Both Arsenal and Chelsea lost ground on the Premier League leaders after playing to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening.
Captain Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice made a welcome return to the Gunners line-up, while Cole Palmer shrugged off injury fears and lined-up for the host.
Palmer earned possession minutes past kick-off and attempted a powerful long-range effort from way out, but saw David Raya equal to the task.
Utility man Malo Gusto squandered a golden chance a while later through a point-blank header at the far post from a probing delivery by Pedro Neto, but the former strayed wide.
Arsenal looked to have gone in front minutes past the half-hour mark with a smartly taken effort by Kai Havertz from Rice's through pass, but he was called for offside after going on review.
The ascendancy continued on the path of the visiting boys, who steadily targeted more as matters carried on but were courted on the back of a combination of sound defending by the Blues.
Brazilian international Gabriel Martinelli got the Gunners ahead minutes after halftime when he brought a first-time ball from Odegaard under control and beat Robert Sanchez with a clever strike.
The joy was short-lived with under 20 minutes to play when Neto collected a through ball from Enzo Fernandez and powered past a rasping Raya.
Arsenal showed a double substitution thereafter, with Mikel Merino send on for Rice before Leandro Trossard rolled in for their goal-scorer Martinelli.
Trossard missed a golden chance three minutes from time after a first-time effort from a goal-mouth scramble in the box, but he blazed way over.
However, the spoils were shared as neither side managed to get the winner before fulltime despite the late momentum either end.