2025-12-01 11:47:09

Mikel Arteta was left feeling frustrated after Arsenal were held to a draw by 10-man Chelsea in the Premier League.

The Gunners had to settle for a point after a 1-1 draw with the Blues in Sunday’s (30.11.25) London derby – even though Chelsea had midfielder Moises Caicedo dismissed in the first half – and the coach admits there was a sense of disappointment, even though his team had won games against Tottenham and Bayern Munich earlier in the week.

Arteta said: “It’s been a big week, starting with the [north London] derby, how emotional [it was] and the necessity and the intention we have to win it.

“Then to play Bayern Munich three days later. We lost players in those games.

“Today, for example, we had to play a partnership [in defence] that we never played before in a really difficult match.

“The captain [Martin Odegaard] is still not here [starting]. The No9 [Viktor Gyokeres] is still not here [starting]. Kai [Havertz] is still not here. We lost Leo [Trossard] in midweek as well. But the team had to react to that.

“I think overall it’s been a really positive week because the difficulty was immense.

“But I have this flavour that today we should have and we could have won the game and we haven’t. That’s a learning point for me.”

The result leaves Arsenal five points clear at the top of the league and Arteta stressed that it had been a “positive week” for his team.

The Spanish manager said: “Right from the beginning you could sense how much was at stake. Every duel and action was full gas, very short sequences of play.

“With the 10 men we expected a different game, we plan it, we went through it in the second half. They get a corner and they score.

“Then it becomes a very tricky game to play. Overall I think that when you don’t win with 10 men for 45 minutes you have to be disappointed. But you have to know the week we had, a tough opponent.

“They did everything they can again. They’ve never played together so we need to build that synergy.

“There were a lot of things happening before the game. The spirit of the team is intact. We’ve had a massive week both mentally and physically and I think overall it’s a positive week.”

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