Arsenal Vs Chelsea: 5 things we learned – What. A. Game.
3. Game management issues again
Thanks to injuries, Arsene Wenger was forced into fielding Calum Chambers and Rob Holding either side of Shkodran Mustafi. The inexperience was clear to see.
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While neither Chambers or Holding were especially poor, even with a few moments of nervousness causing Arsenal some serious problems, the general game management of the whole team, especially in the second half, was very poor. Take, for example, the final few minutes.
Sky had just run a replay of Hector Bellerin’s sumptuous equaliser. By the time the replay had ended and the TV cameras had returned to the actual match, Alvaro Morata was streaking through on goal. Thankfully, his effort was wasteful, straight at Petr Cech, and Davide Zappacosta’s rebound smashed against the crossbar. But the question still needs to be asked: How could Arsenal, having just seemingly rescued a point, allow such an easy opportunity to arise?
It is naive, and there were other examples of naivety throughout the match, as there has been all season, especially in the big games. Arsenal need to learn how to manage games. They have dropped six from winning positions in their last four games, and could very well have failed to win the other after taking a comfortable lead. It is costing them points