Chelsea player ratings vs Arsenal: Pedro Neto and Robert Sanchez have shockers as Blues beaten despite wicked Reece James causing Premier League leaders real problems

Chelsea suffered their first Premier League defeat of the Liam Rosenior era as they went down 2-1 at Arsenal on Sunday. The Blues were undone by two Gunners set-pieces, and despite causing problems from dead balls themselves, most notably when Piero Hincapie put the ball into his own net, they were unable to make their chances count before Pedro Neto's red card ended their hopes of taking anything away from north London.

Chelsea began the game in the ascendancy and Mamadou Sarr, making his full Premier League debut, wasted a great opportunity to open the scoring when he miskicked with the goal at his mercy. The defender was made to pay, too, as he got the final touch on William Saliba's goal-bound header after Gabriel Magalhaes had nodded a corner across goal.

The Blues drew level right on half-time, however, as moments after David Raya pulled off a superb save to keep Declan Rice from scoring an own goal, Hincapie flicked Reece James' wicked cross into his own net. Chelsea continued to pose a threat immediately after the break, too, as Raya was called into action to deny both Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro.

Rosenior's side looked the most likely to score the third goal of the game until Jurrien Timber rose highest to head a Rice corner past a flailing Robert Sanchez midway through the second period. Neto was booked for dissent in the aftermath of that strike, and picked up a second yellow moments later after scything down Gabriel Martinelli during an Arsenal counter-attack.

Sanchez redeemed himself somewhat with a fine save to deny Eberechi Eze before substitute Alejandro Garnacho almost grabbed an equaliser in stoppage time when his cross looked destined for the corner, only for Raya to claw it away, with defeat leaving the Blues sixth in the table in their pursuit of Champions League qualification.

GOAL rates Chelsea's players from the Emirates Stadium...

Goalkeeper & Defence

Robert Sanchez (3/10):

Almost gifted Arsenal chances on three separate occasions in the first half by taking too much time on the ball before making a real mess of the corner that led to Timber's goal. Did make a fine save to deny Eze from making the game safe.

Reece James (8/10):

Will be disappointed with how he lost Gabriel for the opening goal, but was otherwise excellent. Crosses into the box were imperious, most notably from set-pieces.

Trevoh Chalobah (6/10):

Led the Chelsea backline well alongside an inexperienced partner.

Mamadou Sarr (5/10):

Missed a great chance to break the deadlock before deflecting in Saliba's header at the other end. Looked a little overawed on his first Premier League start.

Jorrel Hato (6/10):

Grew into the game after being burned by Saka on a couple of occasions. Given license to bomb on, particularly in the second half, while he put in some good tackles going the other way.

Midfield

Moises Caicedo (7/10):

Everywhere in the Chelsea midfield as he routinely put out fires before using the ball intelligently enough.

Andrey Santos (6/10):

Kept Eze relatively quiet in another assured midfield performance.

Enzo Fernandez (5/10):

Struggled to get into the game in the first half but grew into it after the break. Tested Raya with a low shot early in the second period.

Attack

Pedro Neto (2/10):

Was in and out of the game after being instructed to keep his width while James came inside. Unable to create much of note as a result before stupidly getting himself sent off for two quickfire bookings.

Joao Pedro (7/10):

Produced some excellent hold-up play to get Chelsea up the pitch. Will wonder how he didn't score when his header was saved by Raya early in the second half.

Cole Palmer (6/10):

Drifted inside from the left to find plenty of space and cause problems early on, but Arsenal managed to shut him down eventually.

Subs & Manager

Romeo Lavia (6/10):

On for his first appearance in three months and put himself about in midfield.

Malo Gusto (6/10):

Coped well in the slightly unfamiliar position of left-back.

Alejandro Garnacho (N/A):

Almost equalised right at the death after coming on late.

Liam Delap (N/A):

Wasted a good counter-attacking opportunity and had a goal disallowed during his late cameo.

Tosin Adarabioyo (N/A):

On in stoppage-time.

Liam Rosenior (6/10):

His game-plan worked well for the most part, but a failure to defend set-pieces and more ill-discipline proved costly.