Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea LIVE – Hosts hold on for vital win

“He’s a keeper that knows how to maintain his focus and decide a football match when you need him. Sometimes he doesn’t participate at all and then in one action you have to be there, and that’s very difficult to do.

“The save he made at the end, it’s a cross not a shot, but it ended up being an unbelievable shot. I got the right angle and my heart almost stopped but David’s hand was there to get it back to life.”

“We haven’t scored set-pieces for a few weeks now, but we scored so many in open play, today it was an option to score from these kind of situations. We’ve done it so well but we conceded as well.”

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta: “A proper London derby. We expected that because of the quality of the opposition, the individual quality that they have and because we played them four times already so we know how good and difficult they are to play against.”

Arteta says he reminded his side when they were level at 1-1 that they were in the same position at Spurs, before going on to win 4-1.

“We need to do something for sure. I need to speak to the coaching staff, the staff around the club, the players because it’s not acceptable.

“Especially the last two games we’ve caused our own issues even here against a very good team.

“You can see there’s a lot of good in our play. Technically, tactically, the quality of our play, but if we don’t eradicate this it’s going to be the thing that costs us.”

“Dissent is a frustrating one for any player to get a red card for.

“Some of the decision making today on corners, on certain fouls. I think Joao Pedro was fouled probably five times in a row in the first ten minutes and didn’t get a thing. And frustration builds up.

“I’m not blaming the referee for our defeat today but there are clear things that happened that caused frustration. I think that’s something that needs to be looked at as well.”

“It’s not about the punishment, it’s about finding the reason why,” Rosenior replies when asked about possible punishments e.g. fines for red cards.

“I don’t think Pedro Neto today or Wes Fofana last week would have, in that moment, been thinking about ‘if I get a red card, I’m going to get fined’.

“It’s a focus and a concentration thing that we need to get right. I know the record at the club is not great from the start of the season.

“We had ten games when I came in where we didn’t have these issues but now we’ve had two in two games so it’s something deep lying that we need to get to the bottom of.

“The thing for me is if we get to the bottom of those two main things (set pieces and discipline), we can be a very, very good team and we can achieve all the things we want to achieve.”

“It’s not just Pedro. I think, as a group, me as the leader as well, we have to take more accountability for some of the decision making we have in terms of our discipline.

“The goals we’re conceding, some of them, are just not acceptable at this level.”

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior: “I think it’s clear where our strengths are and I think it’s clear to everyone what we need to improve on.

“To concede two goals from set plays, which has ultimately cost us the game, is really disappointing. To have another red card, again, really disappointed.

“They’re not things that we haven’t spoken about. Because there is a lot of good.

“I don’t want to be sat here saying how well we played every week without picking up the points.”

More from Timber on the title race: “We have to enjoy it. It’s a privilege to be standing here with my team-mates, with Arsenal, fighting for this title. You have to enjoy it, it’s a beautiful place.”

Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber: “I think we deserved to win this game. The first half, we didn’t give much away and we go to the dressing room at 1-1 which is a bit of a shame but we finished it off second half which is top.”

Game over at the Emirates!

Ten-men Chelsea pushed for the equaliser, but Arsenal hold on for three vital points.

Incredible!

Liam Delap thinks he’s levelled the match for Chelsea after David Raya pulled off two stunning saves to deny Joao Pedro’s overhead kick, but the Brazilian was originally offside.

Arsenal are holding onto the ball well in the dying moments of this match, and when they need to defend. they have done very well.

Chelsea are pushing hard for the equaliser despite having ten men.

Another great save from David Raya to deny Chelsea.

Alejandro Garnacho’s cross evades everyone, but Raya is on hand to palm the ball away.

There are six minutes added on.

Mamadou Sarr is off for Tosin.

Moises Caicedo fires towards goal from range, and his effort flies wide of the post.

Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer are replaced by Liam Delap and Alejandro Garnacho.

Cole Palmer concedes another free kick.

Arsenal have another set piece in a dangerous place.

Ebere Eze drives towards the Chelsea goal and fires a shot towards the bottom left corner, but Robert Sanchez saves well.

Enzo Fernandez is booked for dissent.

Kai Havertz almost makes an instant impact as he almost gets onto the end of a long ball towards the Chelsea box, but Robert Sanchez is quick off his line.

Viktor Gyokeres and Declan Rice are replaced by Kai Havertz and Christian Norgaard.

Malo Gusto replaces Jorrel Hato.