Mikel Arteta furiously blasted his Arsenal players for allowing Chelsea to claim a 1-1 draw on Sunday night.

The Gunners opened the scoring in a tight game thanks to Gabriel Martinelli's goal on the hour mark. But they were pegged back 10 minutes later when Pedro Neto was allowed to carry the ball forward before firing into the bottom corner.

The draw leaves Arteta's side nine points adrift of leaders Liverpool in the Premier League title race. And Arteta opted against defending his players for allowing Neto to claim a draw.

He insisted that the visitors had not met their own standards with their defending. But he still believes his side can have a successful season if they are able to get back to full strength over the upcoming international break.

"I think we dominated them, we were the better team in many phases and situations in the game and after going ahead, very disappointed in the way we conceded. It was so poor. It is not our standards and we don’t accept," he told Sky Sports.

"Really proud, but at the end we are here to get the three points and we didn't. It is a second phase set piece and we were disorganised. We don’t reorganise quick enough and you can’t allow the pass that way.

"You need the quality of Neto to do it but our standards were not good enough. They are all disappointed as a team. I'm very proud of the team with how they reacted. We wanted the three points and we didn't get them.

Arteta was unimpressed with his side's defending in the build-up to Pedro Neto's goal (
Image:
Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

"Odegaard's been out for six weeks, been barely able to train. To be able to play at this level in the Premier League tells you how much he looks after himself and the leadership and character he has. Everything flows better with players like this. Today we clicked much better.

"You could see everything was flowing but again it is about winning. We have a clear vision how we can evolve the team. What we find out is that we have to change something big because we have problem after problem.

"But this team is able to adapt. My biggest fear is physically to get players at their best for 90 minutes. With that I'm fully confident we will have a good season."

Arteta will also be spending the break dealing with injuries to Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, both of whom he said "didn't look good" after Sunday's draw. Arsenal are next in action on 23 November when they host surprise top four contenders Nottingham Forest.

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