Arsenal set to be hit with FA fine after feisty Chelsea battle at Stamford Bridge | OneFootball

Fiery draw with 10-man London rivals comes at a cost for the Premier League leaders

Mikel Merino’s header shortly before the hour mark cancelled out Trevoh Chalobah’s opening second-half goal as the London rivals played out a hard-fought 1-1 draw on Sunday, leaving leaders Arsenal five points clear of Manchester City at the top-flight summit and Chelsea one further back in third.

Midfielder Martin Zubimendi was the first player to be booked inside just five minutes, followed by defenders Cristhian Mosquera, Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie.

Half-time substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly - a replacement for Calafiori - was also shown a yellow card less than 10 minutes after his introduction, with striker Viktor Gyokeres later booked for sliding in on Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez after making his return from a hamstring injury off the bench in place of Eberechi Eze.

Under current FA rules, any team that accumulates six or more yellow cards in one match is subject to a £25,000 fine.

Chelsea’s well-documented disciplinary issues continued against Arsenal as Caicedo received his first red card in 130 Premier League appearances on Sunday.

Though it was Caicedo’s first sending off for the Blues, it was the latest in a long line of dismissals under Enzo Maresca, whose side have now received four reds in 13 league games this season and seven in 20 matches across all competitions.

Chelsea are currently bottom of the Premier League’s Fair Play table, having finished 19th last season.