Chelsea and Arsenal have gone in at half time goalless, but the Gunners are down to 10 men after Gabriel received a red card in today's lunchtime match.
Theo Walcott's pace came to the fore early as he raced towards Asmir Begovic but the Bosnian keeper did well to force the striker to send the ball wide.
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Former Arsenal man Cesc Fabregas then sent a bouncing shot goalwards but Petr Cech did well to cover it, as both teams showed good defensive nous to keep the respective keepers quiet.
Diego Costa fought his way into the box but his pull back failed to find a blue shirt, before Francis Coquelin gave Arsene Wenger a brief worry as the defensive midfielder had to be briefly treated.
Walcott's pace gave him another opportunity on goal, which he duly missed, before Santi Cazorla became the first name in the referee's book after tripping Pedro, who was threatening to break away.
Chelsea upped the tempo and they had a penalty appeal turned down after Gabriel shoved Eden Hazard off the ball. A Pedro snap-shot then forced Cech to parry the ball away, before Gabriel received a red card for kicking out at Costa in an off-the-ball incident between the fiery couple.
Calum Gillon
