REACTION: A FAIR POINT

Having taken a hard-won point from Monday night’s clash between two title challengers, Frank Lampard and John Mikel Obi were satisfied with the team’s showing.

Both were part of the Chelsea midfield in a 4-3-3 shape that limited the Arsenal threat on their own turf on a stormy night, and it was Lampard who came closest to winning the match when his first-half volley hit the underside of the crossbar.

‘I was disappointed not to score having got in the position,’ said our all-time highest scorer.

‘We had the best chances. Late on we might have sat back at times but it was two good teams going at it on a rainy night and a bit of a stalemate. There weren’t too many glaring opportunities for either of us.

‘I felt at half-time we were the stronger team. I never felt really in danger and we had quite a few counter attacks but didn’t quite have the edge right at the end of them, and with the couple of chances Arsenal had late in the second half, it was probably a fair result.’

Mikel, as the anchor midfielder, can be pleased with the limited impact Mesut Ozil and the other Arsenal attacking midfielders had on the game, but admitted it had been a tough contest in the middle of the park.

‘It was a difficult game and it is always difficult to play against Arsenal, they have good players who like to pass the ball around but we didn’t want to lose the game,’ he said. ‘We came to win it, we wanted to attack when we had the ball but at the same time make sure we defend very well which is exactly what we did, and we are very pleased with the point.

‘It was windy and you couldn’t tell where the ball was going to land but we tried to play when we could, we counter-attacked and we showed some signs that we could have nicked the game, but we didn’t get the win so we have to win the next game now.’

Lampard, looking at the league table, is satisfied with our position with two home games to come to end 2013.

‘Two points behind the leaders when people keep saying they haven’t seen the best of us, it can’t be too bad,’ he said.

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