Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal Premier League: match report, action as David Luiz sees red
Chelsea and Arsenal played out an entertaining draw at Stamdford Bridge as David Luiz saw red late on and Arsene Wenger's men might have had more.
Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal: match report
Chelsea defender David Luiz was sent off for an ugly foul on Sead Kolasinac as Arsenal finally emerged unscathed from a trip to Chelsea with a 0-0 draw against the champions on Sunday.
The Brazilian saw red in the closing minutes at Stamford Bridge and he could have no complaints about his dismissal after lunging into a crude two-footed challenge on Arsenal defender Kolasinac.
It was the third sending-off for a Chelsea player in their last three meetings with Arsenal.
Victor Moses got his marching orders in last season's FA Cup final, while Pedro was dismissed in the Community Shield.
The Luiz flashpoint -- Chelsea's fourth red card this season -- was the most memorable moment of a hard-fought London derby that was high on perspiration but low on inspiration.
"We have great respect for officials, but it is strange to finish a third game in a row against Arsenal with 10 men," Chelsea boss Antonio Conte said.
"You need to see what happened before the tackle."
After losing on their last five visits to Chelsea, Arsene Wenger's side had the better of the few clear-cut chances.
But Danny Welbeck, Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette all squandered good opportunities to hand Arsenal their first win at the Bridge since October 2011.
Luiz's moment of madness came too late for Arsenal to capitalise on their numerical advantage, so they had to settle for a first clean sheet at Chelsea since 2005.
"It was about mentality and a response from our last away game. We could have won it. It was an intense game," Wenger said.
It was another frustrating encounter with Arsenal for Conte's men, who were beaten in both the FA Cup final and the Community Shield.
Arsenal weathered an early storm before Welbeck wasted a golden opportunity when Hector Bellerin's cross picked out the unmarked forward, who couldn't adjust quickly enough to keep his header on target.
Wenger's men threatened again when Ramsey's pass left Marcos Alonso isolated and put Bellerin in behind the Chelsea defence.
Bellerin crossed low for Lacazette, but the France striker's shot was too close to Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Arsenal were sweeping forward with real purpose and Kolasinac tested Courtois with a stinging drive that the Belgian parried away.
The Gunners' rearguard remained as creaky as ever and Cesc Fabregas sprung their offside trap with a precise pass to Pedro, whose tame shot at Petr Cech let the visitors off the hook.
Encouragingly for Wenger, Arsenal were still picking holes in Chelsea's usually rock-solid defence.
They should have taken the lead just before half-time when Ramsey had only Courtois to beat after weaving his way past Cesar Azpilicueta and David Luiz.
However, Ramsey stabbed his shot against the far post before Lacazette somehow contrived to scuff the rebound over from close range.
Chelsea continued to lack a cutting edge after the break and Willian shot straight at Cech, then blazed over from long range as another attack petered out.
Shkodran Mustafi had the ball in the net for Arsenal, but the defender's header was correctly ruled out for offside.
As Chelsea's frustration mounted, Luiz shrugged off Alexis Sanchez -- on as a substitute -- and launched into a needless lunge on Kolasinac in the 87th minute. He was immediately shown a red card by referee Michael Oliver.
Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal: as it happened
Chelsea-Arsenal: live stream online preview
There is still plenty to figure out in this season's Premier League, as you would expect after a handful of games, but two sides with increasingly worrying and soothing aspects to their season so far face each other on Sunday at Stamford Bridge - kick-off at 14:30 CEST - looking for answers during a brief but difficult spell.
To make matters more interesting, it's a London derby and with the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United setting the pace atop the table, neither Arsenal or Chelsea can afford to lose. It might come down to a matter of how well you perform against the bigger clubs and how much damage you can inflict on them when points are being tallied at the end of the season.
As Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, says: "This is a massive game when you play against Arsenal. The same against City, United, Liverpool, Spurs. There are six top teams and when you play it is a massive game. We have to fight and play against a rival.”
Chelsea
After a mini-meltdown to start the season, which saw them lose against Burnley with two men sent off, Chelsea have regained a slice of the form that took them to the Premier League title in Antonio Conte's first season in charge.
After a summer of discontent, the last thing they needed before the transfer window shut was a loss to start the season. They have responded well and in a world of football that is growing increasingly frentic and fickle, a run of good results has largely forced the unhappy Conte and unstable squad narrative to die down. Wins against Spurs, Everton, Leicester and a thumping of Qarabag in their Champions League return have certainly not hurt.
Conte, however, is uninterested in the plight that Arsenal find themselves in, "I don’t care about Arsenal’s situation, I care about Chelsea’s,” Conte said in his pre-match press conference.
“They will solve their problems, we will solve ours.”
Conte also believes that if his Chelsea side keep their discipline, they can win. "I hope to finish the game with 11 players, because in the last two games, FA Cup final and the Community Shield, we finished two games with 10 men," he said. "I hope this. Then during the game I think the best [team] wins."
The Italian almost has a full squad to chose the starting 11 and subs from as Eden Hazard works his way back from a broken ankle and Gary Cahill returns from suspension he picked up against Burnley. New signing, Danny Drinkwater, will miss the game and won't be able to play until October.
Potential line-up: Courtois, Moses, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Rudiger, Alonso, Kante, Bakayoko, Pedro, Morata, Hazard.
Arsenal
Arsenal, a team in seemingly perpetual melt-down, have more to be concerned about. They started the season with a victory but fell to Stoke and Liverpool - in appalling circumstances. On top of that, they missed out on the Champions League this season and their star player wanted out before the end of the transfer window.
Even when things do go right on the field, there are problems on the terraces as thousands of Cologne fans appeared outside the stadium having bought home fans tickets with an hour delay to the game. Arsenal released a statement saying, "Following last night's UEFA Europa League match with Cologne we would like to stress that fan safety was always our paramount concern and informed all decisions made," as they plan to launch a probe into what happened.
Jack Wilshere came on for Arsenal in that Europa League game in what was his first appearance in an Arsenal jersey for close to 13 months and while Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla remain out along with a healing Callum Chambers, Wilshere will be looking to break back into Arsene Wenger's plans. Theo Walcott also hobbled off with a calf injury as an assessment of his injury is expected soon.
Potential line-up: Cech; Mustafi, Monreal, Koscielny; Bellerin, Kolasinac; Xhaka, Ramsey; Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette.
Chelsea-Arsenal live stream: betting
Fancy Nacho Monreal to bag the first goal at Stamford Bridge? A opener from the Spaniard pays out at 41/1.
Follow the live coverage match of Premier League between: Chelsea-Manchester City
