Premier League leaders Arsenal held by 10-man Chelsea
Mikel Merino heads Arsenal level after Trevoh Chalobah opener
Moises Caicedo sent off in first half after VAR review of foul on Mikel Merino
Gunners end weekend five points clear at top, Chelsea are third
I think that was more than fine for Chelsea – I really do. There’s been a maturing of this team over the past number of months, from the summer, and it’s noticeable. It’s almost game on, game on, game and you’ve now walked away playing against a very, very good Arsenal team with 10 men for the majority of the game and not being particularly surprised that they held out. They went and attacked it and went one goal ahead.
Chelsea have come a long, long way.
Get Involved – ‘Arsenal hardly parked the bus’published at 18:40 GMT
18:40 GMT
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Re: Terry in Suffolk – Arsenal tried not to lose? They were on the front foot far more and Chelsea were trying to get them on the break. Arsenal’s final product was poor, especially from Saka today, after the equaliser. Arsenal hardly parked the bus.
Chelsea captain Reece James, speaking to Sky Sports: “Disappointing to come away with only one point. We went down to 10 men pretty early in the game and that made it more difficult.”
On the performance showing that Chelsea are making progress: “I think everyone can see where we are and what we are fighting for. I think today was a big statement. Even though we wanted to win, there are lots of positives to take.
“We worked hard, there is a lot of analysis and hard work from the staff that sets us up in the right way and makes us play in the right way that he thinks will hurt them.”
On whether it felt inevitable that there would be a red card: “If you look at the amount of the yellows there were, I thought there was going to be one more red. It’s a London derby, everyone wants to win this game.”
On the midfield battle: “Arsenal have been at the top for the last few years. We knew that playing them wasn’t going to be easy. Their midfield is tough but we tried to play our game and hurt them off the ball.”
On what was said at half-time: “He changed the formation slightly, we knew we weren’t going to have the ball as much. We had to soak up the pressure and try to catch them on the pressure. We didn’t have the final touches.”
On this being a statement performance: “I’m proud of the boys. It was electric here today. We take a point and move forward.”
Speaking of guys who like scoring headers, Trevoh Chalobah scored his 10th Premier League goal, with half of those coming as headers from corners.
It was his fourth goal in a London derby for Chelsea, with John Terry (13), Dan Petrescu (7) and William Gallas (5) the only defenders to net more derby goals for the Blues in the competition.
Mikel Merino is Arsenal’s joint-top scorer in the Premier League in 2025 with eight goals, five of which have come with his head.
The Spaniard has the joint-most headed goals in the competition this calendar year alongside Brentford’s Kevin Schade.
Arsenal set for ‘battle’ to the league titlepublished at 18:34 GMT
For Arsenal, if you look at the week it’s been a good week – beat Spurs, draw Chelsea away from home and obviously the big one beating Bayern Munich as well.
For Chelsea, they’ve not lost again, down to 10 men, they fought and they battled and didn’t take a step back all game so, they should be delighted.
Was it a classic? A long, long way away from being a classic. There were probably three or four games better than it yesterday. But maybe we learned a bit more about Arsenal – was it going to be a to cruise to the league title because they looked a lot stronger than everyone else?
After that, no it’s not. It’s going to be a battle all the way.
