Morning all.
Scrappy, bitty and bad tempered at times, the words used by Alan Smith to describe the game between Arsenal and Chelsea yesterday lunchtime. He perhaps should have added comical too because Chris Kavanagh was so inconsistent, one can only laugh. Wesley Fofana escaped a booking on three separate occasions before Kavanagh finally booked him for delaying an Arsenal restart. The only consistency from him was his inconsistency.
I thought we started well, creating a few opportunities to take the lead but in the end, it was a set piece which did the damage to Chelsea. An Odegaard corner, a header from Merino which looped up and over Sanchez’s head and into the net. Our midfielder come striker nearly doubled our lead in the second half with a sweetly struck volley but Sanchez got a strong hand to the shot to just about keep the ball from crossing the line.
Chelsea’s best opportunity came from Crystal Tips Cucurella which Raya looked to gather with ease but in a flash, the ball had spun out of his clutches before drifting just wide of the far post. Phew…
As said, we started brightly, creating a number of opportunities to score. Timber, Trossard, Martinelli and Rice saw chances go high, wide or straight at their keeper and then it looked like it would be another one of days. Kavanagh waved away a penalty shout against Cucurella, with ball ending up at the feet of Rice but his shot went high. Very high. But then came our corner and with it came our goal.
Chelsea had a bit of a good spell as the game approached halftime but to be honest, they never really looked like scoring.
We might have only scored the one goal but what was refreshing was watching us being more competitive. We started fast, we battled hard for every ball, we were aggressive and we played like a team who wanted to win the game. We gave Chelsea nothing, well, almost nothing. We more than deserved our three points by playing better than our opponents for most of the game.
1-0 to The Arsenal will have pleased George Graham who was sitting in the stands.
With any hope of winning the league long gone, staying ahead of the clubs behind us is all Mikel Arteta and his players can try to do. Chelsea is one of those clubs sat just a few points behind us so yesterday’s win was important.
But, there’s another level or three this team needs to go up in the final third if Arsenal are to stand a chance of troubling Real Madrid in a few weeks time. We have a great defence, a strong midfield but then after that, well, it all gets a bit predictable. Thank heavens for Mikel Merino eh. A header he probably intended as a knock on for someone else, ended up in the net. That’s what can happen though, we just don’t try it enough. A bit like shooting really, after a few opportunities tried and missed, it felt like we stopped trying.
It was good to see both Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka watching on from the sidelines but sadly, only one of the two is anywhere near to returning to play which is Bukayo. Our next fixture is at home against Fulham and fingers crossed, his name will be amongst the substitutes.
Now we go into the international break, although not many of our players will get a break. I just hope they return as fit and healthy as they leave.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico, On yesterday’s evidence Chelsea are good at thuggery but not much else.
My rating of Mr. Kavanagh is two out of ten. If the game had gone on a little longer there could have been a serious injury.
Not tempted by a dog walk this morning Rico? 😉
Morning Cicero, dog walk this afternoon, always is on a Monday. 😜
Kavanagh was dreadful, as was Gillet on VAR as I thought we should have had a penalty.
Morning Rico, excellent post. How Wesley Fofana wasn’t red carded yesterday defies belief. Apparently VAR considers him taking a premeditated stamp on Rice’s arse while the latter was lying on the ground as “a natural coming together.” What’s the matter with these guys!
Terrible game but vital points especially going into the break and with Forest breathing down our necks. And all Gooners will be saying “amen to that” regarding the last sentence of your post!
Morning Rico. “Inconsistent Kavanagh”. Apart from being robbed of an obvious penalty, why didn’t he give Neto his second yellow/red for his 2nd foul on Trossard? He needs to go to SpecSavers!
Arsenal played well and Chelsea were lucky that we don’t have an established Striker, because they would have been “mince meat”.
Yes phew re Raya. He even said “wow” after his unexpected blunder and looked somewhat shocked/relieved. I wish he wouldn’t come out so far from his box and also stop practicing his “ballad” steps when he has the ball. Just get rid of it!
I would have liked to see Calafiori play. I think he may have done one of his good strikes/score from out of the box.
Onwards and upwards. They are looking good. Nice break ahead now for some with Lewis-Skelly enjoying his first England call up (nice one) and us looking forward to seeing Saka back after the break.
Have a good week.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/9027071084058574.
Had my blood boiling yesterday.
Morning Anthony, Laura.
When one looks back at our five red cards this season, it’s ridiculous to think something as nasty and deliberate is deemed acceptable.
What also amazes me is pundits like Smudger who go along with these dreadful decisions the officials make. Only the MLS one has been criticised.
Afternoon everyone. Judging on the comments re that toad Kavanagh I’m not so disappointed I missed the game travelling to the UAE. You’ve painted an all too familiar picture of what to expect from the joke of an official that seemingly is allowed to practice his bias against us.
I wonder how many signatures it would take for ex PC Webb to get off the fence and do his job properly.
He was dreadful Berg. Didn’t hesitate to book our players though.
Afternoon Rico and all,
Someone commented yesterday that we will take scrappy 1-0s for the rest of the season and amen to that. I thought we were miles better than Chelsea though. They were poor,the only thing they were good at was fouling,and diving at the merest hint of contact. They must be the nastiest team around.
My Chelsea supporting kin has been bantering me saying despite everything they are more likely to win a trophy than us. I hope they don’t win the Conference league and qualify for Thursday night football again.
For us Timber and Saliba/Gabriel were very good. What a partnership they are. It was great to see George Graham – he always liked a centre back.
Funny to see Liverpool lose again.
Afternoon Limey, any old win will do from now to the end of the season, especially when up against a team who don’t seem to want to do more than kick their way through a game. Apart from Everton away, I think most of our matches are against teams who do play so I hope we avoid the low block. Our nemesis it seems.
Always happy to see Liverpool lose..
You ask about Smithy and his grudge against the club. Remember he had a serious knee injury but I read that the club wanted the insurance money and stopped his career when he wanted to keep playing . Maybe that’s it.
It’s not just him though, it’s all of them. They run with the fox and the hounds but then I guess they have jobs to keep.. pfff