Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal· Premier League 2020 : Mikel Arteta praises Gunners' spirit

Arsenal keep their slim top-four hopes alive; Chelsea moves six points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United.

Hector Bellerin's first Premier League goal since January 2018 rescued some extent for 10-man Arsenal, who fought back twice to secure a 2-2 draw at Chelsea despite having David Luiz sent off on his return to Stamford Bridge.

The Gunners' chances were dealt a severe blow midway through the primary half when Luiz was sent off after removing Tammy Abraham when he was through on goal after Shkodran Mustafi's woeful backpass. Jorginho made no mistake from the penalty spot to offer the hosts the lead going into the break, but the Gunners hit back early within the last half through Gabriel Martinelli, who took advantage of N'Golo Kante's slip to attain his 10th goal of the season. Chelsea thought that they had nicked all three points when Cesar Azpilicueta bundled the ball home with six minutes remaining, but Arsenal leveled again just three minutes later through Bellerin to stay their slim chances of a top-four finish alive.

In the end, it had been a flash of madness from Mustafi that gifted Chelsea the lead, and a numerical advantage.
The German's under-hit back pass left Leno stranded on the sting of his own penalty area as Abraham rounded the Gunners goalkeeper. With England forward about sliding the ball into an empty net, Luiz bundled him down from behind to receive his marching orders. After lengthy protests from the visitors, the Brazilian slowly made his exit from the sector, much to the delight of the house fans, and Jorginho slotted home the spot-kick to go away the Gunners with a mountain to climb.
Despite Chelsea's dominance on the ball, the Gunners found how back to the match when Martinelli kept his composure on a rare Arsenal breakaway. The 18-year-old capitalized on Kante's wear halfway before racing through on goal and calmly slotting the ball past Kepa Arrizabalaga to bring his side level.
Alexandre Lacazette soon had the ball within the net again because the 10-man Gunners went for quite just some extent, but his strike was correctly ruled out for a transparent offside.

Gabriel Martinelli's equalizer was his 10th goal altogether competitions this season, making him the primary teenager to succeed in double figures during a single season for Arsenal since Nicolas Anelka in 1998-99.
The Brazilian youngster may be a real bright spot for the Gunners thus far this season and Arteta was filled with praise for the 18-year-old.

"He may be a great kid," Arteta said after the sport. "He gets within the box. He plays against Cesar Azpilicueta who is one among the simplest defenders within the league and keeps taking him on. that's tough ." The full-back's goal secured a draw which felt sort of a win for Arsenal, who only had two shots on goal to Chelsea's 19 but showed impressive resilience, and Arteta was delighted by their response to the first setback.
"I am proud," he said in his post-match news conference. "The spirit they showed, the character, the fight and therefore the leadership was there. You have to actually get up. When someone makes an error and someone has got to take a red card, it can happen in football.

"What cannot happen is that afterward, we do not get up for him. Every single player did it with belief also.

"I could sense at half-time that they believed they might revisit within the game. I wasn't expecting Hector to attain together with his left foot, obviously, but I'm very happy.

"We are twiddling with tons of young kids and what they need to be showed tonight goes to be an excellent experience for them: to stay believing that in football if you give everything, anything can happen."

'I considered subbing Martinelli!'

Arteta was also filled with praise for the 18-year-old Martinelli, who scored for the second consecutive game having stepped certain the suspended Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, saying he considered substituting him - only to vary his mind.

"To play during this stadium, within the way he has done, with 10 men, and play against [Cesar] Azpilicueta, who in my opinion is one among the simplest defenders within the Premier, you would like the courage to try to that.

"I wanted to require him off a couple of times because he looked knackered and he was cramping, but next minute he's sprinting 60 yards again.

"It's not just him. i feel Laca [Alexandre Lacazette] is playing at an honest level, albeit he's not scoring, Nico [Nicolas Pepe] also, and everybody that's coming in.

"They are fighting really hard in training to undertake to convince us to play more. once they question some things, I tell them to talk on the pitch and this is often speaking on the pitch."

Arteta also explained why he declined to form a defensive substitution after Luiz's sending off, rather than keeping Granit Xhaka at center-back alongside Mustafi.