Chelsea make point before Barca test

Chelsea defender Gary Cahill refused to be too downbeat after his side’s draw at Arsenal - especially with their biggest game of the season only days away.

ARSENAL - 0

CHELSEA - 0

The Blues missed the opportunity to take a massive step towards a top-four finish in the Premier League, failing to find the net at the Emirates Stadium although a point represented a good result.

Arsenal, themselves looking to solidify third place, hit the woodwork twice through Robin van Persie and Laurent Koscielny, but could not get the better of Petr Cech in the visitors’ goal.

However, Chelsea stood firm even as weary legs looked likely to gift the victory to the Gunners as the final whistle approached, and Cahill insisted recuperation will be the name of the game ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League second-leg clash against Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

“We wanted the three points, it would have been massive for us. But we keep going, keep pushing until the end of the season and you can’t be disappointed with a point here,” Cahill said before switching attention to the Barca battle.

“It’s going to be massively tough. The lads say that the pitch is quite big so we know the task that’s in front of us and our rest is going to be more important than training - just to keep us fresh going into that and to give it our best shot.”

Blues boss Roberto Di Matteo made eight changes to the side that beat Lionel Messi and Co 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, saying: “It was a fantastic performance, we had a lot of changes but everyone did really well. It’s absolutely magnificent to come here and get a point, it’s our third game in less than six days - it’s incredible how the players have responded.”

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger added: “They decided to lock the game up and we were not sharp enough with our passing or movement but we still had all the chances, they had none.”

Meanwhile, Theo Walcott looks set to miss the Gunners’ final three games after injuring his hamstring in the second half.