Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior fuming after Arsenal take 'incredible' step towards title

Liam Rosenior was angry with Chelsea shooting themselves in the foot again - while Mikel Arteta endured a nerve-shredding moment before Arsenal took an "incredible" step towards the title at the Emirates. Arteta heaped praise on goalkeeper David Raya, who produced a stunning stop to prevent Chelsea substitute Alejandro Garnacho's injury-time cross from sneaking into the far corner late on.

It proved to be the final dramatic moment in a fiercely contested London derby as Arsenal battled past 10-man Chelsea to re-establish their five-point advantage over Manchester City at the summit. Gunners boss Arteta said: "The save that he made in the last action, it's a cross, it's not a shot, but he ended up being an unbelievable shot and I got the right angle and my heart almost stopped, but David's hand was there to bring it back to life.

"David is one of our leaders without a doubt, and he's a keeper that knows how to maintain his focus and decide a football match when you need it. Because sometimes he doesn't participate at all, and then in one action you have to be there, and that's very, very difficult to do.

"I'll try to stay calm, but obviously, we weren't getting the dominance and the sequences of play that we wanted and expected against the 10 men.

"So you have to navigate through that, and it's a big part of the game, and when you see the men and other teams are winning games, everybody's suffering, the margins are so small, so it's good."

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice requested to be taken off and is now a fitness doubt for their upcoming fixture at Brighton. Arteta commented: "We're going to have to get checked and see if he's available for Wednesday."

Chelsea manager Rosenior was left furious after his side were reduced to 10 men when Pedro Neto received two yellow cards within four minutes. Neto was seen arguing with the officials as he trudged off the pitch and could face further punishment amid suggestions that he was unaware he had already been booked for protesting about Arsenal's decisive goal.

Remarkably, this was Chelsea's ninth red card of the campaign, leaving Rosenior incensed that his side's persistent indiscipline was proving costly. He said: "I think as a group, me as the leader as well, we have to take more accountability for some of the decision-making we're having in terms of our discipline and in terms of the moments of the goals, not just today, the goals we conceded.

"Some of them are just not acceptable at this level. You can fine players. But it's a focus and a concentration thing that we need to get right. I know the record of the club is not great from the start of the season, and now it's getting bad."