Arteta takes heart from Arsenal escape in Chelsea duel

Arsenal's Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres slides in to Chelsea's Spanish goalkeeper Robert Sanchez as he grabs the ball during the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in London on November 30, 2025. [AFP]

Mikel Arteta insisted Arsenal deserved respect after the Premier League leaders battled to a bruising 1-1 draw with title rivals Chelsea at the end of a gruelling week.

Arteta's injury-hit side salvaged a point at Stamford Bridge thanks to Mikel Merino's header in the 59th minute.

It took everything Arsenal had to emerge unscathed after fired-up Chelsea ignored Moises Caicedo's 38th minute red card and took the lead through Trevoh Chalobah's 48th minute header.

Arteta was especially impressed with Arsenal's display because they started a Premier League match without injured centre-backs William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes for the first time this season.

Martin Odegaard and Viktor Gyokeres were only fit enough for the bench and Leandro Trossard was also absent due to injury.

In the circumstances, Arteta was delighted to see his team refuse to accept defeat after a draining seven days that started with a 4-1 rout of north London rivals Tottenham and featured a statement victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.

"It's been a big week," he said. "The derby, how emotional and the necessity to win, then Bayern Munich.

"We lost players in those games. 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 flavour that today we should have won the game, and we haven't."

As they chase a first English title since 2004, Arsenal can't afford to be without Saliba for long.

The French centre-back was missing after suffering a knock in training and will be assessed ahead of tomorrow's game against Brentford.

"It's been a headache because we have to have a lot of option and changes in the last few months. Saliba was unexpected. Today was a great learning match for all of us," Arteta said after his side moved five points clear of second-placed Manchester City and stayed six ahead of third-placed Chelsea.