The midfielder put in another impressive performance following an excellent start to this season, continuing his run of starting every Premier League game under Mauricio Pochettino.

Conor Gallagher led the press on Saturday as Chelsea succeeded in unsettling our unbeaten opponents, taking a two-goal lead after half-time, when Mykhailo Mudryk’s strike added to a first-half Cole Palmer penalty.

Yet again, the 23-year-old put in a shift full of energy, commitment and determination, leading by example as he wore the captain’s armband in Reece James' from the starting line-up.

The Blues Academy graduate admitted the hard graft and the physical side of the game is something he enjoys and tries to encourage in his team-mates, as well as the challenge of the stiff competition for places within the Chelsea squad.

‘I love it,’ said Gallagher. ‘Most times in my career, I’ve had a point to prove. I love the challenge and want new targets to set myself. I just want to carry on what I’m doing now, help Chelsea win more games, and climb up the table.

‘It’s really important to have that fighting spirit and I try to bring that to the team. I always work as hard as I can and hope that rubs off on the other players.

‘I think you can see that, everyone was giving their all and everyone was brilliant with their work ethic. It’s something we’re going to need going forward along with all the players' qualities as well.’

Conor also discussed the all-round performance of Palmer, who excelled alongside him in an unorthodox two-pronged forward line, which caused Arsenal’s defence problems throughout, the latter scoring from the spot for the second consecutive match.

‘He is a massive talent,’ added Gallagher. ‘As soon as he came into Chelsea, you could see his talent in training. Now he is showing it in games and has helped us massively coming in. Credit to him and I hope he can carry it on because he’s been brilliant.’

Gallagher and Palmer’s performances were two of many positives to take from Saturday’s game, when we outperformed the undefeated Gunners, who remain joint-top of the Premier League table, and can consider ourselves unfortunate not to have taken all three points.

However, given the nature of Arsenal’s comeback in the second half, our No23 believes it will take a little time to get over the initial pain and focus on our continued good progress under Pochettino.

‘After being two goals up, playing really well, very professionally, conceding two late goals really hurts and everyone is disappointed,’ he admitted.

‘We will take a lot of positives from it. Just after the game it hurts because we were hoping to get the win. But after we reflect on it, take a couple of days to get over the draw, I think we’ll be happy with the performance against Arsenal. It was positive for us, it’s something we can build on.

‘We’re growing in confidence and working really hard every day to improve as a team and understand each other’s games, which is really important. It does take time but we’ve definitely improved in the last few games. You can’t fault the talent and work ethic of the group. Everyone wants the best and everyone is working hard in training and the games.’

Gallagher and his fellow Blues will be hoping to continue that progress with another good performance in a second consecutive London derby, when we host Brentford in our next game in the Premier League on Saturday.