Morning all.
The last few days had drawn most of the attention away from yesterday’s clash at the noisy neighbours in Fulham Broadway. The demolition of Tottenham last weekend and the welcome blitz of Bayern in midweek had left us all on cloud nine. But, we knew it was only two thirds of the job done, only part of the message to the North-West with the visit to Stamford Bridge – the final sign that this Arsenal team are on the march to a new level. The team knew it, they want to win every game.
The injury news concerning Trossard camouflaged a late knock on Saliba. He still travelled with the team so his omission seemed more of a precaution but when did Arsenal last line up without Big Bill and King Gabby? Probably a League Cup tie this season but it certainly wasn’t a Premier League game, but no panic by Arteta who pivoted and in stepped Mosquera and Hincapie the understudies and it was business as usual. Well up to a point!
The Chelsea manager obviously took note of how Sunderland approached their recent home game against Arsenal and thus Chelsea went full Stoke City with a raft of over-physical challenges early in the game and beyond which the referee maybe should have been more strict with. Arsenal finishing the game with 6 players on yellow cards and Chelsea with just one yellow besides Caicedo’s red it made you scratch your head.
Cucurella left a bit on Saka in the opening minutes as a kind of welcome to Stamford Bridge, it was a yellow card all day but the referee declined to act and that’s how the game progressed. Arsenal showed their maturity by finishing with XI on the pitch, Chelsea played reckless football and a referee trying to keep the game moving but ultimately failing as we shall see. Three yellow cards in the opening 12 minutes set the standard, Arsenal were punished to the max with two yellows, Chelsea less so with Cucurella on a yellow, a player you’d love to punch.
Saka had the first shot on target during this period but the smooth football was absent from the Gunners as we got drawn into an WWE style contest from Chelsea and that suited them.
The in-your-face tactics meant that Arsenal’s composure wasn’t at its highest which allowed the Chavs a few chances, mainly falling to Estavao who wasted them with wild shots over the bar. Wild shots to match their wild football. Rice was forced into a deeper role assisting the new centre back partnership whilst Eze was not really putting his stamp on the game. He was dispossessed a few times, arguably by foul challenges but he had to be stronger because the referee wasn’t interested so waving his hands in the air was pointless.
There were a few scrambles in the Arsenal penalty area but Raya didn’t have a difficult save to make as Timber and Rice were prominent with a number of top class challenges. Meanwhile Caicedo was walking a thin line with his manager to blame no doubt by winding-him-up too much. Arsenal failed to really create a lot in the first half up to the main talking point.
Merino, who had played manfully up until around the early 30th minute, was on the receiving end of a reckless lunge by Caicedo who went over the ball on the Spaniard and could have caused him some serious damage. After what seemed like an endless and never ending VAR check which should have only taken a minute, Caicedo was sent off. He thoroughly deserved his red card which added to the previous 6 reds a clearly undisciplined Chelsea had received this season.
It was the 38th minute when the Chelsea man slumped off and Arsenal came close once during that and added time. A great driving run by Rice who exchanged passes before putting Martinelli in on goal, but Sanchez saved and the game continued in its disrupted form with Chelsea trying to get an Arsenal player sent off to even things up.
A signpost for future matches between the clubs perhaps?
H/T and breathe.
At half-time Arteta took Calafiori out of the firing line, he was on a yellow after all but maybe he’s still not 100%. Myles Lewis Skelly replaced him and promptly got a yellow himself in the early moments of the 2nd 45. Neto was a constant threat with his pace and credit to Chelsea, they didn’t look a man down and still competed hard. Then from a corner Chelsea scored with a header and the balance of the game shifted as Arsenal now needed two goals to win and that wasn’t going to be easy. Too many over hit passes, misdirected crosses and loose control up front saw promising patterns of play wither on the vine.
Arteta acted, on 58 minutes on came Odegaard for Zubimendi and Madueke for Martinelli, although neither really made the required impact and it eventually was down to two of our players who had actually started the game to break our deadlock. Saka finally got clear of the Cucurella limpet to get a good cross into the box and our old war horse Merino headed home. It looked so simple but had taken us an hour.
From then on Arsenal probed without really looking likely to pierce the Chelsea defence who were resolute whilst their attackers remained dangerous on the break.
No point over-stretching, if you can’t win the game then don’t lose!
Gyokeres came on on 72, very welcome, and would have got an unlikely winner if Timber hadn’t got in the way but this niggly game fizzled out with Chelsea obviously looking the happier playing almost an hour with ten men whilst Arsenal players left the pitch shaking their heads.
A Stamford Bridge too far perhaps?
We march on…
By Kev
Morning Kev, all.
Good post.
What a horrid game that was. Chelsea have enough talent on the pitch, they don’t need to resort to playing the game in the way they chose to. If the PGMOL think Taylor officiated the match in a fair and consistent manner then Webb really has lost the plot.
I agree Kev, other teams will follow suit, especially if they know they can get away with it.
Morning Rico, thanks for the edit, it needed cleaning up.
Yeah, Taylor didn’t help and yes other teams will take note especially when we’re away and facing a volatile away crowd atmosphere. I can’t remember the last time when Stamford Bridge had such a raucous atmosphere, they were really up for the game and the officials were definitely influenced.
They targeted Zubimendi and stopped us building from the back, we went long too often and that’s no going to work even though Merino did his best.
I would have liked to have seen Saka switched occasionally to the left wing and Madueke on the right just to mix it up. Chelsea turned it into a battle in midfield which stymied our flow and Villa will do the same. Arteta needs to come up with an answer?
Would you have taken a draw at kick off ? taking everything into account as we were top playing away to second
. There were many things stacked up against us and Taylor set the tones almost immediately by booking Zubimendi in the opening moments . He then looked to even things up with Cucurella’s yellow following about 3 goes at Saka but by the time of the Caicedo sending off , two further Arsenal players were treading on egg shells and a little later 3/4 s of our defence was in the book.
No doubt the sending off will be used as evidence of fairness but we have to remember that it wasn’t Taylor that sent him off , it was John Brookes on VAR.
As Kev said the pattern has been set and it’s just a case of whether the other teams are capable of carrying it out . Chelsea set out to rough us up however Taylor gave us 6 yellows against their 1 and the straight red “eventually”
. One might be of the opinion that a degree of home bias and crowd influence were in evidence . Or perhaps certain forces didn’t want us to get too far ahead.
Good morning to you both.
We saw the same game, Kev.
Taylor was certainly card happy but only as far as dishing them out to Arsenal players. He took advantage of any chance to book our boys whilst letting the Chavs get away murder.
Hopefully, Odegaard will show no reaction from his return to football and be able to start against Villa while Eze can take a break, he looked leg weary and wasn’t up for the type of tactics Chelsea used.
Did I say good morning? It’s not good here, been pissing down since 4 am. 😕
The Zubimendi booking was a joke Kev and they knew he wouldn’t be as effective afterwards. Dirty lot but waits until they come to The Emirates when hopefully, we’ll have a fully fit squad..
I’d have taken the draw before kickoff but I think after the sending off, it feels like a missed opportunity.
Morning Cicero.
Eze certainly didn’t have his finest hour in an Arsenal shirt but then as a team, I thought we looked a bit off. It happens though so no hysterics from me. lol
I’m hoping Odegaard can start on Wednesday, or Nwaneri who has just played in a friendly which will have done him good.
Yes Cicero, the blatant two-handed shove to the ground by Caicedo on Merino right in front of the referee was astonishing , Taylor did nothing! It’s performances like that that make you suspect that there’s an effort from all involved to stop us, I fully expect the same at Villa Park.
Rico, the Zubimendi booking was a referee trying to regain control after allowing too much to go earlier in the game. Arsenal showed restraint, Chelsea lost all discipline but were allowed more latitude to disrupt.
Agree Kev but it’s wrong and it frustrates the heck out of me.
Re the Caicedo booking from Taylor rather than a straight red, apparently it’s protocol to book a player first and foremost so it can be reviewed by VAR.
Morning all,
Yes,not a nice game to watch. Chelsea did a number on us, how Cucurella got away with just one yellow is a mystery to us all.
Not much positive,although our goal was good,Saka makes Chelsea defenders look like chumps and Merino heads home perfectly. It was great to see Gyokeres back though.
As I think Kev said previously Villa away will be tough. We have now drawn our last 2 away games. Too many draws have cost us before,I just looked at the league table,we have drawn 3,Man City only 1.
Whatever we need to get back to winning ways,keep clean sheets too,starting with Brentford. There may be some changes,Madueke,Odegaard,Gyokeres to start,at least one of those?
Also how about Norgaard against his old club?
After the week we’ve just had, I suspect we’ll see one or two changes on Wednesday.
We’ve conceded one goal in each of our last three games, a goalkeeper crisis in the making?
Only joking 😉
Phew… 😜
Good afternoon Rico and all
Back down to earth…..with the result and a very realistic match report by Kev.
There is a lot of certain negativity with regards the draw we got. However, let me point out some things…….Chelsea wanted a win to reduce the gap to three points. However they failed so we are still 6 points ahead of them and 5 off from City.
Yesterday’s game shows that we are no longer pushed around, but we can fight back as well. while Chav players were the dirty lot in trying to stop Arsenal we didn’t offer angelic behaviour either. We dished it back. And I was surprised that it didnt finish in 10 for us and 8 or 9 for them. We finished with 11 players.
Keep in mind that to obtain something, many teams are changing the way they play to counteract us. That in itself is a compliment to how far we have come since other managers are resorting to telling their players to get in our faces and provoke us or resort to niggling fouls to stop us. In a way that shows the low level they are resorting to instead of being proactive.
I liked what I saw with the Mosquera and Hincapie partnership. Solid a lot and both know their job. However their understanding needs time and more importantly practice as a unit. They need to play more together. Arteta needs to trust them more together in games.
With hindsight, yeterday’s lack of Saliba and Gabi might prove to be beneficial in the long term. Hincapie made his debut in the NLD. And both CBs got an experience in hell together as a partnership. And they are still young…..still in nappies with regards age and experience. 7 out of 10 for their performance but 10/10 for effort and coming through unscathed.
Afternoon Devil. I like Mosquera and Hincapie as defenders but imo, there couldn’t have been a worse time for them to play together for the first time.
I see the Chav manager reckons Hincapie should have been sent off. Chump…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-15341557/enzo-maresca-chelsea-players-lucas-paqueta-signing.html
The Chav’s manager should look at himself before suggesting that another team’s player should have been sent off. He was responsible for the vile tactics his players adopted. Had he not hyped Caciedo up he may not have assaulted Merino and thus copped a red card.
Enzo Maresca needs to look in the mirror.
Although I had a full English this morning , I think I’ll have a cup of tea and some toast and Marmite now.
Back later.
Agree, there’s a reason they have half a dozen red cards already this season..