Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal: Gunners rescue thrilling Premier League drawon October 21, 2023 at 6:59 pm

Arsenal come from two goals down to rescue a thrilling draw at Chelsea in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal looked certain to slump to their first Premier League defeat of the season when Mykhailo Mudryk’s speculative effort from out wide caught Arsenal keeper David Raya stranded and out of position three minutes after the break.

Arsenal were sloppy and struggled to create anything until they were gifted a lifeline with 13 minutes left, Declan Rice sending Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez’s poor clearance back past him into the net.

And, remarkably, they were level seven minutes later when substitute Leandro Trossard made a decisive first contribution, stealing in at the far post to score as Chelsea hesitated in dealing with Bukayo Saka’s cross.

Raya struggles to convince

Arsenal will be delighted to have secured a point at Chelsea after struggling for their usual fluency. The Gunners deserve full credit for sticking in there to maintain their unbeaten Premier League run with a result that looked unlikely for most of the game.

Manager Mikel Arteta was berating his players regularly for their carelessness, but there can be no questions about their character as they snatched a point with that late rally.

It was not a display without question marks, though, and the biggest will be over David Raya’s poor performance in goal.

Arteta took a big decision when he replaced long-time first choice and England keeper Aaron Ramsdale with his summer signing from Brentford for the visit to Everton in September.

For all Arteta’s talk of competition for places, it is clear he was installing the 28-year-old Spain international as his main keeper and much was riding on his choice.

It is a move that has not yet worked as Arteta hoped, with Raya looking uncertain in recent games, at fault for a goal in the Champions League defeat away to Lens and getting away with moments of hesitation in the win against Manchester City.

Here, he cut a nervous figure throughout and was embarrassed when he was caught badly out of position as Mykhailo Mudryk’s delivery from the left flew over his head for Chelsea’s second.

Raya almost made matters worse when he passed the ball straight to Cole Palmer in front of goal shortly afterwards, but Chelsea let him off the hook.

Arteta appears to have backed Raya but certainly needs the keeper to start performing better – and quickly – to deliver any sort of convincing case that he is a genuine upgrade on Ramsdale.

More to follow.

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