Arsenal Vs Chelsea: Recap, Highlights And Analysis

Arsenal travelled to Stamford Bridge in a title-defining for the Saturday lunchtime kick-off. Here is the full recap, all the highlights and analysis from the 3-1 loss.

What a predictably uninspiring display from Arsenal. With suspensions and injuries restricting the lineup that Arsene Wenger had available to him, the game was lost thanks to the tactical discipline and diligence of Chelsea and the naivety and innocence of their visitors, in what was a routine 3-0 loss to the league leaders.

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Chelsea’s system is founded on the free-roaming movement of Eden Hazard and Pedro. With Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses marshalling their respective wings, Hazard and Pedro take positions in the inside-wide channels, making it difficult to pick them up. The full-backs don’t want to go inside and leave space for Alonso and Moses, while the defensive midfielders are occupied with the pairing of N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic. The result is one or both of the centre-halves being dragged out wide into positions, exposed in space and on numerous counter attacks. Arsenal suffered as a result throughout the 90 minutes.

The first half was extremely intriguing. Wenger started the game by shifting Mesut Ozil out to the left wing, dropping Alex Iwobi deeper, playing a two-pronged central midfield in front of the shielding Francis Coquelin alongside Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, asking his players to press high up the pitch onto the flanking centre-halves and the central midfield duo of Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante.

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The opening periods were positive for the Gunners, stifling the possession of Chelsea and engineering opportunities where they were let down by the final shot of final, precise pass. However, the good news ended there as, with one fell swoop of a domineering left forearm, Chelsea took the lead.

The move started down the Chelsea right flank. Ozil didn’t track Victor Moses, so Nacho Monreal was forced to come and meet him. That led to a chain of rather worrying events for Arsenal. Laurent Koscielny had to track the run of Pedro, in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the cross. Then Shkodran Mustafi had to shadow Eden Hazard towards the front post, leaving Hector Bellerin all alone with Diego Costa in the penalty area.

Pedro played in an accurate cross to the head of Costa. The Spanish striker headed towards goal, Petr Cech saved well but the ball simply careered straight into the air and Marcos Alonso bullied Bellerin to nod the rebound home. It was poor defending from Arsenal and there have been upset fans calling for a foul on social media – I personally think that it is a tough but fair aerial challenge – but credit must be given to the fluid Chelsea move down their right flank.

As the half progressed, the game settled into a rhythm of both team’s enjoying moments of possession without creating all that much. Eden Hazard was able to find space down the inside-left channel, primarily thanks to the positional confusion of Francis Coquelin and Gabriel Paulista – the latter came on for Bellerin who was subbed off after the clash with Alonso for the opener – but Arsenal grew into the game late in the half.

Mesut Ozil had a cut-back shot saved smartly by Thibault Courtois down to his left, just before the Belgian shot-stopper palmed away Gabriel’s header that, if directed either side of him, would have equalised.

The second half started and Arsenal did not. Chelsea pressed them in midfield when necessary, sat in the 5-4 shape with just Diego Costa ahead of the ball and threatened on the break. And threaten they did, thanks to a piece of Eden Hazard magic.

The ball was played up to Diego Costa in a hopeful fashion. He wins the header uncleanly and the ball falls at the feet of Hazard, just inside the Chelsea half. He beats Koscielny for the first time with a silky smooth shift of the ball with the outside of his right foot. He then shrugs off Coquelin, sitting the Frenchman down, drives forward into the box, shimmies to the left, then back to the right, beating Koscielny for the second time before bouncing a shot over the onrushing Cech.

The third and final Chelsea goal came in calamitous fashion. A throw in back to Petr Cech was terribly cleared by the goalkeeper straight into the path of Cesc Fabregas who simply looped a shot into the gaping net to rub the salt into the already significant wounds.

There was a very late consolation goal for Arsenal. Nacho Monreal, who pushed forward naively all day long, finally was productive in the final third, clipping in a cross that Olivier Giroud, in his stereotypical style, ran across the front post and nodded home.

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It was little to comfort what was a shocking display from Arsenal, showcasing all of the shortcomings that have held this team hostage for many many years. The North London side will once again not win the league, and they only have their own innocence and naivety to blame.