Chelsea FC vs Arsenal FC: Draw in a sometimes ruthless derby

“Timbeeeeer – get out of the way!” shouted Daniel Sturridge in the Sky studio. In his opinion, Arsenal attacker Viktor Gyökeres should have shouted that in the last action of the top game against London’s arch-rivals Chelsea. But the Swede apparently said nothing to his teammate Jurriën Timber, who was positioned directly in front of him. Gyökeres was in the better position in the penalty area when he received the high cross from the left side. The striker made the technically correct header movement for the possible winning goal in the fourth minute of added time – but without hitting the ball. Timber, who had just scored against FC Bayern, extended the ball slightly over Gyökeres with the top of his head.

This misunderstanding led to the game between Chelsea and Arsenal ending 1-1 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening, like last year. Back then, Arsenal had unfortunately missed the chance to get three points shortly before the final whistle when Leandro Trossard deflected the ball with the tip of his foot so that Kai Havertz, who was ready to shoot behind him, missed. Frustrated, coach Mikel Arteta threw himself on the ground and hit the grass with his hand – this time he held his arms to the back of his head in consternation and grimaced.

By missing out on a win, Arsenal FC essentially botched their encore after their previous successes over Tottenham and Bayern and missed the opportunity to pull away. The gap to Chelsea FC in the table remains at six points, the new runners-up Manchester City have moved up to five points. Given the opponents, it was a “very positive week,” Arteta summed up. Nevertheless, he has the painful feeling that “we should and could have won today, but didn’t manage to do so.” The coach aimed to ensure that his team had the majority from minute 38 onwards. Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo received a red card after a dangerous kick on Mikel Merino’s ankle after the video referee intervened – originally referee Anthony Taylor had only shown yellow. However, Arsenal couldn’t do more than equalize through Merino (59′). Eleven minutes earlier, Trevoh Chalobah made it 1-0 with Chelsea’s seventh corner goal. Only Arsenal are better in this regard.

There were signs of a sending off in the game, which was played uncompromisingly and at times ruthlessly by both teams: Taylor issued three warnings in the first quarter of an hour. In the end, in addition to the red card, there were a total of seven yellow cards, six of them for Arsenal. At times it seemed as if the Gunners wanted to use the heated atmosphere in the stadium to test the nerves of the many young Chelsea players – until Caicedo finally shot over the target.

Under passionate coach Maresca, Chelsea are known for stubborn, close defending

For the defensive midfielder it was the first dismissal in his professional club career, and for Chelsea it was the fourth dismissal of this Premier League season – after just 13 match days. There are also two more red cards from other competitions and a suspension for coach Enzo Maresca. After all, it hit a different player each time. Since the 2023/24 season, the Blues have received more yellow (229) and red cards (ten) than any other club in the league. This result is the result of several factors, in particular the team’s resolute style of play. With the passionate Maresca on the touchline, Chelsea are known for stubborn, close-to-the-man defending because the resulting ball wins open up counterattacks. After the sending off, the Italian instructed his players to “try twice as hard”.

In addition, the inexperience of the team as well as the high pressure and the ambition to play for big titles again after years of upheaval also play a role. That’s why the players sometimes lack control and don’t always assess game situations correctly. A similar situation was observed in the previous season with Arteta’s team, which received a total of six expulsions, three of them in the first eight league games.

After the London derby, the two coaches’ analysis continued just as intensively as before on the pitch. It was difficult for him to understand the exact assessment of the fouls, criticized Maresca and accused the referees of measuring with different standards. He admitted that the red card for Caicedo was justified, but his player Chalobah was sitting in the dressing room at half-time with a black eye. Maresca saw the reason for this as a potentially red-worthy elbow strike from an opponent. But the referee only replied succinctly that it wasn’t an elbow, the trainer reported. His opponent, however, complained that Chelsea had specifically tried to “target” all Arsenal players with a yellow bias in order to achieve equality in numbers. As a precaution, Arteta replaced his defensive players Martín Zubimendi and Riccardo Calafiori, who had been warned, early on. So far, the Gunners have made it through the season without being sent off.

Arsenal FC’s emotional balance has improved significantly so far in this round of games. This is one of the reasons why, after a third of the season, the Gunners are in a good starting position before December, which is traditionally an important month in England, with six league games this time. Arteta’s team are currently favorites to win the title on the island – assuming the players don’t get in their own way.