Ten-man Chelsea held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw in a highly charged top-of-the-table London derby on Sunday, Mikel Merino cancelling out Trevoh Chalobah's Chelsea opener to spare the Premier League leaders' blushes, Reuters reported.

The result means Arsenal sit five points clear at the top of the table on 30 points ahead of Manchester City with Chelsea third on 24.

Chelsea were already a man down when defender Chalobah flicked a header into the net from a pinpoint corner by captain Reece James three minutes after the break.

Chelsea had been growing in confidence and were edging Arsenal going forward until Moises Caicedo was sent off in the 38th minute after a VAR check for landing a crunching tackle on Merino's ankle, according to Reuters.