Find all the Chelsea vs Arsenal stats from Opta on this page, as the home side throw away at two-goal lead and the Gunners keep their unbeaten start to the Premier League season going.
Despite being outplayed for long periods of this match and being two goals behind with less than 15 minutes remaining, Arsenal showed their mettle to comeback and secure a point that keeps their unbeaten start to the Premier League season going. In truth, most Arsenal fans would agree Chelsea were the better side, but that counts for nothing if you don’t win all three points.
Arsenal fell behind on 15 minutes from Cole Palmer’s penalty after a rather harsh handball call on William Saliba following VAR intervention. That goal was the first that Arsenal had conceded away from home this season, ending a run of 335 minutes in away games without letting the opposition score including the end of 2022-23.
That penalty was the seventh that David Raya has faced as a Premier League goalkeeper and he’s not saved a single one of them. Only four goalkeepers in Premier League history have faced more spot-kicks without saving one, but he’s still some way of Craig Gordon’s record of 15 faced, zero saved.
The Gunners offered next to nothing in attack across the entire first half. Mikel Arteta was taking charge of his 143rd Premier League game as Arsenal boss, but he’d only seen his side attempt fewer first-half shots than today (two) in six of them, fewer first-half touches in the opposition box than today (three) in five matches, while their first half expected goals (xG) total of 0.12 was their eighth lowest across the 143 league games under the Spaniard.
Things got worse before they got better for Arsenal. Just 141 seconds into the second half, Mykhailo Mudryk unintentionally floated the ball over a stranded Raya after attempting a cross to Raheem Sterling in the middle. Raya was caught off his line and in no man’s land with his questionable positioning for this goal the latest incident in recent shaky moments for the Spanish goalkeeper. He was lucky not to concede another goal from his own error on the hour mark, with Palmer unable to capitalise on his terrible pass. With Aaron Ramsdale waiting in the wings (although not on the bench today), Arteta might look to revert to trusting his former number one in goal sooner rather than later.
At 2-0, Chelsea were coasting. But then they conspired to throw the three points away.
Another goalkeeping error, this time from Chelsea’s Robert Sánchez gave Arsenal an opportunity to get back into the game. His poor pass fell at the feet of Declan Rice, who sent a superb first-time shot into the back of the unguarded net to half the deficit on 77 minutes. Seven minutes later, a fantastic cross from Bukayo Saka was guided home by substitute Leandro Trossard at the back post to level things. Arsenal hadn’t attempted a single shot on target before those goals, then suddenly they’d scored two from two. Trossard became the first Arsenal player to score each of his first three Premier League goals for the club as a substitute.
Arsenal’s subs have provided five goals and three assists in their nine Premier League matches this season. Only Newcastle and Brighton have seen more goal involvements from their substitutes in the Premier League this season (both nine) than Arsenal (eight), while Brighton’s subs are the only team to have provided more goals (seven) than the Gunners’ (five).
The Mauricio Pochettino era at Chelsea might have got off to a poor start, with just one win and five points in his first six games in charge of the club. But the underlying data suggested that they’d been unlucky, and the tide could turn sooner rather than later. After a 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa on Matchday 7 in which their forwards misfired in front of goal yet again, the Opta expected points data showed Chelsea as the fourth best team. Now, with seven points in their last three games, the points are becoming real.
A point against a side as good as Arsenal is no disgrace, even if they did throw away all three points in this match. One positive for Chelsea is that it’s now three games in a row that they’ve scored at least twice in – the first time that they’ve done that in over a year (October 2022).
For Arsenal, they have rescued their unbeaten start to the Premier League season, and that run now stands at nine games. It’s still 29 matches off their incredible title-winning Invincibles season of 2003-04, but the character shown in rescuing a point here despite a poor performance should be seen as a good sign for this season’s title challenge.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Chelsea vs Arsenal stats following this Premier League game at Stamford Bridge.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own analysis during and after the game.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Post-Match Opta Facts for Chelsea vs Arsenal:
- Arsenal avoided defeat in a Premier League away game in which they trailed by 2+ for the first time since March 2021 (3-3 v West Ham) having lost each of their last eight such matches prior to today.
- Chelsea have won just one of their last 12 home Premier League games (D6 L5), a 3-0 victory against Luton at Stamford Bridge at the end of August.
- Following Leandro Trossard’s equaliser, Arsenal have now had five goals scored by substitutes in the Premier League this season with only Brighton having more (7).
- Cole Palmer’s opener for Chelsea was the first away goal Arsenal have conceded in the Premier League since May at Nottingham Forest, ending their run of 355 minutes without conceding on the road in the competition.
- Aged 21 years and 168 days, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer became the third-youngest player to score a penalty in back-to-back Premier League appearances, behind only Bukayo Saka (20y 230d) and Peter Ndlovu (21y 50d).
- Leandro Trossard is the first player ever to score his first three Premier League goals for Arsenal all as a substitute.
- Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya has conceded all seven penalties he has faced in the Premier League (6/6 for Brentford & 1/1 for Arsenal). The only keeper to face more in the competition while conceding every time is David Marshall (9/9).
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