Arsenal 0 - 0 Chelsea: Misfiring Gunners hamstrung

The result leaves Arsenal within range of Tottenham and Newcastle who are snapping at their heels. Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, also watched Theo Walcott hobble off with a hamstring pull which will rule him out for the rest of the season for Arsenal, although the England winger should recover in time take part in the European Championships.

Walcott pulled up with the problem in the 57th minute but decided to play on. Three minutes later as he attempted to surge down the right, he came to a stop again clutching his thigh and was replaced by Gervinho. “It looks like a serious hamstring,” Wenger said. “First we assessed the hamstring, he wanted to go on and stay on the pitch, and I think he should have gone off straight away because the second time it was a real hamstring [injury].

“I think now for him it will be tough to come back before the end of the season. It is usually 21 days [minimum]. He should be OK to play for England, but I don’t think he will be ready to play for us.”

Chelsea remain seven points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, with their best chance of qualifying for the Champions League now likely hinging on winning this year’s competition.

The Blues hold a 1-0 lead from last week’s first leg of their semi-final against Barcelona and with the return leg coming on Tuesday, manager Roberto Di Matteo made eight changes to his team, leaving the likes of Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Juan Mata on the bench. Di Matteo was delighted with the effort his players put in.

“It was a brilliant team performance, you come to the Emirates and it’s difficult to play against Arsenal,” said the Italian. “If we’d had a bit more quality with our final pass, that let us down, but apart from that it was a fantastic performance. This was our third game in less than six days, the way they’ve responded to this, personally I think it’s crazy, but we showed there’s great quality in this team and our spirit is high.

“This keeps our momentum going and our confidence high. We believe we’re getting better and better and can achieve any results that we want.”

Wenger was less enthusiastic about the result and the wasted chances. “It was a strange game,” he said. “They decided to lock the game up and catch us on the break. We were not sharp enough and quick enough with our passing.”

Just like against Barcelona, Chelsea relied on the woodwork to get out of trouble twice, although Robin van Persie will be wondering how he missed after striking the base of the post from no more than two yards out in the 14th minute.

Koscielny’s chance in the 42nd was also gilt-edged, the French centre back finding himself unmarked from a Van Persie free kick but contriving to head the ball against the bar.

Chelsea looked dangerous on the counter-attack and from set pieces but lacked the killer ball.