One of Arsenal's best traits was put to the test against Chelsea

As Arsenal were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by Chelsea, one of the biggest talking points was their poor discipline at Stamford Bridge.

In a London derby, tensions were always going to boil over and that was on clear display when Moisés Caicedo was shown a red card for a bad challenge on Mikel Merino, but aside from the dismissal, it was the Gunners who picked up more cautions in the clash.

Mikel Arteta's side were shown six yellow cards in the game and their discipline had been one of their best traits, but that was put to a serious test against Chelsea.

Arsenal's discipline was put to the test against Chelsea

Going into the game, Arsenal were top of the fair play table having only picked up 12 yellow cards and no reds over the opening months of the season. Given their previously poor discipline, many would have been shocked to see the Gunners leading that statistic, but it was certainly playing a big factor in their strong form.

Now, they are third behind Newcastle and Manchester United in the yellow card stats, after they received six cautions at Stamford Bridge. Martín Zubimendi, Cristhian Mosquera, Riccardo Calafiori, Piero Hincapié, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Viktor Gyökeres all went into Anthony Taylor's book during the draw. That means with 18 bookings this season, a whole third of those came in the draw with Chelsea.

It was even a Premier League first for Arsenal as for the first time on record (from the 2006/07 season), they had three players carded inside the opening 30 minutes of a Premier League match as Zubimendi, Mosquera and Calafiori all picked theirs up before the half-hour mark.

A London derby is always going to be a feisty game and it's no surprise that tensions and temper got the better of the Gunners as a result, but their six bookings compared to Chelsea's two isn't a great representation of their ability to control themselves in the big games.

It is of course a one-off for now, but if it happens again then there's nothing to say Arsenal go one step further and see a player sent off for their poor disicpline. In no way were Arteta's side a dirty team at Stamford Bridge nor were their actions done with malicious intent, but in another game, they could have been ended up being reduced to 10 men, just as their opponents suffered.

The Gunners' discipline still remains one of their best traits, but they did fail the test it was put to against Chelsea. However, Arteta can urge his Arsenal side to look back at the clash with their capital rivals and point out how important it is to not lose their heads in the big games, especially when they are chasing the Premier League title.