Chelsea vs Arsenal Review: This is Chelsea.

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When Reece James walked into the mixed zone for the presser, his hands were on his hips, a little betrayal from his body to his state of mind. When asked for his thoughts about the game, his first reflection left little to the imagination - Chelsea were disappointed to come away with just a point.

To say the result was simply a draw would be grave injustice. At the final whistle, Chelsea emerged with bones ground to dust; lungs corroded by relentless attempts to suffocate the many spaces that opened up due to the absence of the one man who often covers ground for two.

Consider this - Chelsea had had more shots with 10 men in an hour than City had mustered with 11 men over 90 minutes. Bayern & Newcastle managed 9 shots against Arsenal in 90 minutes. Chelsea had 7 with 10 men.

The defence limited the Gunners to 8 attempts - the fewest they’ve had in any game in any competition this season. To do this to a unit many consider to be Europe’s best this season, and to emerge the better side was a resounding statement.

If the excuse is that Arsenal were missing the monumental pairing of William Saliba and Gabriel, then Chelsea could go one up again, saying they edged the contest without Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill & Moises Caicedo. Draw a line from the #10 in Chelsea’s strongest XI to the strongest CB, and it is effectively the spine of the side.

There is no question Chelsea are evolving. The DNA of their golden age, lost to violent change for years, is finally mutating into its current side. Weeks ago, when Maresca saw his side go down to 10 against United early, he panicked and brought off his best transition outlet and threw on a centerback. Here, there must have been temptation to revert to what only yielded a narrow loss then.

Instead he opted for courage. He resisted the urge to take off an attacker to fortify the damaged engine room with Andrey Santos. The result was that even with a man advantage, Chelsea’s speed on the break ensured Arsenal were reluctant to expose the untested pairing of Mosquera and Hincapie.

The clarity and effectiveness with which Maresca uses his subs now is in stark contrast to changes he made a few months ago. He wasted little time taking off the immensely popular Estevao, his most in-form scorer, at half-time and reinforced the flank with Garnacho. Chelsea’s wingers diligently fell back like wingbacks, double-teaming Saka and forcing Madueke to turn back.

Liam Delap was brought on at the 55th minute mark, recognizing that he would be better placed to offer the dual threat of pushing the Arsenal line back & force both their yellow-carded CBs to get into risky jostles with him. The response to a major crisis was near flawless.

Unlike United, where his team were demoralized by his negative changes, here they were galvanized by the positive reinforcement. Reece James produced his best Chelsea display in midfield, a role he previously struggled to grasp fully. Two daisy-cutter switches out wide underlined his befuddling variety of exquisite talents & a renewed confidence in his body holding up to the rigours of title-deciding fixtures. He won 11 of his 12 duels in midfield, barked at his side to prevent them from collapsing into a deep block & whipped in a superb ball for Chalobah to head in the opener.

Gusto bombed up fearlessly, underlapping aggressively to pin the defence & help Estevao find room against Calafiori. Robert Sanchez pulled off one of his best displays in a Chelsea shirt, single-handedly preventing 1.18 goals. His distribution was as good as his last standout performance against PSG, long ball after long ball helping exit Arsenal’s attempt to muster together a press and keeping their defensive line honest in transition. This report could easily have been about the one man who was ejected; instead it is about the 10 that stayed on - enduring & earning an invaluable point against the odds.

Make no mistake about it, this is the kind of performance that lays the foundations for deep title runs. This was a nod to the grit & resilience that helped overturn a 2-0 deficit away from home against, perhaps, the greatest team that ever played football.

This was Jose Mourinho wearing an Inter blazer, running on to the field at the Camp Nou, pumping his defiant fists after holding on for a 1-0 defeat despite having a man sent off 10 minutes before Caicedo was. If Maresca wanted a definitive answer about whether his side can be title challengers, he received an emphatic, unified response. If they can pull off such a performance without their 3 best players and only ten on the field, then it wouldn’t be impudent to say Arsenal should be looking very nervously over their shoulders.