There were no hard feelings between Arsenal’s players and Jorginho after the midfielder controversially avoided a second yellow card before kick-starting Chelsea’s comeback win.
The Gunners went ahead at the Emirates on Sunday through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s first-half header but Chelsea rallied in the second period after Frank Lampard ditched his back three and reshuffled his formation.
Chelsea grabbed an equaliser through substitute Jorginho, who profited from a mistake by Bernd Leno, but just moments earlier the Italy international should have been sent off.
Jorginho, already on a yellow card, cynically pulled back Matteo Guendouzi as he broke away but the referee did not penalise him – and he popped up minutes later to level the scores.
As Arsenal pushed forward to try and secure what would have been only their second win in 16 matches in all competitions, they left themselves exposed at the back and Tammy Abraham snatched all three points for the visitors.
Jorginho gave a cheeky little smirk when asked about the incident afterwards, telling Sky Sports: ‘It was not my fault. But in the end we play football not tennis. Contact is normal in football, it was a foul but no more I think.’
Despite the controversy, Arsenal skipper Aubameyang did not want to dwell on the incident and laughed and joked with the midfielder in the tunnel after the game before exchanging shirts.
David Luiz, who of course played for Chelsea until joining the Gunners in the summer, also shared a chat with his old teammate, hugging Jorginho and also chatting with Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante.
Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta was rather less forgiving about Jorginho avoiding a second yellow, saying after the game: ‘I think that’s up to the referee but for me it’s very clear. That’s it.
‘I blame my team [for defeat]. We are responsible for everything we did wrong on that football pitch. The decisions we didn’t get right, obviously. The other things we cannot control or change them now.’
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