Positives & negatives from Arsenal's 1-0 win over Chelsea

Arsenal's set-piece magic is back again, but the Gunners were largely toothless during a tepid victory over a tame Chelsea side.

Mikel Merino's looping header from Martin Odegaard's corner was all Arsenal needed to see off Chelsea and settle a North London Derby between two striker-less teams on Sunday. Boy, did the lack of centre-forwards show during a largely turgid affair Arsenal dominated in the most passive way possible.

It was all pass, pass, pass, recycle, recycle and recycle. All steady approach play, but no dazzling end product.

If the script sounds familiar, it should. This has been Arsenal's season. At least domestically. A still-baffling unwillingness to restock the forward line last summer was compounded by an injury crisis very much of Mikel Artera's own making because he had to overplay his leading lights up front.

The vicious circle of negative recruitment and lack of rotation has left the Gunners overly reliant on resilient defending and set-piece smash and grabs. Fortunately, those things were all Arteta's players needed to overcome a ponderous and pedestrian Chelsea.

Here's what went right and wrong during a low-key warmup for THAT UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid.

Positives & negatives from Arsenal's 1-0 win vs. Chelsea

Positives #1: Mikel Merino got his goal

Ploughing the lone furrow up top has been tough sledding for Merino, so his 20th-minute goal was nice reward for this efforts. The converted midfielder toiled mostly in obscurity after that, although it took a strong point-blank save from Robert Sanchez to deny Merino a second.

A brace would have been a solid confidence-booster for the player Arteta is still content to have leading the line. There's some logic to the plan thanks to Merino's prowess in the air and generally direct mentality in and around the box, but Arsenal might be missing a trick not giving a quicker, more fluid mover a chance as a No. 9 in name only.

That's a consideration for another day. Preferrably a day when Gabriel Martinelli is back on song. The wait for the Brazilian to rediscover the promise that had him seemingly destined for greater things goes on, but in the meantime, this is Merino's moment.

He's earned it through application. Namely, the effort required to improve at playing with his back to goal, holding the ball up and bringing runners more into the play.

Merino is still very much a work in progress in all of these areas, but his willingness to give each a go should be commended. It's not as if Arsenal have anything else in a bare attacking cupboard, nor as if Arteta has any fresher ideas.

Maybe the manager would be jolted out of his narrow focus if he saw similar improvement and endeavour from Arsenal's more gifted forwards.

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