Arsenal at Chelsea

Arsenal at Chelsea

Oct. 29, 2011

Premier League Match

This is an enormous game for Arsenal. They have won 7 of their last 8, but that was against the likes of Stoke City and Bolton. Chelsea has come in to some adversity at this point in the season after a few bad loses, but they are still one of the elite. Of course this is also a Derby match, or a rivalry between the two major London clubs. 

Coming in, Arsenal will not have to face the dynamic striker Drogba, who has been suspended for one game. However, the young Spaniard Fernando Torres is only slightly worse than Drogba. 

Arsenal lined up with Van Persie as striker, between Gervinho and Walcott. Arteta and Ramsey were the midfielders. This lineup was great on the attack all game. Even in the first 10 minutes there were several chances. The only problem was that there were good chances for both teams. Arsenal seemed to have one in the books in the 13th minute as Walcott broke away from his defender, who was playing high up, 15 yards off the circle. Walcott streaked down and gave a great cross right to Gervinho’s foot, but he muffed the kick wide. Should have been the first goal. It looked as if it might have defined the Arsenal performance, as a few moments later, Chelsea scored on a header from Lampard. 1-0 Chelsea. Even at that moment it was hard to see that being the only goal of the game. Both defenses were showing significant weaknesses. Gervinho and Walcott were able to skate past defenders on the wings for the entire game. When they were marked Arsenal was able to swing defenders, unmarked into the attacking areas. For Arsenal, Koscielny again was strong. He was clearly the Gunners swiftest defender. He marked Torres for most of the game and it showed, as Torres could never get open, except for one chance off a Koscielny turnover. In the first half Santos and Djourou were having some real trouble keeping with their men and of course, Mertesacker looked as he is big and slow. While he was able to get to headers that no one else could, he also had moments where he got deeked off the ball, or beat by his man on spot kicks. Needless to say the game would not stay 1-0. 

In the 36th minute, after putting good pressure on Chelsea for a good 5 minutes, Arsenal finally scored. Gervinho walked right through two defenders and received a feed from Walcott. 6 yards out and right in front of the keeper, Gervinho had only to chip the ball to Van Persie to his left, who putted home the open shot. This began a mostly Arsenal dominated 10 minutes, but it ended with Chelsea again scoring on a header, this time it was Terry off a Lampard feed. It really hurt, but there were the evident lapses on defense. Santos was getting blown past by every one on the left side. Mertesacker got beat again, this time by misjudging the Lampard feed and wiffing on his header. However, Arsenal still held even in possession and in the 1st half they had several chances that could have turned into goals. The back and forth pace was telling of more fireworks to come. 

From the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half, it was clear which team had made the proper defensive adjustments, and which side had not. Chelsea had chances in the 2nd half. They did break away from Arsenal at points, even scoring a goal in the 79th minute. However, Arsenal tightened up in the second half. The goal Mata scored was a wonder goal from 25 yards out. It curved left towards the post, then like a baseball splitter, it cut down right before it got to the keeper, who had no chance. Arsenal, however, was able to continue their attack with ease. From the opening moment of the second half Arsenal was explosive. In the first minute, Van Persie broke through with a chance, then Ramsey had a chance from a open Gervinho feed. Then in the 48th minute, Santos drove unmarked for 20 yards before receiving a feed from midfield. He was then able to sprint unheeded for another 15 yards for a scoring strike that was blasted over the flailing right foot of Cech. This defensive failure, in particular was disgusting. Santos made the proper changes defensively in the 2nd half, because he was no longer beaten at will, but he didn’t turn into a faster player. The fact that he was able to prance down entire half of a soccer field is just amazing in its defensive inadequacy. A similar scenario happened for Arsenal’s 3rd goal. Walcott took the ball from 40 yards out, while attempting to go through two defenders he fell down, was able to get up retake the ball, and sprint towards net. He then rifled a kick over Cech’s nearside shoulder. To be fair, Cech should have held stronger to his nearside, but it was the defending that allowed for such a thought.

After Mata’s tying goal in the 79th minute, it took Arsenal 5 minutes to retake the lead. This time it was another defensive blunder by Chelsea. The last man back, Terry slipped while going after an errant pass. This led to Van Persie and the keeper, and of course Van Persie calmly sidestepped the keeper an slid the ball in. Arsenal would score again, Van Persie completing his hat-trick, in the 92nd. Chelsea was trying to muster what energy they had to try and get a tying goal, but this led them to even more defensive lapses. On a 4 on 2 counterattack, Van Persie got his third on a pass from Arteta. 

Arsenal’s win against Chelsea may have shown that the Gunners are back in the hunt, but it was more telling of Chelsea’s weaknesses. The Gunners had won 7 out of 8 coming in, but this was a real test no doubt. Chelsea’s offensive prowess did pressure Arsenal like they haven’t been in weeks. However, offensively this was no challenge. The Arsenal attack went unheeded for the entire game. I give them credit for taking advantage of so many chances, but nothing more. It was a great win, in terms of confidence, and for standings, but it wasn’t the Rubicon game I thought it might be. They were better than Chelsea and that’s pretty much all we found out.