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Ten-man Chelsea hold Arsenal to a draw in a heated London derby.
Arsenal’s week, featuring Tottenham, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea, posed a significant challenge. Securing two wins and a draw represents a positive outcome, although Arsenal may feel they could have achieved more.
Following impressive victories against Spurs and Bayern, the match against Chelsea was always going to be a difficult undertaking, especially given the limited recovery time.
Preparations were further hampered by a training ground injury to key defender William Saliba, who is undergoing further assessment.
In light of these circumstances, a 1-1 draw, secured by Mikel Merino’s header, leaves Arsenal five points clear at the top of the table and is by no means a poor result. However, manager Mikel Arteta conceded that his side missed an opportunity to extend their lead further, having played against 10 men for a significant portion of the match following Moises Caicedo’s dismissal.
“It’s been a big week, starting with the derby,” he noted. “Then to play Bayern Munich three days later [and] we lost players in those games.”
“Today, for example, we had to play a partnership [in defence] that we never played before in a really difficult match.”
“The captain is still not here (Martin Odegaard), the nine is still not here (Viktor Gyokeres), Kai (Havertz) is still not here, We lost Leo (Trossard) in midweek as well, But the team had to react to that.”
Odegaard and Gyokeres both featured as substitutes for Arsenal in the second half against Chelsea.
“I think overall it’s been a really positive week because the difficulty was immense,” Arteta added.
“But I have this flavour that today we should have and we could have won the game and we haven’t. That’s a learning point from it.”
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Arteta expresses disappointment but pride after draw against ten-man Chelsea.
The Chelsea match marked only the second occasion since August 2021 that neither Gabriel Magalhaes nor Saliba featured in Arsenal’s Premier League starting XI.
The pair are integral to Arsenal’s defensive stability but also play a significant role in attacking set-piece situations.
In their absence, Arsenal’s typically potent long throws, free-kicks, and corners lacked their usual effectiveness.
Chelsea’s opening goal, scored by Trevoh Chalobah, also originated from a corner, a source of disappointment for Arteta and set-piece coach Nicolas Jover.
“It’s been a headache,” Arteta stated. “Because obviously we have to have a lot of options and changes in the last few months for different reasons.”
“That one (Saliba injury) is very unexpected, and it happened yesterday.”
Arteta fielded Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie as his central defensive partnership for the first time in the Premier League.
“The beauty of it is that you have players so willing to play, so willing to connect with each other. We will build a relationship even better,” Arteta added.
“So today was a great learning match for all of us and as well gives you the assurance that whoever is there is going to perform.”
The Arsenal manager will rely on those stepping in to maintain performance levels, confirming that Gabriel’s return to the first team is still “weeks” away.
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