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.

You could argue they could have done more against Chelsea’s 10 men, and they might be disappointed not to create more chances after the red card, and to only get a draw.

But, looking at the bigger picture, they have come out of a very difficult week in the Champions League and Premier League with impressive wins over Tottenham and Bayern Munich and now getting a draw away at the team who were closest to them in the table.

Against Chelsea, they were missing both of their first-choice centre-halves, Gabriel and William Saliba, and I don’t think it is a coincidence that, without them, they conceded from a Chelsea set-piece and did not look their usual threat from their own.

That’s another reason why picking up this point will be seen as a positive thing, and Arteta will not view the result as two points dropped.

Arsenal have now drawn their past two away games but they are still the most consistent side in the Premier League and that is why they are five points clear.

The league table is not lying at the moment, and it never does. They deserve to be where they are because they’ve been the standout side so far, and they are going to take some catching too.

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