Arsenal were unable to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, despite the Blues having ten men for the majority.
Moises Caicedo was sent off in the first half for a dangerous tackle on Mikel Merino, seeing VAR upgrade the yellow card to a straight red.
By the end of the match, it became clear that the red card wasn’t vital for Arsenal’s chances of winning the game, but their chances of not losing.
Chelsea were the better team on the day; there is no questioning that, however, they were still unable to beat Mikel Arteta’s side.
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Alan Pardew thinks Chelsea draw only proved how strong Arsenal are
Having an extra player would suggest that Arsenal had the advantage, but the Gunners just couldn’t get the better of their rivals, who looked at the top of their game.
So much so that, for Chelsea, it was arguably one of their best opportunities to beat Arsenal, though the hosts were unable to claim the three points.
Alan Pardew was speaking about Chelsea’s inability to beat Arsenal on talkSPORT, where he shared how he’d feel about the result if he were Arteta.
“It wouldn’t concern me if I was the manager. I would be looking at that league table with a five-point cushion and lost one game thinking, ‘Yeah, we we judge we we’re we’re the we’re the ones and that everyone’s got to catch us’,” Pardew said.
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The former Premier League manager elaborated, stating that, despite Chelsea’s strength, it was Arsenal’s mentality that decided how the points would be shared.
“So, you know, teams have got to beat them [Arsenal] now, and no one is really looking [like they can].
“I mean, even Chelsea, as well as they’ve played today, and again, going down to 10 men, they’re threatened on the break occasionally, but you never felt Arsenal were going to get beat.
“That’s the one beauty that Arteta has at the moment, this kind of winning mentality that, if you’re going to beat us, you’re going to have to play exceptional, exceptional football.”
This season, it’s become clear that it’s going to take a lot to beat Arsenal, with the Gunners’ only defeat in all competitions coming from Dominik Szoboszlai’s freak 32-yard screamer.
Mikel Arteta has raised the standards to make Arsenal near-unbeatable
If the game had remained at 11v11, Arsenal would’ve been in trouble, as in their worst performance of the season, Chelsea dominated.
Even when playing against ten men, Arsenal struggled, which only makes the draw all the more celebratory.
Look at how dejected the Arsenal players looked after drawing with Chelsea!
With that in mind, Pardew is right, as it really is time to pay attention to the mentality Arteta has installed within the Arsenal squad.
The full-time scenes show how the players really felt about the draw, pictured looking dejected, as if they’d just been beaten.
It wasn’t long ago that Arsenal couldn’t win at Stamford Bridge, and now, a 1-1 draw is not enough.
The standards dropped against the Blues, but the mentality didn’t, as Arsenal remain unbeaten since matchday three.
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