Arsenal vs Chelsea: Pay extra close attention to your heroes

Arsenal’s match against Chelsea derailed incredibly quickly, but two men didn’t get that memo. Heroics are worth more than just fancy highlights.

Arsenal‘s match against Chelsea was supposed to allow them to stake a claim, to get a leg up on the competition, to crawl back into the top half of the table. But one Shkodran Mustafi mistake and one David Luiz red card later, and we were left with and hour of 10-men football at a very hostile Stamford Bridge.

Count them out right? Not so fast.

The Gunners created just two chances on the day. They took just two shots on the day. Both were perfect. Both found the back of the net. We got a point. I wouldn’t say we were lucky at all. In fact, I detest the idea that we were. I would say that we were just blindingly efficient.

Both goals came from literally nothing. One, from Gabriel Martinelli, was an almost exclusively solo effort. He ran the ball the length of the pitch, just a straight line, full of blazing speed and ball control.

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Then he tucked the ball into the back of the net. The first equalizer. A tremendous solo effort that showcased just how mature and reliable Gabriel Martinelli already is. No assembly required. I know about ten senior players who couldn’t have done that.

The second goal came when Chelsea must have though they’d secured the win. And much like Maritnelli’s it came from nowhere. From the corner of the box, Bellerin put the ball on his weaker left foot and put a curled effort into the box that curved around everyone, tucking into the back corner of the net.

Both were truly remarkable efforts from two guys who are not widely established as the heroic type, but after tonight, we need to be paying extra special attention to these two. Again, I know so many people in that Arsenal first team who could not have made those efforts. Or even come close for that matter. These two took incredible picture and laughed in its face. Those are the kinds of guys that you should be building around.

Thankfully, these are two guys that we absolutely can build around. Both young. Both want to be here. Both have a lot to prove. And together, they proved a whole hell of a lot when up against ridiculous odds. That’s pretty cool.