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Ten-man Arsenal had a grand total of two shots yet somehow twice came back from a goal down to earn a 2-2 draw from Chelsea

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Tue 21 Jan 2020 17.41 ESTFirst published on Tue 21 Jan 2020 13.30 EST
Hector Bellerin celebrates scoring the Arsenal equaliser.
Hector Bellerin celebrates scoring the Arsenal equaliser. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Hector Bellerin celebrates scoring the Arsenal equaliser. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images

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Frank Lampard is quite disappointed. He says Tammy Abraham is still being assessed. Also:

Disappointed. Cos the situation of the game. Deserved to go 1-0 up, not just the sending off but the general play anyway, the way we were playing. Of course we created enough in the second half, it’s the same story for us that we don’t finish our chances, and we make errors to give them two goals on the break. It probably shows us where we’re at. We work hard but basic errors when you should control a game can end up losing you points.

We stayed in the mode of dealing with them with 11, when really with 10 we could have been a bit more aggressive. I didn’t mind that, cos at half-time it gave us a chance to reboot, recharge and go it again. Even though we’re disappointed with the result and the goals [we conceded] you still look at the chances we created in the second half and actually also in the first, and say we should be scoring more goals. You let teams stay in the game it becomes really tough, and both the goals I didn’t like. If we’re going to get to where we want to be, and we’re in the process, we’ve got to stop that stuff, cos we can’t get there like that.

It’s not the slip from Ngolo, that can happen, it’s the fact they get away at the edge of our box. That’s a moment sleeping. People should know their jobs. And then the last goal, so easy. It’s a goal you see every day over the park, a right back who moves it slowly onto his left foot and rolls it into the far corner. That can’t happen.

Mikel Arteta is quite pleased:

I don’t know [if we’ve turned a corner], time will tell, but at least I saw a reaction. What I demand always is never give up. It doesn’t matter the circumstances. We do what we have to do and play with the spirit we played today. I’m so proud of the team, how they reacted and how they stepped up when a teammate made a mistake, someone got sent off. It’s a good point in the end, considering the circumstances of the game.

I said to the team, I want to see how you behave in this stadium. Come here, away to a big team, we’re hoping to stay in the Champions League race until the end, and you have to come here and you have to win. The way they did it was brilliant. [Well, they didn’t quite do it, but OK]

On Hector Bellerin’s goalscoring comeback:

I asked Hector if he was ready go play today, and his first answer was, ‘Boss, I’m ready.’ So let’s go. These things happen. If you want to play, you enjoy your profession, these good moments come.

Arsenal’s discovery of a backbone has caused some surprise:

Am I dreaming 😴
Arsenal away from home against a big side,down to 10 men,behind twice!
Carry no passengers,showed loads of character and bollox. Also played really well and didn’t lose! Brilliant performance. 👏🏼

— Don Hutchison (@donhutch4) January 21, 2020

Only four times since 2006, across Europe’s top five leagues, has a team scored with their only two shots of a game. That’s four of about 26,500 matches.

This is the 6th time in the top five leagues since 2006 that a team has had just two shots and scored two goals. Sevilla did it twice! Two of those six teams benefited from an own goal. https://t.co/k5tkjR1yVu

— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 21, 2020

Here’s Jacob Steinberg’s match report from Stamford Bridge:

Two inconsistent sides, two baffled managers. For Frank Lampard, this result was tough to take. Chelsea played against 10 men for more than an hour, took the lead twice and ended up dropping more points at home. They lacked creativity again and paid for their carelessness when the electrifying Gabriel Martinelli dented their push for Champions League qualification with a stunning equaliser.

While Lampard seethed, Mikel Arteta celebrated Martinelli’s fearlessness and considered the defensive frailties that left Arsenal with a mountain to climb. For all the talk of progress, Arteta will know he must be ruthless with players like Shkodran Mustafi, whose catastrophic error led to David Luiz’s red card against his old side. Yet there was resolve from Arsenal when it mattered. They fell behind again when César Azpilicueta restored Chelsea’s lead. It did not last. Chelsea are too soft and Kepa Arrizabalaga’s form in goal is of grave concern. The Spaniard was the villain when he somehow let Héctor Bellerín’s shot squirm past him.

Much more here:

Arsenal were very good in the second half, and that will be a massively morale-boosting result for them, for all that it relied on a two moments when Chelsea players either slipped or snoozed.

Arsenal had the joint fewest shots of any team in a single Premier League game this season (2).

— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 21, 2020

Tammy Abraham is being helped off the pitch by two members of Chelsea’s medical staff.

Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka and Hector Bellerin attempt to help up Tammy Abraham. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
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Final score: Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal

90+5 mins: It’s all over! The corner is cleared, and the referee blows his whistle to end a wild London derby.

90+3 mins: Chelsea eventually get it back, and now they’ve got themselves a corner. They play it short to Hudson-Odoi, which they’ve done a lot from the left side, and he crosses straight out of play, not for the first time.

89 mins: What a chance for Chelsea! Hudson-Odoi sends in a low cross from the right, but Batshuayi turns it wide from the near post! Xhaka, throwing out a leg, might have got the slightest touch on it to put the striker off.

88 mins: Frank Lampard is going to give someone an absolute rollicking when he goes back over this goal in training tomorrow. Bellerin is given the ball, wide on the right-hand corner of the penalty area. Emerson and Abraham are in front of him, but neither of them makes even a vague attempt to stay with him when he jinks inside, and his left-footed shot curls into the far corner!

85 mins: Abraham was offside, but the officials decided he wasn’t interfering with play (although he absolutely got in the way of Mustafi when the defender could otherwise pretty easily have cleared the cross).

GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal (Azpilicueta, 84 mins)

Abraham wins a corner, and then looks to injure an ankle on an advertising hoarding. As he limps back into the penalty area the corner is played short, Hudson-Odoi sends the ball in low and it’s tapped in by Azpilicueta!

Cesar Azpilicueta slots in from close range. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images
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83 mins: Arsenal’s attacking intent in this half has been commendable. Still, though, they’ve only had one shot.

80 mins: Save! The ball is chipped into the penalty area, where Barkley runs beyond the defence and flicks a backwards header towards the near post, but Leno dives to his right to palm it away!

79 mins: Bellerin slides in to take the ball from Willian, at the expense of a corner. That’s the Brazilian’s final action, Batshuayi replacing him.

77 mins: Emerson sends the free kick into the area, and Abraham heads it towards goal from 15 yards, but Leno makes an easy save.

76 mins: Guendouzi gets a yellow card for tugging Mount’s shirt and then kicking him in the knee from behind. There were at least two bookable offences there.

72 mins: Lacazette is played in by Pepe, turns and slams the ball past Kepa, but Chelsea are saved by the fact that he was three yards offside.

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