Arsenal settle for a point against 10-man Chelsea | OneFootball

Mikel Merino cancelled out Trevoh Chalobah's opener as Arsenal could only take a point back from Stamford Bridge against 10-man Chelsea.

Both sides had chances early with Bukayo Saka and Estêvão not making the most of their respective opportunities.

However, the game was hard-fought with Moisés Caicedo going too far when he laid into Mikel Merino with a studs up challenge that caught the Spaniard just above the foot. Fortunately, the Spaniard was able to continue.

Despite going down to 10 men, Chelsea continued to pose a threat and took the lead early into the second half.

Reece James sent in a corner from he left that Trevoh Chalobah rose highest to head home and net his third league goal of the season.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was able to name both Viktor Gyökeres and Gabriel Jesus on the bench for this one but who needs natural forwards when you have Mikel Merino?

The Spanish midfielder showed his striker instincts once again as he latched on the end of Saka's cross to level the score with just under an hour gone.

Robert Sánchez needed to provide some brave goalkeeping to keep the scores level late on when he got down well to stop Merino's shot. The Chelsea man did even better as he was quickly up to get in the way of substitute Gyökeres on the rebound – taking a hefty whack in the process.

This will ultimately feel like two points dropped for Arsenal who weren't ever really able to make their numerical superiority count. The Gunners finish the weekend five points clear after second-place Manchester City defeated Leeds United on Saturday.

Chelsea meanwhile performed well against an in-form side with inferior numbers and now move back into third place ahead of Aston Villa.