Arsenal Vs Chelsea: Fitness, not Mikel Arteta, to blame

Arsenal squandered a one-goal lead late on in Sunday’s defeat to Chelsea. While some may want to point the finger at Mikel Arteta, fitness is to blame, not the new head coach.

Arsenal put in their best first-half performance of the season in Sunday’s defeat to Chelsea. Under the clear instruction of Mikel Arteta, they pressed high up the pitch, played with a high defensive line, strangled Chelsea in central midfield, and moved the ball quickly and accurately to break out of their own defensive positions and create chances in the final third. Bar a clinical, cutting edge in and around the penalty area, it was the perfect performance.

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And then they retreated into their shell. After the break, Chelsea, having switched to a back four earlier in the match, controlled proceedings, dominated possession, and pushed the Gunners deep into the own territory. So what changed?

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Arteta was asked precisely that in his post-match press conference. This was his answer:

"“More than something related to the organisation, physically it was tough to maintain the level Chelsea play at at the moment. We are asking them to do something different, to play at a different pace, much more aggressive and at the moment they suffered. We had a lot of injuries, we’re putting demands on young players. I don’t think that they didn’t want to do it or that they were scared, I think it was just too physical for them in the end.”"

Essentially, his team did not have the legs to play in the manner they did in the first half throughout the entirety of the match. The high-intensity approach that Arteta has implemented was too physically difficult to maintain, as Arteta himself conceded would likely be the case after his opening match in charge when he said that he was surprised at the players’ abilities to keep going late in the match.

Arsenal chose to sit deep in the second half, not because that is what they wanted to do, but because they knew they had no other option to win. They could not press with the same effectiveness as in the first half and so they were forced to change their approach. And before a moment of Bernd Leno madness, it worked. Before the equaliser, Chelsea had just one shot on target in the second half, a Tammy Abraham header from a corner.

Now, Arteta is not completely absolved of the blame here. He was slow to make his substitutions, even as his team noticeable laboured, though the early forced substitution of Calum Chambers certainly tied his hands behind his back with only two more changes to play with, and perhaps he could have rotated a little more, even with the options extremely limited, but his overall philosophy is.

From the first half, it is quite clear that Arsenal under Arteta can be a very competent, cohesive and successful team. What they must now show is that they can maintain that level of performance throughout the entire 90 minutes, and for that, they require better individual fitness, a deeper squad that offers greater rotation, and more varied options from off the bench.

Arsenal lost to Chelsea because they ran out of legs, were forced to change their system, and subsequently failed to maintain their first-half performance level. Arteta, however, is not the man to blame. In fact, he proved that progress is being made. He just needs the fitness to match.