Eight cards were issued during a fiery clash in the London Derby, including a red card in the first half for Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo. The Ecuadorian was dismissed after VAR intervention, following a heavy challenge on Mikel Merino.
The momentum came from Arsenal after that decision, but it was Chelsea who took the lead just minutes after half-time. Trevoh Chalobah met Reece James’ corner and headed the home side into the lead.
Arsenal leveled after 59 minutes with their own header, when Merino nodded in Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Neither side could find a winner, and Arsenal couldn’t make their man advantage count. The draw puts Arsenal five points ahead of Manchester City in the Premier League.
Discussing the draw, Arteta told Sky Sports: “A very difficult one. Two teams playing with a lot of intensity and aggression, you could feel that with every tackle. The match was settled and after the red card we had to settle and make a judgement, but we conceded a foul and a goal. Two top teams competing for the Premier League, so it’s normal.”
“We had four players with yellow cards and you could see that they were targeting those players. We conceded the first action in the section half and we had to get through that. We scored a fantastic goal. We had two or three big chances.”
“They are a very good team. They have scored seven goals from corners, we have scored eight.”
On Caicedo’s red card incident, Arteta added: “It was very quick. I saw the reaction and everyone said he was gone. Anthony made the call and I think it’s the right one.”
“It was a huge week emotionally and physically. We had one day less to recover. They got to play at Stamford Bridge after having just beaten Barcelona. I always expect and want to win the game.”
“We have another match on Wednesday and we have to prepare very well to beat a difficult opponent like Brentford and then we have Aston Villa.”
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