Mikel Arteta commended Arsenal’s resilience after a challenging week, securing a 1-1 draw against 10-man Chelsea and maintaining a five-point lead.
According to a report from the Independent, Mikel Arteta voiced pride in his squad for navigating a gruelling week that featured a big derby win and a Champions League victory, despite ending with a 1–1 draw at Chelsea.
Arsenal began the match without veteran defenders William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães, while key forwards and midfielders including Martin Ødegaard, Viktor Gyökeres and Leandro Trossard were either on the bench or unavailable — a first-time defensive setup this season.
After 10-man Chelsea opened the scoring through a set-piece header by Trevoh Chalobah, Arsenal replied via Mikel Merino, who levelled the match.
Reflecting on the week, Arteta said: “It’s been a big week. The derby, how emotional and the necessity to win, then Bayern Munich.” He added, “We lost players … today we had to play a partnership we haven’t played before in a really difficult match.”
Despite the injury-related absences and fixture congestion, Arteta described the week as a “positive week because the difficulty was immense”.
He admitted, though, “I have this flavour that today we should have won the game, and we haven’t.”