Arsenal produced a resolute away performance to earn a 0-0 draw at Chelsea, who had David Luiz sent off late on in Sunday’s Premier League clash.
Arsene Wenger’s side had lost both of their previous games on the road this season – at Stoke and Liverpool – but might have picked up all three points at Stamford Bridge, as Aaron Ramsey struck the post in the first half and Shkodran Mustafi had a goal disallowed in the second.
Chelsea defender Luiz was sent off in the closing stages for a nasty challenge on Sead Kolasinac, as 12th-placed Arsenal missed the chance to climb into the top half, while Chelsea remain third behind Manchester United and Manchester City.
The home side dominated the opening stages, but Arsenal grew into the game and almost snatched the lead in the 17th minute when Danny Welbeck headed Hector Bellerin’s cross just over the bar, before Alexandre Lacazette’s low shot was blocked by Thibaut Courtois.
Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech, on his return to Stamford Bridge, stood firm to deny Pedro when clean through on goal and Ramsey went even closer at the other end, dancing past two defenders and striking the post with Lacazette unable to turn in the rebound.
Antonio Conte had replaced Pedro with Tiemoue Bakayoko at the break, while Arsene Wenger waited until the 66th minute to make his first change, introducing Alexis Sanchez for the ineffective Lacazette.
Chelsea responded by sending on Eden Hazard for only his second Premier League appearance of the season, before Welbeck sustained an injury and was forced to limp out of the action, replaced by Olivier Giroud.
Following the flurry of substitutions, Arsenal thought they had taken the lead when Mustafi headed in Granit Xhaka’s free-kick from close range – only to have his celebrations correctly cut short by the linesman’s offside flag.
Hazard’s curling effort from the edge of the area into the palms of Cech was as close as Chelsea came before they were reduced to 10 men with three minutes remaining.
Earlier in the half, Luiz had perhaps been fortunate to escape with a booking, in light of Sadio Mane’s red card for Liverpool against Manchester City last weekend, when he mis-timed an overhead kick and caught Laurent Koscielny in the face.
But he was eventually shown a straight red by Michael Oliver in the 87th minute as he recklessly challenged Kolasinac with his studs showing to become the fourth Chelsea player to be dismissed this season.
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*Chelsea failed to score in a competitive home match under Conte for the first time (27 games).
*This was the first 0-0 draw between these two sides at Stamford Bridge since April 2005.
*Arsenal have now failed to score in eight of their last 14 trips to Stamford Bridge in all competitions.
*Arsenal have not won away at a ‘big six’ club in the Premier League since January 2015 (2-0 at Man City).
*Chelsea have been given as many red cards in their last five Premier League games (3) as they had in their previous 73.
