Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal

[xPetrCechx 13,586]

Very good result.

[Special Juan 28,304]

It's very easy to be frustrated with the result but you have to put it into context

Ten me for a long time, the red card issue is a serious problem and something we need to be looking at

I love how we grafted off the ball and battled for everything

[nyikolajevics 2,752]

Result is not great but I am very happy with the team. Against MU or Brighton, we shat our pants and completely gave up on the match after the red card, this time it was different. Maresca didn't send in CB-s for strikers and the guys just did business as usual, as it should be.

This team have improved a lot, we are not Cole Palmer FC anymore.. It's December now and we've been doing all right without him and other important players such as Levi, Fofana..

Now 3 games without Caicedo coming, will be a challange. 

[NikkiCFC 8,458]

Destroyed PSG and Barcelona 3:0

Won against Liverpool last 2 games. Now being better than Arsenal with 10 men. It's official. We can absolutely play everyone and be better, time to start to dream big.

[ZAPHOD2319 4,847]

I could only get score updates. Cell service is lacking in the rain forest. Leaving Puerto Rico now, it has been a great week here.

 

[NikkiCFC 8,458]

So weird seeing negative comments about Fofana. People are just hating and picking on him like with Sanchez and Kepa, Alonso before... Waiting for every small mistake to be loud even when he's putting top performances week in week out. Was immense today again. 

[OhForAGreavsie 6,111]

1 hour ago, TheHulk said:

Heard Essugo is back in training, maybe the break we needed for both Caicedo and Essugo to show his worth.

This is going to work out as well as it could in the circumstances. Moises will miss the next two games but be fully rested for the vitaly important Atalanta match. He then serves the final game of his suspension against Cardiff. A fixture there is a good chance he would have been rested for in any case.

Edited Sunday at 20:29 by OhForAGreavsie

[NikkiCFC 8,458]

9 minutes ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

This is going to work out as well as it could in the circumstances. Moises will miss the next two games but be fully rested for the vitaly important Atalanta match. He then serves the final game of his suspension against Cardiff. A fixture there is a good chance he would have been rested for in any case.

Cardiff is coming after 3 PL games. 

[mkh 647]

🗯🗣️ Asked Enzo Maresca why he saw Reece James as a midfielder from day one. "The day after I signed for Chelsea, I sent him a video and I told him since day one I have seen him as a midfielder. Before I even met him, I sent him a clip showing he could play in midfield.

"When you watch a player, you have to use a little bit of imagination. I always imagined him as a midfielder. I watched his games when he was on loan at Wigan, and I saw he scored a fantastic goal from 25 yards as a midfielder. The best thing from Reece is he is helping the team and improving as a leader."

💬Maresca on whether Reece James can play another 90 minutes against Leeds: "No, it is a no, the reality is no."

"It was a fantastic performance, but we need to manage."

Adds: "Chalobah had a black eye" after Hincapie duel. Seems to think it should have been 10v10.

[Laylabelle 9,586]

1 hour ago, Special Juan said:

It's very easy to be frustrated with the result but you have to put it into context

Ten me for a long time, the red card issue is a serious problem and something we need to be looking at

I love how we grafted off the ball and battled for everything

Given how we responded after losing a man against United and the mad subs mad im happy with this! Frustrating as we could've won with 11 but then might not who knows. But there wasnt a panic! 

The red card is stupid however and just keeps happening!

[Thor 2,770]

1 hour ago, NikkiCFC said:

So weird seeing negative comments about Fofana. People are just hating and picking on him like with Sanchez and Kepa, Alonso before... Waiting for every small mistake to be loud even when he's putting top performances week in week out. Was immense today again. 

Yep - was one of our best players in the Barcelona game. 

Aside from the mistake for the goal was again one of our best. 

Like Sanchez, if he wins us points, everyone skates over it. No one wants to even talk about how good Sanchez has been this season. One of the best keepers in the league.

[calculatingInfinity 1,486]

Really good performance all things considered, and a good result too really. Shame Fofana had that mistake at the goal, but oh well. Should have scored with Joao Pedro earlier as well, who was way too slow to take his shot. But yeah mistakes happens, and they were minimal considering the team played a man down for so long.

Have to say though, that challenge by Caicedo was extremely bad. He is such a good player, so really sucks missing him in this game and the next few ones. Maresca has built a great team and system here, hopefully he gets to keep developing it.

Edited Sunday at 22:16 by calculatingInfinity

[OhForAGreavsie 6,111]

1 hour ago, NikkiCFC said:

Cardiff is coming after 3 PL games. 

Yes, I forgot we're playing on Wednesday.

[DDA 10,036]

Reece James 

My Captain 💙 

Great performance from being 10 men down onwards.

Maresca absolutely smashed it today and has done since the game against United. 
 

Fofana was excellent as was Chalobah. 

 

[Vesper 30,507]

This was the most ‘Chelsea’ Chelsea have been under Enzo Maresca

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6850345/2025/12/01/Chelsea-enzo-maresca-arsenal/

 

For those who remember Enzo Maresca in his playing days, it can be difficult to square the perception of Maresca the player with the perception of Maresca the coach.

Now cast as a mini-Guardiola, obsessed with shape and patience and organisation, it’s worth recalling that Maresca was once a destructive box-to-box midfielder renowned for his tenacity and aggression.

On a TalkSport show last summer, presenter Jeff Stelling had to apologise for repeatedly referring to Maresca as Spanish, when he is actually Italian. That maybe sums it up; a ‘Spanish’ coach in style, he was very much an Italian midfielder; and by that, we mean a Gennaro Gattuso rather than an Andrea Pirlo.

And while the highlight of Maresca’s playing career was scoring twice for Sevilla in their 4-0 2006 UEFA Cup final win over Middlesbrough, back home in Italy, he’s most remembered for his contribution to a Turin derby. After scoring an unusually long-range headed late equaliser for Juventus in a 2-2 draw at city rivals Torino in 2002, Maresca ran in front of the home fans mimicking the ‘toro’ celebration that opposition striker Marco Ferrante had done earlier in the game. It threatened to cause a riot.

It was Maresca the mischief-maker rather than Maresca the manager that embodied Chelsea in their 1-1 draw with Arsenal. From the outset, Chelsea were aggressive, and the better side when the game was 11 against 11. Marc Cucurella repeatedly got tight to Bukayo Saka, but Moises Caicedo literally overstepped the mark when challenging Mikel Merino, and was sent off. At that point, Arsenal seemed to have the initiative.

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Yet somehow, this suited Chelsea. For all their successes over the years, Chelsea have always thrived when being in this situation: their opponents with the ball, themselves as the spoilsports. They’ve won titles when criticised for being defensive. They’ve won European Cups as the clear underdogs against more vaunted opposition.

This has become Chelsea’s identity. It’s not as glamorous an identity as most other big clubs, but that’s entirely the point. Chelsea’s players and fans have largely acted as a counter-attacking counter-weight to the increasing emphasis upon possession football, or attacking football, or pretty football. Which isn’t to say Chelsea haven’t ever been attractive, more that they haven’t been primarily concerned with being attractive.

Yesterday’s performance, then, fitted the bill.

Chelsea celebrate Chalobah’s goalVince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images

Chelsea stormed into tackles, and refused to let Arsenal play through midfield. At times, everything was man-to-man in the centre, no one finding any space to receive passes.

Chelsea scored the opener with a header from a set piece; Arsenal are considered the Premier League’s dead-ball masters, but Chelsea have scored only one fewer than them in those situations. The man who expertly looped it in, Trevoh Chalobah, is now into double figures for Premier League goals — not bad for a centre-back who has started 80 games. At a club who once relied on a steady stream of headers from defenders such as Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, John Terry and Marcos Alonso, it’s a familiar feeling.

Chelsea sat deep and, save for one moment when Merino equalised, defended the box well. Wesley Fofana won all six of his aerial duels. Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, traditionally not the most reliable with high balls, largely looked comfortable with aerial balls.

Chelsea brought on Liam Delap, a proper old-school No 9, who didn’t have a serious chance to score but could battle for long balls in the manner of a Didier Drogba or a Diego Costa. That meant Sanchez could hit the ball long, rather than attempting to play out, something Chelsea fans have never been too keen on, particularly in the Maurizio Sarri years.

More than anything, Chelsea offered a serious counter-attacking threat, with Pedro Neto a danger down the right and Arsenal players repeatedly cautioned for stopping dangerous breaks: Martin Zubimendi for knocking over Reece James, Cristhian Mosquera for bringing down Joao Pedro, Riccardo Calafiori for pulling back James after being caught on the ball, and then Myles Lewis-Skelly — a substitute brought on to replace Calafiori because the Italian was on a booking — for yet another cynical foul on James. Arsenal constantly looked prone to Chelsea’s quick breaks. James getting three opponents booked shows the extent to which he dominated this midfield zone, despite being surrounded by three £100million players.

“Today was a big statement,” James said afterwards, having been named man of the match. At a time when the Premier League has been going old-school, but when Chelsea have the youngest side in the division, this performance showed they can fight.

Strange though it might seem about a club who won a European trophy last season, then followed it up by becoming world club champions, this was the day when Maresca finally felt like a proper Chelsea manager. It was the game where his side completed the fewest passes, and won the most aerial duels, from his 51 league games in charge.

It won’t be like this every game, and nor should it be. But with Chelsea’s next game a trip to a physical Leeds United side on a cold December evening, some of these qualities might be needed again very soon.

By Michael Cox

Football Writer