Arsenal and Chelsea stars forced apart after mass melee as tempers boil over between Xhaka, Chalobah and Kovacic

ARSENAL and Chelsea players got involved in a mass brawl at the end of a heated London derby at Stamford Bridge.

The ball went out for a throw-in in stoppage time at the end of the game, with Mikel Arteta’s men leading 1-0.

ReutersGranit Xhaka and Trevoh Chalobah got embroiled in a heated brawl in stoppage time[/caption]

PAKovacic stormed over to back Chalobah up after an altercation with Xhaka[/caption]

ReutersThe drama unfolded right in front of the Arsenal fans[/caption]

BT SportChalobah was annoyed as Xhaka prevented a quick restart[/caption]

Granit Xhaka proceeded to waste time as he kept the ball away from Chelsea.

Trevoh Chalobah attempted to get it away from Xhaka but the Swiss midfielder proceeded to shove him off.

And substitute Mateo Kovacic then came over to storm into Xhaka and push him away.

This led to a mass brawl as both sets of players backed their respective team-mates.

Ben White, Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey made the wise call to pull Xhaka away from the epicentre of the drama.

Michael Oliver had a word with the Swiss midfielder, who finished the game wearing the captain’s armband when Martin Odegaard was subbed off, but did not book him.

Arsenal held on for the full five minutes of injury time and the narrow win to return to the top of the Premier League table.

Gabriel Magalhaes got the only goal when he pounced on Thiago Silva’s blunder to turn Bukayo Saka’s inswinging corner in from a yard out.

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The celebrations with the away fans at Stamford Bridge were utterly jubilant from a united Gunners squad and staff.

Then Xhaka hit the headlines again as he dropped an F-bomb in the opening seconds of his BT Sport interview.

The 30-year-old was asked for thoughts on the game and said: “Look at that atmosphere it’s f***ing unbelievable”.

BT Sport quickly apologised for the expletive but it showed just how much the win meant to Xhaka.

ReutersEdouard Mendy ran over to try and break it up[/caption]

EPAXhaka clearly blamed Chalobah for the incident[/caption]

BT SportArsenal and Chelsea players rushed in to separate the rowing stars[/caption]