Ten-man Chelsea battle for a point against leaders Arsenal in fiery derby | OneFootball

Chelsea earned a battling 1-1 draw with Premier League leaders Arsenal at Stamford Bridge despite playing for almost an hour with 10 men.

Moises Caicedo was sent off after 36 minutes for a terrible studs-up challenge on Mikel Merino, and at that point Chelsea might have folded, just as previously this season when going a player down before half-time.

This time they stood up manfully, matching Arsenal’s intensity, and took the lead shortly after half‑time through Trevoh Chalobah’s header.

Merino levelled for the Gunners before the hour, but Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca could take away plenty of encouragement from the resilience shown by his team.

The first half was a study in hard-tackling and nervous drama.

Marc Cucurella took out Bukayo Saka, Caicedo flattened then squared up to Merino – a prescient foreshadowing of the game’s decisive moment of redirection – then Martin Zubimendi was booked for a cynical foul in midfield, all before the fourth minute.

Cucurella, determined to make his presence known to Saka, was himself booked after 10 minutes for another foul on the England forward. Saka cannily evaded the full-back moments later to bring the first save of the match from Robert Sanchez, blocking well with his foot at the near post.

There was an outrageous miss by Estevao, who nearly put the ball over the roof of the Shed End from a free shot 10 yards out. Undeterred, he then went closer but still cleared the crossbar with a curling effort cutting in from the right.

Chelsea had been the better team before losing their most imposing midfielder.

Caicedo’s studs landing hard on the ankle of Merino looked bad in real time and worse on review, a view shared by referee Anthony Taylor after consulting the pitchside monitor, with his yellow card upgraded to a red.

Sanchez saved well from Gabriel Martinelli in stoppage time to cap a first 45 minutes light on chances but which had hummed with a bitter intensity.

Chalobah had ended the half bloody-faced and fulminating that Piero Hincapie’s stray elbow had not been deemed worthy of a red card. He began the second with his fists pumping in vindication.

Enzo Fernandez floated a corner to the near post and Chalobah rose to glance a clever header over the shoulder that dropped across goal and into the net.

The lead was short-lived. Just before the hour, Saka finally beat Cucurella – encumbered by his early yellow – and crossed from the right. Malo Gusto was left marking two players, one of whom was Merino, and he flicked his header past Sanchez.

Merino might have won it late with a low drive clawed away by Sanchez, who then took a knee to the face off substitute Viktor Gyokeres in scrambling to the rebound, as Chelsea lived to fight on in the title race.