This can not be denied actually because Chelsea this season have played Manchester city, Liverpool, Manchester united and Arsenal but failed to win any of this matches. No doubt, they are improving but to be honest Chelsea is not in the category of terms competing for the EPL tittle this season.
Until they win against a big club before we can say they are fully back to Chelsea of before. Maresca needs to realize that no player is above substitution and Cole Palmer can be substituted too. He was silent for the entire of second half and Jao Felix would have add impact on his behalf if substituted but Maresca overlooked it and allow him play full time. They were lucky to share points with Arsenal because they are not on their best this time.
When you say Chelsea is not in anyway competing for the English premier League title, to me it's laughable, so how do you categorize a team that's competing for a title in a season, in case you have forgotten already, currently the blues is sitting in the 3rd position though it's is with goal difference that they are above arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Brighton however you can't just conclude that such team is not competing for the said league tittle, if they are not as you said, then what are they doing exactly? I love your emphasis though Chelsea messed up to have allowed some of the teams you mentioned to defeat them earlier which they are also trying to make sure such doesn't repeat itself again, I think Chelsea deserves accolade because it's not easy to be in such position in a competitive league like the English pemiership even though it may be temporary, we never can tell whats about to come, the occupant's of the first position which is Liverpool are topping chelsea with 7 points though they are very much in good form but don't forget that anything is possible especially in the English premier League.
If you understand this soccer of a thing you would have known that it's good to win all your weak opponents then win or draw with the stronger ones, losing shouldn't be an option but it's nevitable, Cole palmer has been excellent, he was silent in the second half of the match no doubt but his presence was needed to serve as a threat to their oponents and I think their manager understands that impact, buddy sharing a point is better than losing and I was happy that Chelsea was able to achieve that.