Arteta's exchange with Caicedo sums him up after Chelsea star left him livid

21 October 2023 , 23:18

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Arteta's exchange with Caicedo sums him up after Chelsea star left him livid

Mikel Arteta was less than impressed with Moises Caicedo during Arsenal's draw at Chelsea.

The Gunners battled back from 2-0 down to leave Stamford Bridge with a share of the spoils, as they encountered a number of players who have previously been on their radar. Caicedo was among them with Arsenal looking to land his signature back in January.

He instead signed for Chelsea for more than £100m in the summer, but his hard-hitting style did not impress the Arsenal boss. Caicedo forms a combative midfield partnership with Enzo Fernandez and the former Brighton man was more than happy to make his presence known.

Arteta was visibly angered by the Chelsea star's rough style of play, but maintained he would leave his frustrations on the pitch as he warmly embraced Caicedo at full-time.

The Spaniard's decision to bring on Leandro Trossard as a second-half sub proved to be an inspired one as he came up with the vital equaliser. The Belgian swooped in at the back post to slot home after Declan Rice had scored a long range effort following a Robert Sanchez error.

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It means Arsenal remain unbeaten, even if they did surrender two points to the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, who had both won earlier in the day. Arteta was pleased with his side's response in the second-half, having trailed 1-0 at the break thanks to Cole Palmer's penalty.

Moises Caicedo was putting himself about in Chelsea's draw with Arsenal

Mykhaylo Mudryk, another former Arsenal target, notched Chelsea's second before the visitors came to life in the latter stages. Arteta said: "I think where it went wrong was at the start of the game, I think we didn't play with enough purpose with the ball and clarity, we were just moving the ball without really having the intention to threaten them, and that's a really dangerous thing to do against teams like Chelsea.

"We didn't win even duels and in tight areas when we had them, they escaped from that, they attacked open spaces and they are really dangerous things to do, so credit to them because they are a top side full of top players and you have to acknowledge that.

"When we don't have those two things, then we've got an average team, we changed that and we started to lift the level after 20 or 25 minutes and especially in the second half, that's a different game. We became a much better team."

Samuel Meade