“That’s all I’m asking. The team, the desire they have and how much we want it, there’s no doubt about it. It’s coming. We just need that on our side to be more consistent.”
In that respect, Arteta’s spiky response to questions about whether Bukayo Saka and Rice, who both limped off in the second half, spoke volumes. After 90 minutes of remarkable quality – “I don’t know any other player in the league who is capable of doing that after six weeks away,” said Arteta – Odegaard’s services would certainly be wanted by Norway. His manager is yet to have a conversation about whether the Norwegian should play in two crucial Nations League matches.
If Arsenal have such a gap to catch up on the leaders, how can they justify another team taking possession of their superstars for two weeks? Arteta seems desperate to get his team back at home. Perhaps he is inclined to grill them for the way they squandered a hard-won lead.
Second balls on set pieces usually lead to disrupted defenses, but Arteta saw no excuses for the line of six stretching across his 18-yard line, no one running forward or dropping back to close the gap that opened up for Pedro Neto. His low shot into the corner was the latest in a few recent moments of real quality to spoil a clean sheet for the flawless David Raya.
“I’m very disappointed with the way we conceded their goal,” Arteta said. “That’s not close to the standards of our defensive habits, how we’ve allowed it to be. As soon as you give one of their players space and time with the quality they have, you get punished, so that’s not bad luck.”
That frustration would have been all the more pronounced given the superlative effort with which the Gunners had opened the scoring, with Odegaard’s elegant ball from his clinic in the right corner finding Gabriel Martinelli in space to touch and drive past Robert Sanchez. Had that been the match-winner – an eminently plausible scenario for a team so effective in possession – then this could have been the moment to revive Arsenal’s title challenge.
Instead, it feels like the final piece of evidence in a file that says “It’s just not going to be your year.” Liverpool may not be as strong as the English champions of the past, but that doesn’t have to be the case in the next 27 games. They have plenty of headroom to work with. If Arsenal are anything like the team that started this year 16-1-1, this race is far from over. But they can’t be much less than that, as Arteta knows. “Win, win, win, win, win, win, win and win again,” was his prognosis on what needs to change.
“These guys don’t stop winning. That’s what we have to do.”