Arsenal miss chance to return to top of table

But the referee said no, what can I do?

“I had some doubts over the Fabregas penalty, yes or no. I can understand why the referee didn’t give a penalty, fair enough. It was a handsome through pass and a red card without any discussion”.

The win extends Chelsea’s unbeaten Premier League run under Hiddink to seven matches but they are still 14 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham.

Is the return of Alexis Sanchez a big positive for Arsenal? The second period started in the same vein that the first ended and Chelsea continued to dictate proceedings.

Arsenal appeared doomed from the 18th minute when captain Per Mertesacker was dismissed and Diego Costa scored the only goal of the game five minutes later. “But I’m very pleased”. I am feeling sharp and my brain is quicker than the last few months. “I know him well and he’s an excellent player”.

“I feel under pressure but I am in more control”.

“Yes, really. Counting a year ago”.

As Chelsea’s captain John Terry claimed, his team were on top even before the sending off. That’s a regret, that the team put in so much energy and we come out without any point.

Mythbusting – is Diego Costa a dirty player? Of course we are not in a good position in the table but there are a lot of games until the end of the season and we have chance to show our quality. Yes, it is in a way because you still didn’t beat Chelsea but on the other side no-one is really capitalising on mistakes from other teams.

“It is a gap and the Premier League is competitive with all teams whether you are down at the bottom or higher in the rankings”.

One possible reason could have been that he was struggling for fitness in the run-up to the match, although he is yet to score a single goal against Chelsea in any of their previous encounters, and might not have made the difference anyhow.

“Mertesacker made the challenge but I said he got Mertesacker sent off, you can not say it’s not true”, Wenger claimed.

It was typical of Costa to find himself centre-stage and barely a minute after Gabriel’s entrance, he stole between the Brazilian and Koscielny to convert Branislav Ivanovic’s cross with an adroit near-post volley. The season is always long, so it’s part of the game. “So, it’s important we keep going”.