While a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge is nothing to sniff at, especially given Chelsea’s own title ambitions, Mikel Arteta admits a combination of factors stopped Arsenal making the most of Moises Caicedo’s first-half red card.
The Blues were well on top when the Ecuadorian launched himself into a reckless challenge on Mikel Merino, earning a yellow that VAR swiftly upgraded to red on 33 minutes. Even so, Enzo Maresca’s side hit the front within two minutes of the restart, Trevor Chalobah rising highest to thump home a header from a corner.
Merino levelled with half an hour to go, but while Arsenal huffed and puffed, they rarely looked in full control. Half-chances came and went, and at the other end, Chelsea threatened on the break whenever they managed to breathe.
Coming off emotionally and physically draining wins over Sp*rs and Bayern Munich – and having lost William Saliba and Leandro Trossard to knocks – a third statement result in a week proved a step too far.
“It was a lot of factors to this context,” Arteta told Sky Sports.
“It’s been a massive week emotionally, physically – the opponents that we played, we come here, we lost another two very important players before coming here.
“We had one day less to recover as well, and then you have to play at Stamford Bridge when they just beat Barcelona, one of the best teams in Europe. So you’re playing a top, tough opponent.
“We knew, especially for certain parts of the game, what kind of game we were going to expect. But yeah, with ten men, I expect and want, obviously, to win the game. But we have to consider that straight after the second half, they are in front, and then emotionally it’s tough to play the game.”
Asked about the chaotic opening spell – all flying tackles, niggly fouls and four Arsenal bookings – Arteta didn’t deny it was messy.
“A tough one. I think two teams playing with a lot of intensity, aggression, will. You could sense in every tackle, in every action, how much was at stake.
“That made it a game, especially the first 20 minutes, you could not see much, especially in any long sequences of play. And then the game started to settle. After the red card, when we needed to settle, make the adjustment at half time and go, in the first action after the half time, we conceded a foul, a wide free kick and then a corner and concede a goal.”
Arteta was particularly unimpressed with the manner of Chelsea’s opener. It stemmed from Piero Hincapie grappling with Joao Pedro to give away a free kick, followed by David Raya saving the Brazilian’s header, before Chalobah powered in from the resulting corner.
“We didn’t really settle [into the second half], because the first action is a long ball, they get a foul, one free kick, corner, and score.
“And then emotionally, you need to get through that. And it took us a while to get set, to get fixed, to be much more patient than we were in certain moments, to move them, to generate the spaces, and then we scored a brilliant goal.
“Then, we had two or three big chances, but the reality is every time that the keeper catches the ball, they were in transition.”
A win would have opened up a healthy cushion over Chelsea and restored a seven-point lead over Manchester City. Instead, Arsenal settle for a five-point buffer at the summit, with Brentford and Aston Villa next up in a run that still feels season-shaping.
The post “Emotionally, a tough game to play” – Arteta reflects on draw at Chelsea appeared first on Arseblog News – the Arsenal news site.
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