Chelsea welcomed Arsenal at the Stamford Bridge for another North London Derby. The two Managers named their strongest squads because they all knew the marathon that was waiting for them.
Chelsea started the game on a very high note and the players really bullied the Arsenal players. Chelsea’s midfield of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Conor Gallagher overpowered that of Arsenal.
Chelsea got a penalty after William Saliba caught the ball in the penalty area when he was trying to head the ball away. Cole Palmer was given the responsibility to take the penalty. He sent David Raya in the opposite direction and scored the opening goal.
The first half ended 1-0 in favor of Chelsea. The second half also started on a very high note and Mikel Arteta made a very straight change. He substituted Oleksandr Zinchenko who was being bullied by Raheem Sterling and replaced him with Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Conor Gallagher gave Mykhailo Mudryk a good pass and the player who was close to joining Arsenal chipped a very good cross at the far corner of David Raya’s net. This gave Chelsea wide lead.
The second goal gave Arsenal a big mountain to climb. They needed to hit the net twice. Mikel Artea further made some changes as he was looking for a comeback. He substituted Gabriel Jesus and replaced him with Eddie Nketiah, Jorginho with Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli with Leandro Trossard.
Mauricio Pochettino only made three changes. He substituted Mykhailo Mudryk and replaced him with Nicolas Jackson, Raheem Sterling with Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer with Reece James.
Mikel Arteta’s substitutions worked on his favor and he reaped big because the players managed to change the game. Declan Rice took the responsibility in his hand and he devised a means to get Arsenal back to the game.
The English international player scored a long range goal that propelled and fueled the Arsenal players to get back to the game. Moments later, Bukayo Saka gave Leandro Trossard a good cross and the Belgian international player proved to be a super substitute by scoring the equalizer. The game ended in a 2-2 draw.
