4 hours ago
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If Arsenal win the title this season, they will remember the evening they survived a match against ten-man Chelsea at the onset of winter. Whatever they face between now and May, nothing is likely to challenge their fortitude as much as this raw encounter at Stamford Bridge.
Sometimes, there are complaints that the grit has gone out of modern football and that modern players are snowflakes but this was an evening that was visceral and bone-shuddering and gladiatorial and unforgiving. Nine years after the original Battle of the Bridge, this was a worthy sequel.
This was not the beautiful Chelsea that overwhelmed Barcelona here in the Champions League on Tuesday night. This was a Chelsea that played as if they were Don Revie’s Leeds United, snapping and snarling, in your face, goading and prodding and utterly desperate to win. It was a match that teetered on the edge of anarchy but which was, ultimately, well refereed by Anthony Taylor.
This Chelsea might not yet have the quality of that Leeds team of 50 years ago but it is developing the attitude. Enzo Fernandez wears his ugly unpleasantness like a medal but it was hard not to admire the drive that kept Chelsea pounding into Arsenal even after they had been reduced to 10-men before half time when Moises Caicedo was sent off for a shocking tackle on Mikel Merino.
It was to Arsenal’s credit that they weathered it all, even with the advantage of that extra man in the second half. They did not lose their discipline, even though Fernandez and Marc Cucurella tempted them to many, many times. Even when they went behind to Trevoh Chalobah’s flicked header, they equalised through Merino.
They did not cave in as they might have done last season, even though they were deprived of both central defenders, Gabriel and William Saliba. Chelsea tried to bully them but Arsenal would not be bullied. For Mikel Arteta and his side, this was another test passed. They ended the day five points clear of Manchester City at the top and six points clear of Chelsea.
A hard-fought clash in West London, akin to the Battle of the Bridge some nine years ago, finished 1-1
Arsenal were playing against 10 men for much of the match after Moises Caicedo was dismissed for a challenge on Miguel Merino
However the Blues were resurgent and Trevoh Chalobah put them 1-0 up shortly after half-time
They were not exactly shrinking violets themselves. They racked up six bookings of their own compared to one Chelsea red and one yellow. The game will be remembered more for its malign spirit than for its quality but too many Arsenal teams of the past 20 years would have been unnerved by this Chelsea assault. This is a different Arsenal now.
The most telling statistics of a frenetic, aggressive, unrelenting open quarter of an hour were these: Martin Zubimendi was booked after five minutes, Marc Cucurella, the scourge of Lamine Yamal on Tuesday night, was booked after 10 minutes for a second scything tackle on Bukayo Saka, and Cristhian Mosquera was booked after 12 minutes.
From the midst of the flying tackles, chances began to appear. The first fell to Saka, whose right foot shot was saved well by Robert Sanchez. The second fell to the star of that midweek victory over Barcelona, Estevao.
Estevao started the move himself, midway inside the Arsenal half and drove forwards. Joao Pedro crossed from the right, Mosquera could only half-clear and the ball fell invitingly to Estevao 12 yards out. The goal beckoned and new headlines were already being written but Estevao blazed the ball wildly high.
Then the ugly side of the game took over. The match turned into another Battle of the Bridge. Fernandez has a great talent for being relentlessly and thoroughly unpleasant and now he stepped up his game.
He went through his repertoire of hard stares, warming up with glares at Zubimendi and then moving on to Jurrien Timber. When Arsenal won a throw-in, Fernandez hurled the ball at Timber as he waited to take it. When Timber didn’t catch it, Fernandez did it again.
The aggression was untrammelled. It felt as if Chelsea were veering out of control. And seven minutes before half-time, Caicedo dived in on Mikel Merino and planted his studs in Merino’s ankle.
Caicedo writhed around on the floor as if it was he who had been mortally wounded and Fernandez and Cucurella attempted to bully the officials out of reaching the inevitably conclusion that it was a straight red card. With VAR’s help, Taylor brandished it.
Merino later got the North Londoners back into the game with a towering header from close range
With more than half-an-hour to go at that point, many would have expected Arsenal to go on and win the game
But Enzo Maresca's side survived the onslaught to pickup a valuable, and unlikely, point
The atmosphere on the pitch was febrile. A minute later, Trevoh Chalobah went down after being caught in the face by an elbow from Piero Hincapie. That brought a yellow card. Riccardo Calafiori pulled back Reece James. That brought another yellow.
Arsenal tried to restore some order to the game. They nearly took the lead right at the end of the half. Gabriel Martinelli exchanged passes with Declan Rice and then unleashed a shot that wrong-footed Sanchez. But Sanchez changed direction acrobatically and got a hand to the ball when it was almost behind me. It was a brilliant save.
There was more animosity after the whistle blew to signal the interval. The Chelsea players waited on the pitch in a line and seemed to time their entrance to the tunnel for the moment the majority of the Chelsea players headed in. That tunnel awning may have hidden a multitude of sins.
A deafening roar rent the air two minutes after half time when Chelsea took the lead. Reece James swung in a corner to the near post and Trevoh Chalobah rose highest to glance it on and over a clutch of players on the line. The celebrations in front of the Matthew Harding Stand were raw and long.
The lead only lasted for 11 minutes. Cucurella may have kept Yamal in his pocket for the entirety of Tuesday night’s Champions League clash but he was finding Saka an altogether more difficult proposition.
For Mikel Arteta, this was a point which took them a step closer to the coveted Premier League title
They sit some five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the league after 13 games
When Saka got the ball on the right side of the Chelsea area, Cucurella tried to close him down but Saka twisted and turned and curled in a perfect cross to the back post. Merino leapt to meet it, got to it ahead of Malo Gusto and thundered his header into the net for the Arsenal equaliser.
The game simmered for the rest of the half. Fernandez seemed at one point to suggest to David Raya that they settle their differences after the match but apart from that, the action consisted largely of players nursing injuries, real or imagined, hitting the floor with the palms of their hands to emphasise their pain, and pointing to scars, real or imagined.
There was another flashpoint three minutes from the end. Sanchez got down well to keep out a shot from Merino but could only push the ball back into the area. He leapt up to claim it. He saw Viktor Gyokeres steaming in to try to lash the loose ball into the net but his bravery was unflinching.
Sanchez gathered the ball just ahead of Gyokeres, who clattered into him. When the melee cleared, Gyokeres was shown a yellow card. A few minutes later, when the red mist cleared, Arsenal had a point that took them a step closer to the title.
