TA: The schedule wore Arsenal out, but they made it

It spoke volumes that Arsenal’s players looked forlorn as they walked off the Stamford Bridge pitch. Ordinarily, a point away from home at the team that went into the weekend as the closest chasers is no catastrophe. But such are the demands this group puts on themselves, they were internally cursing an opportunity that slipped from their grasp.

The 1-1 draw against Chelsea was a sloppy slog of a game and they knew it. “Not much football,” Mikel Arteta observed afterwards, which may amuse his early-season detractors. But in fairness, it was too intense and too niggly at a time when they were too knackered for an exhibition of technical excellence.

Compared to the standards they have recently reached to push them to the top of the Premier League and Champions League tables, here the volume was turned down, the brightness was dulled. Arsenal did not have the energy levels to sustain a euphoric few days through another hotly competitive 90 minutes. They ran out of steam, they ran out of players in peak physical and mental shape, and what was left was not enough to turn the screw against 10 men.

Fatigue was as much Arsenal’s enemy as Chelsea. Arteta being Arteta, that has given him food for thought. “Overall, it’s been a really positive week because the difficulty was immense. But we should have and we could have won the game and we haven’t. That’s a learning point for me.”

That sentiment cut deeper because they could not make their numerical advantage count once Moises Caicedo was dismissed for a reckless foul on Mikel Merino’s ankle and VAR had assessed the force of impact. It wasn’t the dominant thought, but after a bit of perspective, they could lean into more positive spin — feeling sorry to go home with only a point when they didn’t play well in a rival’s territory is a sign of what they are striving for. “It’s because of the spirit and the hunger and how much they want it,” Arteta said. “It’s so incredible that we will overcome everything.”

He’s got a smart way with words in situations like this. Arteta is hellbent on accentuating the positives in his messaging to keep his squad as hungry and driven as he can. He knows, during the season, conditions change. At times it might feel like cruising, foot down on an open road, and at others the ride is bumpy and nervy.

This contest was a mental stretch as well as a physical one. Some might have expected the supposedly deepest squad in English football to pull a rabbit out of their cavernous hat but that’s not how it turned out, partially because Chelsea cranked up their levels. Arsenal had to dig fairly deep just to hang in there during a ragged opening period, and again to respond to the fright of going a goal behind early in the second half when Merino headed in Bukayo Saka’s cross. But that was about as much digging as they could manage.

The toll of the efforts they put into defeating Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich seemed to ripple into this match. “They were two very, very in-depth matches,” Arteta said. “But that’s the beauty of it as well. Not many clubs had the opportunity this week to play the games that we have played. It’s been a big week, starting with the derby, how emotional it was and the necessity we have to win it. Then to play Bayern Munich three days later… we lost players in those games.”

Just a bit. The absence of William Saliba, compounding the big gap that Gabriel leaves, necessitated an entirely new back four at Chelsea, specifically challenging with a largely untried centre-back pairing. That was always going to be a challenge for Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie, and both battled to get a grip on the occasion.

But Arsenal also missed some sharpness and invention further forward as well. The attack was sticky. Those who have played a lot of minutes — Saka, Merino and Eberechi Eze, for example — found it hard to flow. Some of those returning from injury, such as Gabriel Martinelli, Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres, were not yet in rhythm. A cameo from Martin Odegaard was interesting, and he did change the attacking vibrations. But overall, Arsenal were not slick enough to put Chelsea under serious pressure. “Make it happen” is one of the mantras of the moment but Arsenal just couldn’t.

Late on, Jurrien Timber attacked a header that might have been better left to Gyokeres. And that was that. All in all, it might be a sore point, but maybe it is not a bad one after all.

Sometimes, after a heavy day, the only thing to do is go home, sleep, and recharge for tomorrow. There is not much respite on the horizon and the tests do not let up. Six more points are on the line over the coming days, with Brentford at the Emirates in midweek and a trip to Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime, before another excursion in the Champions League. Arsenal have eight games across three competitions in December.

“Now we’re going to have to play every three days,” Arteta said. “It drives you on.” It drives him on, for sure, and he intends to do everything he can muster to pass that on to his players.