James proud of Chelsea's 'big statement' after holding Arsenal

Reece James was frustrated that Chelsea did not beat Arsenal, despite seeing Moises Caicedo receive a red card, as the England international hailed a "statement" result.

The Blues played the majority of Sunday's match at Stamford Bridge with 10 men, but still came away with a deserved 1-1 draw against the Premier League leaders.

Chelsea were bright in the opening 38 minutes, until Caicedo saw red for a rash lunge on Mikel Merino.

However, Chelsea went ahead after the interval, with Trevoh Chalobah heading in from James' fantastic corner. Merino equalised for Arsenal, but the Blues had chances of their own before Robert Sanchez made a fantastic stop to deny the Spain international from doubling his tally late on.

And James feels Chelsea were well worthy of a point, and potentially more.

"Disappointing to only come away with one point. We went down to 10 men pretty early in the game, and that made it difficult. We had a lot more of the ball when it was 11 against 11," he told Sky Sports.

"Everyone can see where we are, what we’re fighting for. Today was a big statement. Even though we wanted to win, there’s lots of positives to take from that.

"We worked hard, a lot of analysis from the staff that sets us up the right way, and how [Enzo Maresca] felt we could hurt them.

"[Maresca] changed the formation slightly [after Caicedo's red card], we knew we wouldn’t have the ball as much, so we’d have to soak up the pressure and try and catch them on the counter, which we did a few times but didn’t have the final touches.

"I’m proud of the boys, it was electric here. We take a point and move forward."

Chelsea are unbeaten in each of their last nine Premier League London derbies (W5 D4), their longest run under the same manager since their first nine derby matches of Jose Mourinho's second spell in 2013-14.

Arsenal managed just eight shots, which is their fewest in a Premier League game since October 2024 at Bournemouth (six). 

Six points separate third-place Chelsea from the leaders heading into December, and Maresca echoed James' sentiment.

"I think we showed we are heading in the right direction," he told Sky Sports. "We were a much better team than them at 11 v 11 but with 10 players, it is difficult, but we dealt with it outstandingly.

"I think we are better than last season. We are closer [to a title race]. We'll see where we are in February and March and then we'll assess our target."