<p>London: Ten-man Chelsea held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw in a highly charged top-of-the-table London derby on Sunday, Mikel Merino cancelling out Trevoh Chalobah's Chelsea opener to spare the Premier League leaders' blushes.</p><p>The result means Arsenal sit five points clear at the top of the table on 30 points ahead of Manchester City with Chelsea third on 24.</p> .<p>Chelsea were already a man down when defender Chalobah flicked a header into the net from a pinpoint corner by captain Reece James three minutes after the break.</p><p>Chelsea had been growing in confidence and were edging Arsenal going forward until Moises Caicedo was sent off in the 38th minute after a VAR check for landing a crunching tackle on Merino's ankle.</p> .<p>Arsenal replied when Merino rose to meet a Bukayo Saka cross in the 59th minute. They pushed for a winner with substitute Martin Odegaard going close twice and Merino forcing an outstanding save from Robert Sanchez in the dying moments.</p><p>Merino said Chelsea were "well structured, they know how to defend, they have good quality players".</p><p>"Still I think that if we are a little better we could have done much more harm to the defence. I think the team responded good to the goal," he told the BBC.</p><p>The game was a real derby scrap from the outset with some bad-tempered clashes and referee Anthony Taylor, rarely slow to reach into his pocket, also brandished seven yellow cards - six for Arsenal and one for Chelsea's Marc Cucurella who spent the match snapping at Saka's heels.</p> .<p>"Disappointing to come away with only one point," Chelsea captain James told Sky Sports.</p><p>"We went down to 10 men pretty early in the game and that made it more difficult."</p><p>James said he was proud of the way Chelsea had soaked up the pressure and countered. Pedro Neto was constantly busy down the right and substitute Liam Delap had a fine 78th-minute chance saved by David Raya.</p><p>"If you look at the amount of the yellows there were, I thought there was going to be one more red. It's a London derby, everyone wants to win this game," he said.</p>
<p>London: Ten-man Chelsea held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw in a highly charged top-of-the-table London derby on Sunday, Mikel Merino cancelling out Trevoh Chalobah's Chelsea opener to spare the Premier League leaders' blushes.</p><p>The result means Arsenal sit five points clear at the top of the table on 30 points ahead of Manchester City with Chelsea third on 24.</p> .<p>Chelsea were already a man down when defender Chalobah flicked a header into the net from a pinpoint corner by captain Reece James three minutes after the break.</p><p>Chelsea had been growing in confidence and were edging Arsenal going forward until Moises Caicedo was sent off in the 38th minute after a VAR check for landing a crunching tackle on Merino's ankle.</p> .<p>Arsenal replied when Merino rose to meet a Bukayo Saka cross in the 59th minute. They pushed for a winner with substitute Martin Odegaard going close twice and Merino forcing an outstanding save from Robert Sanchez in the dying moments.</p><p>Merino said Chelsea were "well structured, they know how to defend, they have good quality players".</p><p>"Still I think that if we are a little better we could have done much more harm to the defence. I think the team responded good to the goal," he told the BBC.</p><p>The game was a real derby scrap from the outset with some bad-tempered clashes and referee Anthony Taylor, rarely slow to reach into his pocket, also brandished seven yellow cards - six for Arsenal and one for Chelsea's Marc Cucurella who spent the match snapping at Saka's heels.</p> .<p>"Disappointing to come away with only one point," Chelsea captain James told Sky Sports.</p><p>"We went down to 10 men pretty early in the game and that made it more difficult."</p><p>James said he was proud of the way Chelsea had soaked up the pressure and countered. Pedro Neto was constantly busy down the right and substitute Liam Delap had a fine 78th-minute chance saved by David Raya.</p><p>"If you look at the amount of the yellows there were, I thought there was going to be one more red. It's a London derby, everyone wants to win this game," he said.</p>