Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea: Arsenal Dazzles Chelsea Exposed
Arsene Wenger celebrated his 20 anniversary of being in charge of Arsenal with style and swagger. Conte got a tough lesson about the traits of the Premiere League.
The Gunners showed pace, skill, pressed Chelsea into submission and probed weaknesses ruthlessly. Arsenal’s win came from an excellent overall team performance rather than any individual standouts. Chelsea’s defense couldn’t get out of their own way for much of the match.
Chelsea has collected only one point from the last three, despite opening the league campaign with three successive wins. They are already eight points behind leader Manchester City. Arsenal is only five points off the pace in third place.
Arsenal’s Confidence Shines Through
Arsenal’s pace and invention of their attacking approach rendered Chelsea helpless. hey seemed to have so much room and played with confidence every time they got forward. There was a freedom and exuberance to everything they did.
Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin were allowed all the time in the world in possession. Cazorla dictated the play and knocked quick passes around. Arsenal waltzed through the visitors’ ranks with ease.
Within 11 minutes, Alexis Sanchez had scored the opening goal. He lifted the ball over Thibaut Courtois after being given the freedom to run after a misplaced pass from Gary Cahill.
The slick delivery and clever movement dragged Chelsea horribly out of position. Özil zapped passes to the excellent Iwobi. Iwobi slipped Héctor Bellerín free beyond a stagnant Eden Hazard. Bellerín squared the ball across for Walcott to score first time. There was barely a challenge to trouble either of them.
Then came Arsenal’s third goal, which featured Ozil spinning N’Golo Kante majestically. He then placed the pass into the path of Sanchez, motoring into the box for the return ball. He volleyed down into the turf and the ball looped over Thibaut Courtois and in off the far post.
The only negative for Wenger was a first-half knee injury sustained by midfielder Francis Coquelin. He was substituted by Granit Xhaka.
Chelsea Defensive Woe Continues
Things started poorly for Chelsea. They lost possession early and struggled dealing with pressure at the back. They just couldn’t live with the pace of Arsenal’s game, a level of play that was so often blinding.
Conte will be particularly disappointed at how easily Kante was beaten for Arsenal’s third goal. The Frenchman’s role in this side is to stay solidly in front of the defence and protect the centre-backs from counterattacks. Playing both Hazard and Fabregas together in a side seeking to defend also caused problems.
There were causes for concern in the defence too. Ivanovic had a poor game. Left-back Cesar Azpilicueta was often sucked into narrow positions by Walcott’s running. Cahill again looked nervous in possession. Without John Terry’s organisational skills, the back four looked utterly rudderless.
Gary Cahill’s mistake in possession allowed Sanchez to score. Ivanovic and Cahill’s inability to play with the energy that Conte often demands gifted Arsenal the freedom.
In the second half, Chelsea switched to a 3-4-3 to put Ivanovic on the other side of Cahill. That change in shape did help solidify Chelsea’s defense. However, their defenders still struggled on the ball against Arsenal’s high pressing.
Also having some measure of defensive solidity allowed Chelsea to get something going in attack finally. But Arsenal’s defense held firm and restricted the Blues to just two shots on target all match long.
Up front, Chelsea were poor. The only Chelsea player who walked off the pitch with any of his reputation intact was Diego Costa. He battled for territory and chased down loose long balls.
Petr Cech blocked Michy Batshuayi’s attempt six minutes from time, but that was Chelsea’s only meaningful effort on target. Cahill and Courtois were bickering before the end. It was a tepid display from Chelsea, and one that manager Antonio Conte will be absolutely livid about for some time to come. That summed it all up for Chelsea.
Arsenal: Petr Cech; Hector Bellerín, Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal; Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin (Granit Xhaka 31′); Theo Walcott, Mesut Özil, Alex Iwobi (Kieran Gibbs 69′); Alexis Sánchez (Olivier Giroud 79′)
Chelsea: Thibaut Courtois; Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta; N’Golo Kanté, Nemanja Matic; Willian (Pedro 70′), Cesc Fàbregas (Marcos Alonso 55′), Eden Hazard (Michy Batshuayi 70′); Diego Costa
Goals: Sánchez (11′), Walcott (14′), Özil (40′)
Picture Courtesy: ESPN, DailyMail, TheGaurdian