Arsenal and Chelsea shared the spoils in a four-goal thriller on Wednesday as Hector Bellerin scored a stoppage-time equaliser to rescue a 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium.
The two sides got their 2018 campaigns off to a flying start with a pulsating contest from start to finish, although it took until the 63rd for either to break the deadlock when Jack Wilshere lashed home his first Premier League goal since May 2015.
That lead lasted just four minutes before Eden Hazard levelled things up from the spot, though, and it looked as though Chelsea had done enough to come away with all three points when Marcos Alonso scored with just six minutes remaining.
However, the topsy-turvy and end-to-end London derby had one final twist in the tale as Bellerin fired home a fine half-volley to earn a point for the home side, who held on despite Chelsea hitting the crossbar just seconds later.
Just seven minutes later Chelsea should have broken the deadlock when a mix-up between Calum Chambers and Petr Cech allowed Alvaro Morata to race clean through on goal, but he fluffed his lines with his finish and sent a dreadful effort well wide of the target.
Morata was close to getting on the end of a low Victor Moses cross moments later, but Arsenal were soon on the attack again in an end-to-end match and will have been wondering quite how they didn’t open the scoring in the 17th minutes.
The game continued to ebb and flow and it wasn’t long before the visitors had another chance of their own when Tiemoue Bakayoko was kept out by a good reaction stop from Cech.
Somehow the opening 45 minutes ended goalless, but the second half quickly picked up in a similarly entertaining vain with Cech making an early double-save to first deny Hazard one on one with his feet before tipping Alonso’s goalbound header around the post.
Arsenal refused to rest on their newfound lead, though, and were pushing for a second within two minutes as Courtois was called into action to deny Lacazette once again.
For the second match in a row, though, Arsenal quickly gave up their 1-0 lead courtesy of a controversial penalty as Hazard went down theatrically following a wild swing of the boot from Hector Bellerin.
Wenger was again left incensed on the sidelines, and his mood was not improved when Hazard dusted himself off to fire the spot kick down the middle himself, restoring parity only four minutes after falling behind.