On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.. a 3-1 win over Chelsea!
Well, that was a pleasant surprise. Although I think that we'd be foolish to get too carried away by a single decent performance and victory amongst the dross that we've been subjected to recently. Nonetheless, the optimist in me hopes to see the blueprint from this match - for all that the personnel changes may well have been forced upon the manager by illness - carried forward.
I've not been alone in wanting to see more youth involved, and some more progressive football played. Whatever the reason for it happening in this game, it certainly worked out for the best.
All over the field, Arsenal looked much more like a team - not a mere collection of individuals too constrained by fear to feel able to express themselves properly and perform decisively at decisive moments. The combinations of Bellerin and Saka on the right, and Tierney and Martinelli on the left, caused Chelsea no end of bother. And with a proper Number 10 in Emile Smith Rowe in front of them (for all that he needs to build up his stamina for this level), it took much of the burden of creativity away from the midfield duo, and enabled them to concentrate more on what they’re best at. The tempo was higher, the passing was crisper and more penetrative, and everything looked so much more balanced. There was simply more energy on show, everywhere, and with a bit of space and some willing runners in front of him the much maligned Xhaka looked transformed.
On the other hand, one has to take account of the fact that Chelsea were terrible. If there's a team in this league that are less than the sum of their parts, it's Chelsea. For whatever reason, they got very little going until very late in the game - what they did do was almost exclusively down to the exciting Hudson-Odoi - and with the talent they have that's inexcusable. But I'd like to credit Arsenal for stopping them, as much as I think the spotlight may need to fall on 'Fat Frank' here.
And so to team selection. I was pleasantly surprised to see Smith Rowe in the side, and a more dynamic looking forward line. I wasn’t surprised to see Auba merely on the bench, but was frankly disappointed to see Xhaka restored to the team immediately and AMN and Ceballos back out of the side. On the other hand, it’s probably true to say that in the absence of Partey the Swiss is our best available midfielder - why that is would be a discussion for another day. So he sort of has to play...
The absence of Gabriel (and Luiz; along with Willian) through illness/COVID protocols meant that Mari was the obvious replacement at left centre back. And it was telling that Arteta felt that he couldn't rely on either Ceballos or Pepe for this game.
Of course, I wasn’t to know what Arteta had planned on the tactics front, and that was again a pleasant surprise. From the start, Arsenal looked hungrier and more progressive than they have for weeks. They started quicker - well, quicker than they have for a while - and took advantage of an unaccountable lethargy in the Chelsea ranks. Only Mount, and to a lesser extent Pulisic, looked capable of creating anything going forward, Werner looked off the pace and it looked like Abraham was incapable of bringing even a bag of cement under control! As a team they failed to track back, and looked shorn of effort and ideas.
Martinelli almost scored in the very first minute following good interplay between Bellerin and Saka, and for the most part it was the combinations out wide that exposed Chelsea, with Smith Rowe linking them up through the middle. Xhaka and Elneny mopped up everything behind.
Chelsea were pushed back, and following an exquisite trademark sweeping 30 yard pass from Xhaka that let Tierney in down the left, James brought the Scotsman down. Stone bonk penalty in my book, and I have no idea what Gary Neville, on commentary, was on about. Lacazette sent Mendy the wrong way for 1-0.
I’d have expected a reaction from Chelsea, but there was none, and right before half time Saka’s drive infield led to a foul from Kante 25 yards out. From that, Xhaka despatched his traditional one goal a season with a rocket into the top corner. What a hit!
Lampard made changes at half time - including replacing the bitterly disappointing Werner with Hudson-Odoi, and that did make a difference. But it was only minimal, as Arsenal’s continued sharpness all over the pitch meant that the domination continued. And then we saw something quite exquisite, as Arsenal moved down the right in a sequence of swift passes. Leno to Holding, to Xhaka, to Lacazette, to Xhaka again, to Bellerin, to Smith Rowe.... and he then spotted Saka in space. Our young star stepped into the penalty area untouched and somehow lobbed Mendy from 20+ yards - with the instep of his right foot! Whether he meant it or not I don’t know, but on the face of it, it was a thing of beauty. 17 seconds from back to front.
And it could have been more. Martinelli missed another good opportunity following another swift break brought about by his own breaking up of the play, Lacazette almost took full advantage of a poor clearance from Mendy, Elneny crashed a shot against the bar and Holding nearly followed it in, and on the whole we didn’t have a moment’s worry... up until the last 5 minutes or so. It couldn't be more ‘Arsenal’, could it, and I had scary visions of it all subsiding into a 3-3 draw...
Firstly Abraham chested in a Hudson-Odoi cross, and Chelsea then won a 91st minute penalty when a tiring Mari was late to a challenge on Mount. Fortunately for our nerves - because 5 minutes with the score at 3-2 would have been excruciating - Leno saved Jorginho’s quite pathetic spot kick and we could relax.
Now, I'm sure that Arteta must have learned a lot from this performance. How he can better set up his side, and the advantage of having players at the top end of the field who are willing to play daring, progressive football and selflessly create space for others. The thing is, we've been advocating something like this for weeks, so why he hadn't been able - or brave enough - to see it is another matter. He's been too prescriptive in what he's been trying to do, I feel, and has been relying too much on his experienced players to deliver. Perhaps the shackles will come off now? Certainly, extra energy has come with the arrival of Martinelli and now young Emil.
However, the next few games will present a different sort of challenge. Brighton will probably come out to play - they generally do - but after that Arsenal are going to be facing low block after low block. WBA have been somewhat transformed by the arrival of Allardyce, but both Newcastle and Palace are badly out of form and Arsenal must seek to take advantage of that. I'm not suggesting for one moment that 'it's back on', but there is suddenly room for optimism. Hopefully the nadir has been reached, and the only way is up.
This surely is the way forward now. Arteta simply must stick with this.
Fingers crossed. See you in a couple of days. And keep safe, please.
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