Chelsea – Arsenal: Valiant Ten Man Blues Hold Arsenal To Draw As Caicedo Sees Red At Stamford Bridge (1-1)

A spirited ten-man Chelsea side held Arsenal to a draw at Stamford Bridge. Moises Caicedo saw red in the first half for a rash challenge on Mikel Merino. However, Trevoh Chalobah put the Blues into a surprise lead in the 2nd half. Arsenal equalised through Merino soon after, as the game then ended level at the Bridge after ninety minutes.

Tactical analysis and match report by Gaurav Krishnan.

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This was the big one. This was the Premier League’s top two teams, league leaders Arsenal & a resurgent 2nd-placed Chelsea side (before the City victory against Leeds) locking horns under the lights at Stamford Bridge. There’s a lot of folklore and subplots behind the London derby between Chelsea and Arsenal. When Arsene Wenger was at the helm at Arsenal the Gunners found little purchase against the Blues. But this is the new Mikel Arteta era, where Arsenal have become a formidable outfit under the Spanish manager & are arguably the favourites to win the league this season.

For Chelsea, Enzo Maresca’s first season in charge at Stamford Bridge saw silverware return to West London. Winning the UEFA Conference League and then to beat PSG in the final at the FIFA Club World Cup 3-0, the Blues had a remarkable season under the Italian boss bringing in trophies. Under Maresca, the Blues have been transformed into a solid unit from previous seasons of having a young side with a lot of potential, but unable to compete with the best.

Under Maresca, Chelsea can beat any team in Europe on their day, and it’s rather fruitless to write them off before any fixture. However, this season the Blues find themselves within grasp of the title race.


So this game then was a battle of bragging rights in the London derby and a game that would have ramifications for the title race.

Arsenal came to the Bridge without their starting center-back pairing of Saliba and Gabriel, who have been so assured at the back for the Gunners this season, so it seemed as though Chelsea were already starting the game with that slight advantage.

The Blues started the game in spirited fashion, creating a handful of half-chances. However, a reckless challenge in the first half by Moises Caicedo on Mikel Merino saw referee Anthony Taylor brandish a straight red to the Chelsea midfielder after an on-field screen review. The Blues then had to play the bulk of the game after 38 minutes with ten men.

As the second half kicked off, Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah put the Blues into a surprise lead with a header from a corner, perhaps giving Arsenal a taste of their own medicine. But Mikel Merino equalised shortly after Chelsea’s goal, after excellent work by Bukayo Saka down the right flank.

Despite being down to ten men, the Blues kept the Gunners on their heels and created a few openings and remained resolute defensively. In the end, Arsenal couldn’t find a winner despite testing Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal, and the game ended with both London outfits sharing the spoils.

Chelsea lined up in a 4-2-3-1 shape. Robert Sanchez started in goal with a back four of Malo Gusto at right-back, Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah at center-back and Marc Cucurella at left-back. Moises Caicedo and Reece James anchored the midfield double pivot with Estevao starting on the right, Pedro Neto on the left and Enzo Fernandez in the number 10 slot while Joao Pedro led the line up front.

Arsenal lined up in a 4-3-3 formation. David Raya started in goal with a back four of Jurrien Timber at right-back, Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie at center-back and Riccardo Calafiori at left-back. Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze started in central midfield. While, Bukayo Saka started down the right flank, Gabriel Martinelli down the left flank with Mikel Merino as the lone center forward.

A Battle of Build-Ups As Chelsea Dominate Early Proceedings

Chelsea’s first-phase build-up was in Enzo Maresca’s familiar 3-2-5 shape. However, there were some slight rotations. Malo Gusto inverted into midfield while Reece James dropped from the midfield pivot into the back three as Fofana moved wider to accommodate James as Chelsea established a 3-2 or 3-1 base.

Meanwhile, Enzo Fernandez also created space for Gusto to exploit by drifting into the midfield left-half space, and Enzo’s movement allowed Gusto to advance. Chelsea’s 3-2/3-1 rotation involving James dropping was also pivotal as Caicedo dragged Declan Rice away with Rice tasked with marking & jumping on Caicedo. Meanwhile, Enzo Fernandez likewise dragged his midfield marker Zubimendi out of position, freeing up more space for James & Gusto to exploit.

Minute 9’ Chelsea’s IP build up with James dropping into the back three as Fofana moves into the RCB slot. Rice is closely marking Caicedo ready to jump. Meanwhile, Malo Gusto inverts from right-back into midfield.

However, Mikel Arteta’s tactics looked to mitigate Chelsea’s fluid build up. This was mainly done via Arsenal’s midfield press & rotations, and Hincapie’s movement as the Arsenal center back pushed up high alongside Rice and Zubimendi to press Gusto. This left Arsenal’s back three of Calafiori, Mosquera and Timber defending Chelsea’s attacks.

In their build-up IP shape, Arsenal deployed a 2-3-5. Hincapie stepped into midfield while Rice and Zubimendi rotated short & long as Rice pinned Caicedo high, and Zubimendi dropped as a deep-lying playmaker to attract Enzo Fernandez. This freed Eze for third-man runs. While the Arsenal full-backs Timber & Calafiori pushed high, forming the 5 with the wingers hugging touchlines and Merino as a false 9 dropping into midfield.

Arsenal’s build-up shape also became a 3-2-5 at times with Rice dropping into the back three to progress the ball. This manipulated Chelsea’s press as well. Merino’s movement of dropping into midfield from the central striker position created a numerical superiority in buildup for Arsenal centrally, while Eze & Merino’s rotations dragged Chelsea’s defense, opening central channels.

Minute 8’ Arsenal build up movement & rotations in a 3-2-5/2-3-5. Declan Rice drops into the back three which then becomes a back two as Merino drops from the striker position into midfield. Meanwhile, Timber makes a run to attack Chelsea’s back line while Eze pulls away out wide from a central position.

Arsenal pressed Chelsea man-to-man with Hincapie in particular aggressively jumping to press Gusto when the Chelsea full-back inverted. Rice shadowed Caicedo, while Zubimendi was tasked with marking Enzo Fernandez, but Enzo often drifted into the left half-space, pulling Zubimendi out of position.

Minute 25’ Arsenal’s press vs Chelsea. Arsenal press Chelsea man-to-man as James drops into the back three to progress the ball. Eze presses the ball carrier Chalobah, while Merino presses James and Martinelli presses Fofana. Rice tightly marks Caicedo as Hincapie jumps aggressively to press the inverting Gusto. Meanwhile, Enzo Fernandez drifts into the midfield left half-space pulling Zubimendi with him.

But this press and movement also backfired against the Gunners. When Merino dropped centrally and Eze & Zubimendi moved forward, this opened up central space for Chelsea to exploit in transition, which the Blues duly did but failed to be clinical with the openings they created in transition.

Chelsea created four half-chances in the opening 30 minutes. Neto’s shot inside the box was blocked emphatically by Declan Rice, while Chelsea’s best chance fell to Estevao shortly after but the young Brazilian wonderkid skied his effort. There would be two more half-chances for Enzo and Joao Pedro but Enzo’s shot was blocked by Timber and Joao Pedro’s almost 1v1 opening led to an astray pass from the Chelsea forward whereby he chose to pass the ball instead of taking a shot.

Meanwhile, Arsenal created only one big chance in the opening exchanges as Bukayo Saka’s shot was stopped by Robert Sanchez in the 13th minute.

Tides Turn As Caicedo Sees Red

The game became a bit scrappy as niggling fouls persisted all over the pitch. There were several yellow cards brandished to both Arsenal and Chelsea players as the game began to get broken up as neither side could play in a free-flowing fashion.

However, the pivotal moment of the game would come in 36th minute. Moises Caicedo lunged forcefully and dangerously on Merino in the middle of the park. After a VAR check referee Anthony Taylor was asked to check the on-field screen & after his review Taylor brandished a straight red to Caicedo making it yet another red card for Chelsea and leaving the Blues down to ten men for the rest of the game.

This duly shifted the tides in favour of Arsenal as Maresca’s Blues dropped into a 4-4-1 and somehow managed to get to half-time without conceding as the scores remained 0-0 at the break.

Ten Man Blues Valiantly Hold Out For A Draw

After half-time with Chelsea down to ten men, Arteta made some tweaks to his set up. The Spanish boss brought on Myles Lewis-Skelly for Calafiori as Skelly dropped into the backline as a pivot of a back three. Mosquera and Hincapie remained as the RCB and LCB respectively while Skelly and Zubimendi rotated their positioning interchanging between who dropped into the back three to progress the ball as the other moved into midfield.

Meanwhile, down Arsenal’s right flank, Timber moved up higher to link up with Saka as Eze also drifted wider to the right creating a passing triangle 3v1 or 3v2 wide overload against Chelsea’s left side of Cucurella and Chalobah. This stretched the pitch and Merino was instructed to push up against the Chelsea back line.

Meanwhile, Rice moved into advanced positions from midfield, trying to break down the disciplined Chelsea backline as Martinelli created 1v1s against Gusto on the Arsenal left flank. Furthermore, Merino, who was dropping a lot in the first half, was instructed to push high, pinning the Chelsea back line.

Minute 48’ Arsenal’s build up after half-time post Arteta’s tweaks. Lewis-Skelly and Zubimendi rotate between who drops into the back three to progress the ball. Meanwhile, Timber pushes high on the right and he, Eze and Saka form a 3v1 against Cucurella as Rice advances and pushes up in an advanced position pinning the Chelsea backline along with Merino who does the same.

Ten-man Chelsea scored, quite literally out of the blue, as Trevoh Chalobah rose highest at the near post from Reece James’ delivery to head into the Arsenal net. However, Arsenal would hit back almost immediately. Some combination play down the Arsenal right resulted in Saka tantalising Cucurella and clipping a dangerous cross into the box. Merino, as he usually does, arrived just in time and in space to head into the Chelsea net making it 1-1.

Arteta then turned to his bench with Odegaard and later Madueke and Gyokeres coming on. Meanwhile, Maresca also made his substitutions at half-time bringing on Garnacho for Estevao and Delap for Joao Pedro. Odegaard attempted to playmake and create openings against the Chelsea defense but the Blues remained camped in their disciplined 4-4-1 low block and looked to hit Arsenal on the counter.

Reece James was pivotal for Chelsea as he strode the length and breadth of the pitch from his midfield position in what was a MOTM performance from the Chelsea captain. Despite large spells of possession and probing, Chelsea’s 4-4-1 block held firm and despite a half-chance for Gyokeres which was stopped by Sanchez, the Blues managed to see out the draw with the game ending 1-1 after the ninety and injury time.


Takeaways

This game was an archetypal gritty London derby between Chelsea and Arsenal. Maresca in his post match interview stated: “11v11, I think we were better than them. We managed the game, controlled the game, didn’t concede chances.” However, Caicedo’s red card changed the game entirely, relegating the Blues to ten men. Nevertheless, despite the numerical disadvantage, Chelsea put in an impressive and admirable performance to hold Arsenal at bay.

Meanwhile, for the Gunners Arteta was ruing not winning the game considering it was 11v10. In his post match presser, the Gunners boss stated: “We’re disappointed to come away with only a point.”But in truth, Arsenal didn’t look like they were at their free-flowing best and couldn’t muster up goals up front against Chelsea’s ten-man block to win the game. The draw meant Arsenal remained top of the Premier League with a five point lead over 2nd-placed Manchester City with Chelsea moving down to 3rd, one point behind the Citizens.

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