The Short Fuse

The draw is annoying. You’d like to win against 10-man Chelsea.

But home to Arsenal was Chelsea’s literal best chance to make up points on the Gunners towards a title-challenge. They played like it, too. Even at 10-men, they were selling out.

But they squandered it with poor discipline.

Chelsea played arguably their best game of the season.

Arsenal played their worst.

It was a draw on Chelsea’s home pitch.

Chelsea squandered their best chance to gain ground on Arsenal in the table.

Seems like Arsenal have come out better off.

The proper response to Enzo Maresca saying Piero Hincapie should have been sent off is to laugh uproariously in his face for saying something so incredibly biased and stupid.

Chelsea are precisely the club that elements of the media have claimed Arsenal are for two or three years with respect to discipline and behavior towards referees.

And the funniest part is that it has actively hurt Chelsea's chances of winning the Premier League.

Arsenal have played many of their toughest Premier League fixtures already.

To spell it out even plainer:

City have taken fewer points than Arsenal from easier fixtures.

And that puts them back into the race somehow.

The Gyokeres yellow was ridiculous. I think the MLS one was harsh too, given the standard set by NOT cautioning Caicedo for a shove in the back. MLS was shoulder to shoulder.

I think Enzo should have been booked for one of his flailing arms.

Cucurella lucky not to get a second booking. He was whistled for four fouls, three on Saka, and committed (but wasn't whistled for) another one on Madueke late in the game.

To me, that yellow card disparity reveals a substantial, game-affecting difference in how the two sides were officiated.

An excellent point -- want to emphasize how much the early yellows to all the defenders and Zubimendi forced Arsenal to play more conservatively.

Arsenal rely on their defenders to win 1-v-1 duels to commit numbers forward. Without the two CBs and all the yellows, it's tough to do that.

Chelsea have a massive discipline problem and it starts with their manager, who cannot keep his temper.

7 reds in 15 Premier League matches for the team. 5 yellows for the manager this season.

Precisely.

Chelsea have a massive discipline problem and it starts with their manager.

I wonder if people will write and talk about that.

You could tell from the way Chelsea played that they knew they really needed to win this match.

They gave their best effort, even a man-down. And it wasn't enough to beat Arsenal's 2nd-choice CBs and makeshift attack.

Would happily have taken a draw when it came out that Saliba picked up a knock.

So now that Arsenal got a draw, I'm completely fine with it.

1-1 at fulltime. Annoying not to take the full three points with a man-advantage. But you take the draw away to Chelsea. The onus is on them to close the gap and they didn't do it today.

Chelsea were permitted to waste about half of the four added minutes on restarts alone.

Shocking decision on the added time and management of it.

If Jurrien Timber doesn't head that initial ball, Viktor Gyokeres almost certainly heads it home.

Four minutes seems exceedingly low for added time...

That's a really harsh yellow for Viktor Gyokeres.

I'm not sure that's even a foul by Gyokeres...

Brother, stop spamming crosses into nobody in particular. Recycle possession!

Declan Rice with a tremendous tackle.

Chelsea, once again, trying to cheat by faking an injury.

You'd like to use the last sub on an attacker, but I think Ben White for Jurrien Timber might be the right move.

Jurrien looks totally gassed.

Line-o got that one right. It came off Timber. Well done, sir.

Oh man, if Bukayo Saka could have gotten just a bit more around that ball to play it across the face, it was an Arsenal tap-in.

Darn.

Viktor Gyokeres replaces Ebere Eze.

Quiet game for Ebs.

Reece James has been really good for Chelsea. Unfortunately, his performance has been tarnished by his chirping at the referee after every whistle.

This is better and smart from Arsenal, slowing the game down.

No reason to force the issue and leaving yourself exposed to a counter and potential second yellow for a defender.

The chance will come.

That's really naive from Fofana.