Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal: Palmer and Mudryk strikes not enough as Blues draw against Gunners

Chelsea let a two-goal advantage slip to draw with London rivals Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

Mauricio Pochettino‘s Blues failed to pick up all three points as they took on Mikel Arteta’s team.

In the penultimate Premier League game of the day on Saturday evening, Chelsea got things underway against London rivals Arsenal.

The hosts formed the first attack of the game, after the visitors failed to clear the ball, Enzo Fernandez was able to get a shot off, but his effort sailed high over the crossbar. The Blues continued their good play in the early exchanges, with the Gunners a tad slow out the gates.

Cole Palmer found himself in the book for a foul on Gabriel Jesus after just seven minutes, this was then followed by a yellow card for the opposition, Mykhailo Mudyrk was brought down by his fellow countryman Oleksandr Zinchenko.

There was even more involvement from referee Chris Kavanagh, after not awarding a penalty originally, he was called to the monitor to review a potential handball from William Saliba, after a second look, he pointed to the spot and handed the west Londoners a golden opportunity to take the lead.

After scoring a penalty against Burnley in the Blues’ last fixture, Palmer was the man to step up, the young summer signing fired into the bottom left corner and blasted Chelsea into the lead at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal did begin to grow into the game as it progressed, the home side still looked in control but there was a heart in mouth moment when Robert Sanchez ventured far out from his goal, Jesus’ failed to capitalise though.

As the 30 minute mark was reached, the Blues nearly doubled their lead, Palmer’s shot dragged just a whisker wide of the far post meaning he did not add a second to his tally.

The rest of the half was tightly contested, few chances came for either side, Conor Gallagher forced a save from David Raya, and there was little to nothing to do for Sanchez. Malo Gusto was the only other player to have a sight at goal but his strike glided over, the whistle for half-time soon came.

The second half could not have started any better for Chelsea, after some patient defending, Gallagher snatched possession from the visitors, after breaking down the left-hand side he found Mudryk, the Ukrainian then caught Raya napping and scored from an unlikely angle to extend the advantage.

As Arsenal looked to respond, there were a couple more shaky moments from Sanchez in the Chelsea net, he flapped at a couple of crosses, but ultimately they did not lead to too much danger.

At the other end, it was Raya this time who was nearly caught out. Palmer was on the scene to intercept a pass from the Arsenal shot stopper and although it looked as though Chelsea were going to add a third, he recovered well and denied Palmer to force a corner.

In the 65th minute, Chelsea made their first substitution, scorer of the second goal of the game, Mudryk, was replaced by Nicolas Jackson. The Senegalese forward was thrown straight into the action, Sterling played him in behind, but this time Raya successfully dealt with the attack, smothering Jackson as he tried to go round him.

With the clock ticking on, the Blues’ two goal lead looked rather comfortable, however, things quickly changed. In a half full of goalkeeping errors, Sanchez’s pass went straight into the path of Declan Rice, the former Chelsea academy player smacked home from distance into an empty net and brought Arsenal back into the contest.

Two more substitutions were then made by the home side, Palmer and Sterling both came off and were replaced by Noni Madueke and Reece James.

As the final moments drew closer, the home fans were stunned into silence, a delivery from Bukayo Saka picked out Leandro Trossard at the back post and the Belgian substitute drew the visitors level with a tidy finish.

Both sides were searching for a late winner, Eddie Nketiah went close for the visitors and in added time Jackson saw his strike held by Raya.

Neither side could find that winning goal, but Chelsea will view this game as two points dropped, rather than one gained.