MIKEL SAVED BY THE BELL
Boss Arteta hails 10-man Gunners
DAVID LUIZ was shown red on his return to the Bridge only for teammate Hector Bellerin to get Arsenal out of jail.
Former Chelsea defender Luiz got his marching orders in the 26th minute after a comedy of errors in the heart of the Gunners defence.
But after Jorginho’s spotkick, Mikel Arteta’s 10 men levelled through teenager Gabriel Martinelli.
Despite Cesar Azpilicueta restoring Chelsea’s lead in the 84th minute, Bellerin struck three minutes later to leave Arsenal 10th.
Arteta said: “I talked about the team needing to step up when someone makes a mistake and that is what they did.”
It is always a worry for Arsenal fans when Shkodran Mustafi and Luiz line up at the back. Sure enough Luiz, booed by Blues fans, walked for fouling Tammy Abraham after Mustafi’s under-hit passback saw the striker round Bernd Leno. Jorginho slotted home the penalty.
Incredibly it was level when a clearance by Mustafi, of all people, sent Martinelli scampering through to slot home Arsenal’s first shot of the game in the 63rd minute.
Just when it looked like they’d survive Azpilicueta struck from Callum HudsonOdoi’s 84th-minute cross.
But Bellerin soon picked up the ball on the edge of the box and curled home.
Gunners midfielder Granit Xhaka said: “A lot of people talked about us before, saying we were not ready.
“After this game, nobody will speak about us – we showed a lot of character.”
Blues boss Frank Lampard said: “You have to have the killer instinct. We’ve not got that at the moment.”