Alan Shearer: ‘Arsenal deserve to be clear – but who’s best placed to challenge?’

What hasn’t changed this weekend is that Arsenal are still the team to beat.

They could argue that they could have done more against Chelsea’s 10 players, but they may have been disappointed that they were unable to create more chances after the red card and only managed a draw.

However, when we look at the bigger picture, we see that they have completed a very difficult week in the Champions League and Premier League with impressive victories against Tottenham and Bayern Munich, and now they have an away draw with the team closest to them.

They missed their first choice centre-half against Chelsea, Gabriel and William Saliba, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that without them, Chelsea were beaten at centre-back and were missing their usual threat from home.

This is another reason why getting this point is seen as a positive thing and Arteta will not view the result as two points dropped.

Arsenal have drawn their last two away games but they are still the most consistent team in the Premier League and that’s why they are five points apart.

The league table isn’t lying right now and it never will. They deserve to be where they are as they have been the stand out side so far and they will try to catch up a bit too.

Alan Shearer was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.