%20rotate(-8.06)%22%2F%3E%0A%20%20%3Cpolygon%20class%3D%22cls-1%22%20points%3D%22336.19%20136.81%20330.16%2094.25%20326.06%2071.19%20326.44%2071.13%20335.22%2093.54%20352.29%20134.52%20373.95%20131.46%20362.7%2052.01%20350.02%2053.8%20356.05%2096.36%20360.15%20119.42%20359.77%20119.48%20350.99%2097.08%20333.91%2056.09%20312.25%2059.15%20323.51%20138.6%20336.19%20136.81%22%2F%3E%0A%20%20%3Cpolygon%20class%3D%22cls-1%22%20points%3D%22402.91%2059.3%20412.36%20126.02%20427.17%20123.92%20417.72%2057.21%20431.59%2055.24%20429.79%2042.51%20387.23%2048.53%20389.04%2061.27%20402.91%2059.3%22%2F%3E%0A%20%20%3Cpolygon%20class%3D%22cls-1%22%20points%3D%22463.51%20118.77%20458.69%2084.71%20474.68%2082.44%20479.51%20116.5%20494.36%20114.4%20483.11%2034.95%20468.26%2037.06%20472.96%2070.25%20456.96%2072.52%20452.26%2039.32%20437.4%2041.43%20448.65%20120.88%20463.51%20118.77%22%2F%3E%0A%20%20%3Cpolygon%20class%3D%22cls-1%22%20points%3D%22540.5%20107.87%20538.77%2095.68%20518.91%2098.49%20515.77%2076.29%20535.63%2073.47%20533.93%2061.5%20514.07%2064.32%20511.11%2043.42%20530.98%2040.61%20529.25%2028.42%20494.53%2033.34%20505.78%20112.78%20540.5%20107.87%22%2F%3E%0A%20%20%3Cpolygon%20class%3D%22cls-1%22%20points%3D%22299.03%20155.17%20301.29%20171.58%20542.78%20138.39%20540.5%20121.97%20299.03%20155.17%22%2F%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E)
Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea
By Tom Humphrey
Arsenal fell to their first defeat of the season on Saturday when they took on London rivals Chelsea at the Emirates. The two straight games against title rivals in recent weeks were there to show the fans and everyone around the league whether Arsenal could challenge for this season’s title. A point away to Man City was a good result, but a win against Chelsea was what Arsenal needed to follow that up with.
Laurent Koscielny was preferred to Per Mertesacker in central defence, partnering Thomas Vermaelen. Mertesacker had been a regular in the side as Koscielny started the season injured. The German kept his place for a number of games after Koscielny returned, but Koscielny took his place back for this one, having partnered the German in Vermaelen’s absence against Man City the week before.
Chelsea fielded an attacking line-up. The likes of Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar all started, which surprisingly left Frank Lampard on the bench, something you haven’t been able to say often about him since moving to Stamford Bridge from West Ham in 2001. The attacking intent seen was a lot different to the last Chelsea side seen at the Emirates back in April, with Chelsea having the Champions League in mind, they made changes to their line-up and played cautiously that day, looking to catch Arsenal on the break. In the end, that made it a forgettable encounter that finished 0-0.
This time around though, they came to play. Arsenal started brightly, but when Abou Diaby went off injured in the 17th minute, Arsenal’s attack disappeared for a while. The Blues were rewarded for their attacking approach in then 20th minute, with Fernando Torres hooking his effort past Mannone after some poor defending by Arsenal from the Chelsea free-kick.
Torres could have had a second not long after, being sent into the clear, he hesitated and the chance was gone after a Koscielny challenge that had Chelsea appealing for a penalty, which wasn’t given.
Arsenal still managed to find a path back into the game though. Towards the end of the first half, they looked better. With a few minutes to go until the break, they found the equaliser they needed. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s cross found Gervinho, who fired his shot high and into the net, giving Cech no chance.
Gervinho scores Arsenal’s equaliser.
The home side then looked as if they could find a goal before the half, putting Chelsea under pressure until the whistle. They even started the second half brightly, but it was Chelsea who would score early in the second half. Vermaelen had gone forward and in doing so, spaces opened up for Chelsea to attack once they got the ball off of Arsenal. Vermaelen raced back, but brought down Torres on his way back. Chelsea won the free-kick and Vermaelen got his name into the book. However, the punishment wasn’t over. Mata’s free-kick took a touch off of Laurent Koscielny, which was enough to beat Mannone in the Arsenal goal, who couldn’t adjust his body in time having dived the other way.
The Gunners needed a goal soon if they had hopes of winning the game still. They nearly got it when Lukas Podolski header was clawed away by Cech in the Chelsea goal. Cech was proving hard to beat and was very important for the Blues in the second half. Podolski was replaced by Olivier Giroud with 25 minutes remaining. Having scored his first Arsenal goal against Coventry in midweek, perhaps it was the perfect time for the Frenchman to score his first league goal for the club. He saw a deflected effort nearly creep in, before his best chance came in injury time, going around Cech, but hitting the side-netting due to it being a tight angle. The wait for Giroud’s first league goal continues, we’ll have to see if he can find one next week at West Ham, or better yet, at home to Olympiakos on Wednesday. All I can say is he is getting in the right positions and certainly getting chances, hopefully the goals will come soon enough.
Arsenal are already 7 points off the leaders early on in this campaign. It is still early days, so plenty of time left yet, but if you want to see Arsenal lifting silverware this year, you better send Arsene a message to take the League Cup and FA Cup seriously this year, because like most of the seasons we have been without any trophies, they are our best chance of winning anything at the moment.