David Raya saved brilliantly from Alejandro Garnacho in stoppage time before Liam Delap had a goal disallowed.
Mikel Arteta admitted his “heart almost stopped” as Arsenal rode out a nerve-jangling end against 10-man Chelsea to record a 2-1 win and pass another major examination of their Premier League title credentials.
William Saliba opened the scoring from a corner midway through the first half at the Emirates Stadium only for Piero Hincapie to put through his own net.
Jurrien Timber restored Arsenal’s advantage in the second half, again from a corner, and Chelsea’s Pedro Neto was dismissed just four minutes later.
Arsenal might have been expected to cruise to the three points, but David Raya had to produce a brilliant diving save from Alejandro Garnacho’s curling effort, and Liam Delap also had a goal chalked off for offside – both in added time – as the Gunners took a significant stride to capturing their first title in 22 years.
And Arteta admitted: “The save that he (Raya) made in the last action, from what ended up being an unbelievable shot, I got the right angle and my heart almost stopped. But David’s hand was there to bring it back to life.
“I try to stay calm, but obviously, we weren’t getting the dominance and the sequences of play that we wanted and would expect against 10 men.
“You have to navigate through that, and it’s a big part of the game. Everybody’s suffering because the margins are so small.”
Timber’s crucial 66th-minute winner – a day after rivals Manchester City claimed a 2-1 win at Leeds – marked Arsenal’s 16th goal from a corner this season to equal a record shared by Oldham and West Brom for a single Premier League campaign with nine games still to go.
The set-piece goals carried Arsenal to a second win in a week in which they were drawing at half-time.
And Arteta added: “I reminded the players that we were in exactly the same position against Tottenham seven days ago in that dressing room.
“They said: ‘Look what happened in the second half! So we’re going to do it again, but we’re going to have to go through some difficult patches to earn the right to win the game’. And we certainly did that.”
Chelsea’s hopes were scuppered by Neto’s dismissal which marked their seventh red card in the league this season, their second in as many fixtures, and ninth across all competitions.
Neto talked his way into referee Darren England’s notebook as he protested against Timber’s goal before he scythed down Gabriel Martinelli four minutes later.
And manager Liam Rosenior said: “It is disappointing for Pedro, but it’s not just him, as a group – me as a leader included – we have to take accountability for some of the decisions we are making in terms of our discipline.
“You can fine players (for red cards) but it is not about the punishment. It is about finding the reason why.
“I know our record is not great since the start of the season, and we have now had two in two games so there is something deep-lying that we need to get to the bottom of.
“We need to do something for sure. We need to speak to the coaching staff and the players because it is not acceptable. In the last two games we have caused our own issues, and if we don’t eradicate it, it is going to cost us.”
