Luiz sees red as Arsenal force Chelsea to 2. 2 draw

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The Arsenal Football Club Tuesday night forced their arch rivals, Chelsea Football Club to a 2-2 draw in the London derby English Premiership league to make the 59th drawn game ever in their 200 meetings since football started in Britain as their football rivalry gets more complicated.
Ten man Arsenal after former Chelsea defender, David Luiz got a straight red card in 26th minute “for a double jeopardy offence” against Mustafi struggled to equalize twice. Jorginho scored the resultant penalty kick in the 28th minute but the ovation for the winner by Azpilicuete in 63rd minute had hardly cooled off when visiting Arsenal again equalized through Bellerin in 67th minute making the Stamford Bridge Stadium look like a burial ground at 2-2.
It was a night Chelsea was supposed to run away with victory as the team outplayed Arsenal in all departments of the game. Arsenal had only two shots at goal while Chelsea had eight; Chelsea earned 17 corner kicks against Arsenal 5 but Chelsea played rough committing 11 fouls against Arsenal 6.
Although the game under review is the 24th game in the 2019/2020 league season, it made Chelsea stayed at the 4th position with 40 points and Arsenal at the 10th position with 30 points.
Of the 200 matches played between both teams in all competitions, Arsenal won 76 while Chelsea won 65; Arsenal scored 279 goals while Chelsea scored 264 as at their Tuesday night game.
A further breakdown of the statistics showed that Arsenal won 63 of the 166 games of the EPL leaving Chelsea with 53 wins; both teams had 50 draws each but Arsenal scored 233 goals here while Chelsea scored 216.
Both teams played 20 matches in the F. A. Cup, Arsenal earned 9 wins while Chelsea got 5 wins while there were 6 draws. Also here Arsenal scored more goals scoring 32 times against Chelsea’s 23.
In the EFL, they met 8 times with Arsenal winning thrice and Chelsea running away with four victories. Only one drawn game was recorded here but Chelsea held sway in this competition scoring 15 goals against Arsenal’s 8.
Both teams met in the Community Shield playing three games, winning once each drawing one and scoring three goals each.
At the European level, both teams played two matches at the UEFA games with Chelsea winning one match and the other was a draw. Chelsea scored three goals while Arsenal netted two goals. At the Europa level, they met once which was last year and Chelsea won 4-1.
Both teams met in four different finals, F. A. Cup 2002 Arsenal 2 v Chelsea 0; 2007 League cup Chelsea 2 v Arsenal 0; 2017 F. A. Cup Arsenal 2 v Chelsea 1 and 2019 Europa Cup Chelsea 4 v Arsenal 1.
Arsenal’s record win over Chelsea was 5-1 at Stamford Bridge on the 29th November 1930 but Chelsea’s revenge was sweet as the team spanked Arsenal 6-0 at the same Stamford Bridge on 22nd March 2014 the very day Arsenal Coach, Arsen Wenger was marking handling his 1000th game for Arsenal.
Incidentally, former Ivorien Captain, Didier Drogba scored the highest number of goals (13) in the Arsenal versus Chelsea encounters.
The rivalry among fans of the two teams is so intense that Arsenal fans survey in 2003 says Chelsea is the third rival of Arsenal after Manchester United and Totenham Hotspur while Chelsea fans say Arsenal is their main rival with Totenham Hotspur as number two.
Another survey in 2009 says Chelsea is the most disliked club by Arsenal fans and then Totenham Hotspur but Chelsea fans say they dislike Liverpool club most followed by Arsenal.
According to records, the highest crowd pulling match of the two clubs is the 2017 F. A. Cup final of 27th May 2017 at the Wembley Stadium watched by 89,472 football fans.
– ENIOLA OLATUNJI.

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