A riveting and closely contested London derby at Stamford Bridge went right to the wire, with Pedro Neto’s first Premier League goal in blue cancelling out Gabriel Martinelli’s opener. Both sides also had goals disallowed for offside across the 90 minutes.

The draw ensured the Blues went into the international break third in the table and ahead of the Gunners, who finished second in the Premier League in the previous two seasons, on goal difference.

That is further evidence of the development that has taken place during the opening three months of the campaign under Enzo Maresca – and Fofana believes we have showcased in recent outings our ability to compete with the strongest sides in the top flight.

‘We know we have a lot of quality in the team and we play together,' the 23-year-old reflected. 'We push the same way and we see now we’re ready to play against the big teams. That is good for the future.

‘Every day we improve for sure. The manager has come in with new ideas. It was a bit hard to understand because he’s new for everybody, but I think everybody can see we play very good football and every game is better.

‘We need to continue like this. We’re a team and are working in the same direction together every day, and we try to give everything on the field.’

Fofana added: ‘We played well [against Arsenal]. I think all the players on the team played very well, but for sure we are a little bit angry because we didn’t win at home. It is hard because when we play at home we try to give everything for the win.

‘For sure we are a bit sad because when we play at home against Arsenal in a London derby we want to win. We gave everything but football is like this. We were not lucky but now we try to go forward again.'

Fofana has a clear idea of where further improvement can be found, too. When asked for his thoughts on the next step in our progress necessary to turn draws – such as Sunday’s – into victories, the defender gave a clear answer.

‘Score more goals! We miss just this, to score more goals, but that is football. We played very well on Sunday, we were not lucky, but it’s like this and we need to progress to score more goals, and that’s it.’

The Blues have to wait two weeks to try to turn that ambition into a reality due to the international break, which Fofana will spend in London following his withdrawal from the France squad as a precaution, due to feeling some pain in his knee after facing Arsenal.