Chelsea held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw in a highly charged London derby on Sunday, with Mikel Merino canceling out Trevoh Chalobah’s Chelsea opener to spare the Premier League leaders’ blushes.
The result means Arsenal are five points clear at the top of the Premier League on 30 points, five points clear of second-placed Manchester City, while Chelsea are third on 24.
Chelsea were already a man down when defender Chalobah fired a header into the net from captain Reece James’ corner three minutes after half-time.
Chelsea were growing in confidence and were pushing ahead of Arsenal until Moises Caicedo was sent off in the 38th minute following a VAR check for landing a cracking tackle on Merino’s ankle.
Arsenal responded when Merino rose to meet Bukayo Saka’s cross in the 59th minute. They pushed for a winner, with substitute Martin Odegaard going close twice and Merino forcing an excellent save from Robert Sanchez in the dying moments.
Merino said Chelsea were “well structured, they know how to defend, they have good quality players”.
«Still, I think that if we had been a little better, we could have done a lot more damage to the defense. I think the team responded well to the goal,» he said. BBC.
Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo (left) was sent off in the 38th minute following a VAR check for landing a blazing tackle on Mikel Merino’s ankle. | Photo credit: Action footage via Reuters
Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo (left) was sent off in the 38th minute following a VAR check for landing a blazing tackle on Mikel Merino’s ankle. | Photo credit: Action footage via Reuters
The match was a real derby scrap from the start, with some ill-tempered clashes and referee Anthony Taylor, who was rarely slow to reach into his pocket, also brandished seven yellow cards: six for Arsenal and one for Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella, who had the game on Saka’s heels.
“Disappointing to come away with just one point,” said Chelsea captain James Air sports.
“We went down to ten men quite early in the game, and that made it more difficult.”
James said he was proud of the way Chelsea had soaked up the pressure and countered. Pedro Neto was constantly busy on the right and substitute Liam Delap had a great chance saved by David Raya in the 78th minute.
«If you look at the number of yellows there were, I thought there would be another red. It’s a London derby, everyone wants to win this game,» he said.
Published on December 1, 2025
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(736x371:738x373)/Groom-Admits-Feelings-061625-01-1a12ae835fc74b24a5de647b50286ad4.jpg?w=238&resize=238,178&ssl=1 "La hermana del novio se roba el espectáculo en la boda al revelar noticias sobre el embarazo")
