Mikel Arteta has commended his Arsenal squad for navigating an "immensely difficult" period, culminating in a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The result, which leaves the Gunners five points clear at the Premier League summit, concluded a demanding week that included a emphatic derby victory over Tottenham and a crucial Champions League win against Bayern Munich.
A Test of Squad Depth
Arsenal faced significant defensive challenges, starting a league match without the central defensive partnership of William Saliba and Gabriel for the first time this season. Further complicating matters, key players Martin Odegaard and Viktor Gyokeres were only fit for the bench, while Leandro Trossard was ruled out through injury.
The match's dynamic shifted dramatically in the first half when Chelsea's Moises Caicedo was shown a red card for a studs-up challenge on Arsenal's Mikel Merino. Despite playing against ten men for almost an hour, Arsenal found themselves trailing after Trevoh Chalobah headed the Blues into the lead.
The Gunners showed resilience to salvage a point, with Merino scoring the equaliser to ensure the league leaders did not leave empty-handed.
Arteta's Mixed Feelings
While acknowledging the week's achievements, Arteta admitted to a sense of missed opportunity. "It's been a big week," the manager stated, reflecting on the emotional North London derby and the European triumph over Bayern.
"We lost players in those games, today we had to play a partnership we haven't played before in a really difficult match. The captain is still not here, the nine is not here, Kai (Havertz) is not here, we lost Leo," Arteta explained, highlighting the squad's injury woes. "The team had to react to that. It's been a positive week because the difficulty was immense. But I have this flavour that today we should have won the game, and we haven't."
On the injury front, Saliba's absence was described as "unexpected" after a knock in training, with his condition to be assessed ahead of Wednesday's fixture against Brentford. Gabriel is expected to be sidelined for a longer period.
Maresca's Refereeing Frustrations
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca accepted Caicedo's dismissal but voiced frustration over inconsistent officiating. He questioned why a similar challenge by Tottenham's Rodrigo Bentancur on Reece James earlier in November did not result in a red card.
"Moises is a red card, but why Bentancur against Reece was not?" Maresca said. "As managers we try to understand why they judge in different ways. We struggle to understand."
Maresca also referenced a separate incident involving an apparent elbow from Arsenal's Piero Hincapie on Chalobah, which only yielded a yellow card despite the Chelsea defender suffering a bloodied face.
While praising Reece James's outstanding performance in midfield, Maresca confirmed the player would need to be managed and is unlikely to feature in Chelsea's next match against Leeds on Wednesday.
