PROUD BLUES: ALEJANDRO GARNACHO HAILS CHELSEA'S TEN-MAN STAND AGAINST ARSENAL
Alejandro Garnacho hailed 10-man Chelsea's draw vs. Arsenal. Manager Maresca was proud but questioned VAR's inconsistent application on Caicedo, Hincapie, and Bentancur incidents.
Alejandro Garnacho said he was after Chelsea managed a draw against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, even after playing 52 minutes with only ten players. Chelsea's Moises Caicedo was sent off for a bad tackle on Declan Rice after the video assistant referee got involved.
The referee, Anthony Taylor, initially gave Caicedo a yellow card, but it was changed to a red card after the VAR review. The Premier League Match Centre explained the decision on X and even included Taylor's announcement.
The post said: #CHEARS – 34’ VAR OVERTURN After VAR review, the referee changed the original decision from a yellow card to Caicedo to a red card due to serious foul play.
Referee announcement: “After review, Chelsea 25 makes a challenge with excessive force and endangers the safety of the opponent; therefore, my final decision is a red card.
Despite having one less player, Chelsea took the lead with a goal from Trevoh Chalobah in the 48th minute, but Arsenal tied the score through Mikel Merino shortly before the hour mark.
Garnacho, who came in as a substitute for Estevao at halftime, went to social media to say how proud he was of his team.
He shared a photo from the game on his Instagram story, with the caption: "Of the team today [blue love heart]."
He wasn't the only one feeling that way. Chelsea's coach, Maresca, was also happy with how his team responded after losing a player. But he also wondered why Arsenal didn't lose a player too, after Piero Hincapie seemed to elbow Chalobah.
When asked about the Chelsea red card, Maresca said, "I just said it there; he asked me about Moises' red card." It's a red card, but why wasn't Bentancur's against Reece a red card when we were at Spurs away?
So, as managers, it's hard for us to understand why they judge things differently. Moises' is a red card, yes. Bentancur's is a red card, yes. So why didn't they give him a red card? That's what we have a hard time understanding.
The thing is, it's a red card. But why do they judge things differently? And about the Trevoh one, I asked the referee, and he told me that it wasn't an elbow.
So, that's what they said. [He had a] black eye, with ice at halftime. But they judge things differently.
DID LIAM ROSENIOR’S PAST AS A PUNDIT INFLUENCE HIS DEFENSIVE STRATEGY AT ARSENAL?
Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior hits back at critics after a defensive approach saw the Blues exit the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Liam Rosenior stood by his cautious approach after Chelsea couldn’t overturn their first-leg deficit against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Down 3-2 from the first match, Chelsea never really put Arsenal under pressure at the Emirates. In the end, Kai Havertz—of all people—put the game to bed in stoppage time, scoring against his old club.
Rosenior switched things up, going with a back three and playing it safe. He wanted to keep the game close and try to push hard late on. He brought on Cole Palmer and Estevao around the 60th minute, hoping for a spark, but Chelsea still couldn’t carve out real chances. Arsenal just wouldn’t budge.
Pundits didn’t love Rosenior’s tactics and let him know it. He brushed it off. “I’ve been a pundit. It’s easy. It’s easy in hindsight,” he said. “If I go all-out and press high, we could give away two early goals, and then everyone asks what I’m thinking. That’s just how it is. Lose, and you’re hammered. Win, and you’re a genius. Usually, it’s somewhere in the middle.”
Chelsea were up against the league leaders, and with both Reece James and Pedro Neto missing due to minor injuries, Rosenior planned to hang in there and try to frustrate Arsenal—and maybe turn the mood in the stadium.
“That was the idea. You saw it,” he said. “I thought the psychological side of the tie mattered, and you could feel it in the stadium too. At 60 minutes, I brought on Cole and Estevao, and suddenly we had some moments around the box. I think people sensed this game could flip.”
It didn’t happen, though. Rosenior said he couldn’t fault his players for their effort, and in the end, Arsenal’s clinching goal came while Chelsea were throwing everything forward, desperate to turn things around.
IS JOãO PEDRO ACTUALLY BETTER THAN LIVERPOOL’S £79M HUGO EKITIKé? THE STATS REVEAL ALL
Liam Rosenior makes history as Chelsea win three in a row! Discover why João Pedro is the Premier League's best summer signing.
Since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over Chelsea in 2022, they've been anything but quiet in the transfer market. In just three and a half years, they've signed 54 new senior players and spent well over £1 billion.
Some of these signings haven’t even made it onto the pitch for the first team—guys like Gaga Słonina, Ângelo Gabriel, Omari Kellyman, and Caleb Wiley, just to name a few. But others have really made their mark. Think Marc Cucurella, Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández and, of course, Cole Palmer. Now, the question is, has one of Chelsea’s latest summer signings done enough to join that group? Is he about to become one of the Premier League’s signings of the season?
Let’s talk about Chelsea’s summer addition and what he’s bringing to the table. It’s been a great week for Liam Rosenior’s squad. On Saturday night, they were 2-0 down at halftime to West Ham at Stamford Bridge. Somehow, they turned it around and won 3-2, with Enzo Fernández scoring in stoppage time to seal it.
That win made it three league victories in a row for Rosenior. He’s now only the fourth English manager to start his Premier League career with three straight wins—joining Bobby Gould, Sam Allardyce, and Craig Shakespeare. Not bad company at all.
Just three days earlier, Chelsea booked their spot in the Champions League round of 16 after a wild 3-2 win away at Napoli. Down 2-1, João Pedro scored twice in the second half to turn the game around. The Brazilian’s goal at the weekend kicked off Chelsea’s comeback, bringing his total to 15 goals for the club—including three at the Club World Cup. So, how does he stack up against other strikers who switched clubs last summer?
Looking at the numbers, here’s how the new strikers have done since moving in the summer of 2025:
Hugo Ekitiké (Liverpool, £79m): 15 goals (10 PL, 2 UCL)
João Pedro (Chelsea, £60m): 12 goals (9 PL, 3 UCL)
Viktor Gyökeres (Arsenal, £54.8m): 11 goals (6 PL, 4 UCL)
Nick Woltemade (Man United, £69m): 9 goals (7 PL, 1 UCL)
Benjamin Šeško (Man City, £66.3m): 6 goals (5 PL)
Alexander Isak (Newcastle, £125m): 3 goals (2 PL)
Liam Delap (Spurs, £30m): 2 goals (1 PL, 1 UCL)
Only Ekitiké has scored more than João Pedro across all competitions, but Liverpool paid about £20m more for him than Chelsea paid for Pedro. In the whole Premier League, only Erling Haaland, Igor Thiago, Antoine Semenyo, and Ekitiké have more league goals than Pedro’s nine.
But stats aside, Chelsea just look more dangerous with Pedro leading the attack. Their last league defeat? He started that one on the bench at Craven Cottage. Since Rosenior took over, Pedro has started and scored in every match.
Chelsea have brought in plenty of players from Brighton during the BlueCo era, but with the way things are going, João Pedro might end up being the best of the bunch.