Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella admits he has ‘big respect’ for ‘special’ Arsenal player after 1-1 draw

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Whilst there was a lot of focus on who Mikel Arteta would choose to start for Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, Enzo Maresca provided one surprise himself. 

For the visit of Arsenal, Maresca decided to drop his captain, Reece James, and start Marc Cucurella instead.

Both Arsenal and England fans will know the Spaniard very well by this point, after all, he did a good job of curtailing Bukayo Saka in the final of the Euros.

And perhaps Maresca took inspiration from that performance when selecting him to face the England winger at Stamford Bridge.

Saka got the better of Cucurella two or three times as the game went on, but ultimately the full-back did a good job against the Arsenal man.

Marc Cucurella says he had a special plan to keep Bukayo Saka quiet

That being said, Cucurella said he had ‘big respect’ for Saka after the game when speaking to Sky Sports.

The full-back mentioned that he had faced the Arsenal winger a fair few times in his career, and labelled their duel as a ‘good battle’.

READ MORE: Five things you may have missed from Arsenal draw vs Chelsea, including crazy Jurrien Timber moment

Cucurella said: “I think he is a top player. We played a lot of times in front of each other, but I think big respect – he is a top player.

“So I tried to do my work, he tried to do his work. It was a good battle. I tried to not give him space, I tried to be always close to him.

“We know he is a special talent, so I tried to do my work for my team.”

Of course, following the game, Arteta gave an update on Saka’s injury, who needed to be replaced by Gabriel Jesus late on.

Gabriel Martinelli was having a lot more joy for Arsenal

On the other wing, Arsenal had Gabriel Martinelli up against Malo Gusto, a contest which went in the away team’s favour.

Gary Neville was seriously impressed with Martinelli, who he thought stood above his Arsenal teammates.

Arteta has stuck by the Brazilian even through a prolonged period of indifferent form, and his faith should begin to pay dividends.

Martinelli still isn’t quite at his best, but his confidence seems to be coming back with each passing week.

Of course, it’s now just a question of whether Arsenal are leaving it too late for it all to come together in terms of winning the Premier League title.