Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink has insisted that Per Mertesacker's red card was an obvious decision for referee Mark Clattenburg in the clash with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

The German defender was sent off for tripping Diego Costa when through on goal, although replays suggested minimal contact between the players.

The Blues won the game 1-0 thanks to Costa's first-half strike which saw the home side play with 10 men for for more than 70 minutes.

Hiddink suggests Arsenal were right to have their personnel reduced as Mertesacker clearly denied Costa a goalscoring opportunity but was less worried about a potentially missed penalty call on Cesc Fabregas.

"There was no doubt. You could see it was a beautiful through pass from Willian to Diego, he could have run straight through to Petr Cech but he was tripped," said the Dutchman.

"I had some doubts about the Fabregas penalty claim, and I can understand why the referee didn't give it, fair enough, but Mertesacker's red card was obvious."