Arsenal held Chelsea to a 1‑1 draw at Stamford Bridge, with Mikel Merino’s header salvaging a point. Arteta praised the squad’s resilience amid a hectic week and multiple injuries, calling it a “positive week” despite missing key defenders.

Mikel Arteta hailed his side’s performance after Arsenal fought back for a 1‑1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, describing it as a “positive week” despite the grind. 

The Gunners were without centre‑backs William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães for the first time this season, while Martin Ødegaard and Viktor Gyökeres were only on the bench, and Leandro Trossard was also injured.

Chelsea took the lead in the 48th minute when Trevoh Chalobah headed home from a Reece James corner. The joy was short‑lived as Arsenal equalised in the 59th minute through Merino, who rose to meet Bukayo Saka’s cross.

Arteta emphasised the difficulty of the schedule, noting the emotional derby win over Tottenham and a statement victory against Bayern Munich earlier in the week. “It’s been a big week – the derby, how emotional and the necessity to win, then Bayern Munich. We lost players in those games,” he said.

He added, “Today we had to play a partnership we haven’t played before in a really difficult match. The team had to react to that. It’s been a positive week because the difficulty was immense. But I have this feeling that today we should have won the game, and we haven’t.”

Arsenal remain five points ahead of Manchester City and six points ahead of Chelsea.

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca accepted Caicedo’s red card but questioned referee inconsistency, pointing to Rodrigo Bentancur’s unpunished challenge on Reece James earlier in the season. 

Maresca also criticised a yellow card for an elbow on Chalobah and confirmed James, who played midfield, is unlikely to feature against Leeds United on Wednesday.