Mikel Arteta admits ‘very good’ Arsenal man worked extremely hard during the international break

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been speaking about winger Leandro Trossard after he played a key role in their comeback against Chelsea last night.

Arteta was addressing the press after a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

For much of yesterday’s match, it looked like Mauricio Pochettino had got the better of his old teammate in their tactical battle.

Chelsea started the match on the front foot and went ahead through a Cole Palmer penalty following a handball from William Saliba.

A fortunate Mykhailo Mudryk cross caught out David Raya at the start of the second half to double Chelsea’s lead and Mikel Arteta turned to Leandro Trossard to change the game.

He snuck in at the back post to score an unlikely equaliser after Declan Rice’s pinpoint long-range effort halved the deficit.

The £27m forward has been in and out of the side this season as he battles fitness issues and tries to break into the team ahead of Gabriel Martinelli.

His work behind the scenes appears to have paid off as he maintained Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season.

Arteta hails Trossard after Chelsea performance

After the match, Arteta was asked about the Belgian and said: “Well, first of all, he’s very good and he’s got this mentality to be always willing to help the team.

“He had an injury that he wasn’t fit enough to play the last few games and then he played against [Manchester] City and he had to come off and he worked really hard in the international break to be fit again.

“And those things, it’s like with [Gabriel] Martinelli, it changes the momentum of the season.

“You could see that he was ready to come in, very intelligent run the way that he anticipates the cross and the action and then obviously the way he executed because it’s still not easy to score.”

It was a day of mixed performances for Arsenal, with David Raya struggling in possession at times on a sodden pitch.

Arteta and his Arsenal players will feel indebted to Trossard after he scored a vital equaliser against Chelsea.

It’s important that Arsenal are still able to grind out points even when they’re not playing their best football.

Chelsea proved very difficult to break down and that will be a concern for Arteta going forward.

However, attention now turns to their return to Champions League action in midweek when they travel to Sevilla.