1 hour ago
5
Declan Rice this, Moises Caicedo that. The best midfielder on display here, by some distance, was Reece James.
Now, those not following Chelsea too closely may be confused, given the 25-year-old England international is best known for being a brilliant right back.
However, Enzo Maresca has been mentioning to those covering the club ever since his arrival where he sees James playing after studying his performances on loan at Wigan in 2018-19.
James was being used in midfield back then, and the day after Maresca was appointed in June 2024, he sent his captain a message on WhatsApp accompanied by a video clip. It was him scoring a 25-yard screamer for Wigan against Bristol City in April 2019.
Since then, Maresca has been trying to A) keep him healthy and B) use him in midfield when he can.
With Malo Gusto at right back here, James was used centrally next to Caicedo, and he was impeccable in everything he did as Chelsea captain.
Reece James was superb for Chelsea despite playing further forward in central midfield
The pre-match talk was around Moises Caicedo and Declan Rice, but James stole the show
When Arsenal had the ball, James performed a man-marking job on Rice. Even when his England team-mate dropped so deep that he was in Arsenal’s back line, he was there, hounding him. When Chelsea had the ball, he was helping progress it up the pitch.
Arsenal will be fined £25,000 by the FA after this game for receiving six yellow cards, and three of those – shown to Martin Zubimendi, Riccardo Calafiori and Myles Lewis-Skelly – were for fouling James.
To stop him, they had no choice but to chop him, and it was his corner which led to Trevoh Chalobah heading home when Chelsea’s 10 men took their surprise lead, too.
With a Caicedo-shaped hole in their centre, he was tireless in trying to stop Arsenal from getting through, and it was little wonder his name was being chanted after full-time.
Blues keep seeing red
Chelsea are more than halfway to a red card XI for 2025-26 after Caicedo became their sixth different player of the season to be dismissed – and we are not even at Christmas.
With his stamp on Mikel Merino, he joined Robert Sanchez, Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap. That’s six in total. Seven if we include the other one shown to Maresca.
Chelsea had gone five games without a red before this clash, but it was inevitable that the conversation surrounding their ill-discipline would reignite as soon as their bad habit returned.
It was always a risk here. It felt as if Chelsea were under orders to be aggressive from the get-go. Within the opening minutes, Joao Pedro barged into Cristhian Mosquera, Marc Cucurella clattered into Bukayo Saka, and Caicedo gave Merino a shove from behind off the ball.
Moises Caicedo was remarkably the sixth Chelsea player to be sent off already in 2025-26
Caicedo took that aggression too far with his foul. It was an obvious red and now, they will be missing their midfield destroyer for Premier League clashes with Leeds, Bournemouth and Everton.
Chelsea insiders spent some time this week explaining why they are not in this title race despite a few claims to the contrary. One reason is how often they finished matches a man shy.
Chelsea's red card team this season:
GK – Robert Sanchez
RB – Malo Gusto
CB – Trevoh Chalobah
CB –
LB –
MD – Moises Caicedo
MD –
FW –
FW – Joao Pedro
FW –
ST – Liam Delap
Manager: Enzo Maresca
Enzo Maresca's side are being let down by ill-discipline and they must improve their record
Saka steps up
It was Bukayo Saka’s cross which created Merino’s headed equaliser and, remarkably, that represented his first Premier League assist for exactly a year.
The last time he registered one was away at West Ham on November 30, 2024.
Of course, he has had to overcome injuries since then, but the England winger chose a good game to finally end that drought. Cucurella usually takes no prisoners.
The bigger the name, the more he makes it his mission to stop you, as Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembele can attest.
However, Saka managed to do what they could not. He broke through Chelsea to have a tangible impact on the outcome and so Cucurella will be disappointed that he could not stop his cross.
Bukayo Saka stepped up against Marc Cucurella, who has proven to be a formidable opponent for many wingers
Maresca's Estevao concerns
Estevao Willian was removed at half-time to make way for Alejandro Garnacho and it suggested that Maresca does not yet entirely trust the 18-year-old Brazilian to do his defensive duties.
With Chelsea a man shy, they would have to dig in for large sections of the second half and not shirk the work.
Maresca brought on Garnacho for Estevao instead, and the £40million summer signing was fairly tireless down the left-hand side.
