History buffs among you may be aware that the original Battle of Stamford Bridge took place on the September 25th 1066, not long before the Battle of Hastings. It was a particularly bloody battle, with the leaders of both the invading Viking army and the English defenders both losing their lives.
That particular Stamford Bridge is in the East Riding of Yorkshire, whereas the second coming of the battle took place on Sunday some 200 miles south in West London. Despite the best efforts of Moises Caicedo, nobody actually died; although football almost did during a first half in which several players overdid the intensity, and referee Anthony Taylor lost temporary control.
Marc Cuccurella - owner of the most punchable face in world football; which is not bad in an arena also inhabited by the likes of Richarlison and Bruno Fernandes - was one who, having been booked early for a series of assaults on Bukayo Saka, was fortunate not to join his team-mate in an early bath. Whilst it's difficult to argue too much with many of the other yellow cards - despite Taylor's early lowering of the threshold for the brandishing thereof - that of Martin Zubimendi was frankly baffling. And all in all - whilst expectations of Taylor remain very low despite his high ranking amongst Premier League referees, the following statistic says a lot about how Arsenal fans need to regard him:
The away support correctly serenaded the referee with a chorus of 'It's all about you. It's all about you! Anthony Taylor; it's all about you.' Although I guess his performance is hardly surprising seeing as he kept up an almost non-stop conversation with Reece James throughout the match.
But let's rewind a little. And firstly to the shock news that William Saliba had failed to make the squad as the result of a knock he received in training the day before. And whilst we have considerably more faith in Mosquera and Hincapie than in previous squad members - especially when we look back to the days (not too long ago) when Arsenal had the likes of Mustafi, Sokratis, Holding and Chambers amongst their ranks - it was obviously concerning that the team were having to go to one of their main rivals without both of their star central defenders. Apart from that, the team was as expected, with the bench looking considerably stronger than for a while too.
And so to kick-off; and almost immediately Chelsea's ludicrously coiffured left back was through the back of Saka; before protesting his innocence (guilty as charged, yer honour). It took him a full 11 minutes to be booked, following a similar challenge - yet he had been beaten into the book by Zubimendi, who'd had the audacity to merely stand in the way of Taylor's close friend Reece James. The frenzied Caicedo had spent much of this time charging around the field and launching himself at every red shirt he came across - a policy for which he would pay sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, after 10 minutes we were still waiting for a football match to breakout amongst the WWE impersonations. Not a good advert for the Premier League, I'm afraid.
My concern at this stage was that Arsenal were looking sluggish. The passing was far from crisp, and they seemed to be second best to almost every loose ball or 50/50 challenge. Following the draw at Sunderland, I wonder if this is now going to be a template for trying to deal with Arsenal; and if so Arteta is going to need to find an answer - and quickly. To be fair, we could have perhaps have expected a reaction following all the effort put in on Wednesday evening. Plus Chelsea had had an extra day's rest. But I was nonetheless concerned that something was missing.
Taylor's pal - despite being best known as a right back - was dominating Zubimendi in the middle of the park, the home team were creating a few half chances (one superb block from Rice prevented Neto from getting a shot off from a very dangerous position), and Caicedo was getting away a lot of kicking and shoving.
Until, in the 35th minute, he took it too far. A late lunge at Merino saw him miss the ball completely, and make strong contact with the latter's shin/ankle. The more you looked at, the worse it looked, and a red card was inevitable. Surely - despite having been second best up to that point - it was advantage Arsenal. Or so one would expect...
The best chance of the half fell to (the otherwise anonymous) Martinelli in injury time. Sanchez had to change direction to make a smart save low to his right. But there had been little actual football action; let alone goalmouth stuff.
By half time (and what a terrible half of football it had been), three quarters of Arsenal's back line had yellow cards - as well as Zubi - so it must have been uppermost in Arteta's mind to change some personnel. As an aside, neutrals were suggesting that referee Taylor had been having a good game, but I disagree. He was unquestionably favouring the home side... and I'll know that some will say that he was correctly punishing Arsenal's evident cynicism in the tackle, but he was letting Chelsea (including Caicedo prior to his sending off) get away with a lot of really robust stuff.
The easiest reshuffle - without moving several defenders around - was MLS for Calafiori. And this is the one change Arteta made. The youngster may have been relieved to see Estevao also come off, but this meant that had had to deal with the wily Neto instead. Tough; especially after the roasting he got from Bayern on Wednesday...
But disaster struck almost immediately, as Chelsea won a quick free kick and then a corner; from which Chalobah flicked a header over everybody and into the far corner of the net.
Now, I was concerned that Enzo had been interfering with Mosquera's ability to clear the ball; but you take the rough with the smooth, and Arsenal are experts at this type of baulking at set pieces. But it would appear that VAR missed a trick, because it's clear from some angles that have emerged only today that the Argentinian was offside when Chalobah made contact. So the goal ought to have been chalked off. And yet again questions need to be asked about the standard of officiating. Remember; this was a massive match!
Clear as day...
Suddenly, despite it being 11 vs 10, Arsenal were faced with an uphill task. The change I'd suspected Chelsea would make - Delap for Joao Pedro - occurred soon afterwards. The ball was more likely to stick to Delap that it was to the divey Brazilian. And by this time Arsenal were starting to get back into the game; despite MLS being the fifth player into Taylor's book for a cynical foul on the referee's close friend Reece James.
Arteta responded quickly, with Odegaard and Madueke (childishly booed by the peevish and pathetic Chelsea fans at every touch) on for Zubimendi and Martinelli. Instantly, Arsenal were level; but this was down to the tenacity and skill of Saka, who finally got the better of Shaggy, and the predatory skills of Merino in the 6-yard box.
And whilst Arsenal saw considerably more of the ball from there on until the end of the game, you'd hardly have known that Chelsea were a man light as they kept up their high octane attack. Frankly, they did as much with the ball in the much shorter time that they held it than Arsenal's more methodical approach managed to achieve. Nonetheless Arsenal almost took all three points late on - Merino's shot was pushed away by the diving Sanchez, who as the ball lay loose in the 6-yard box received a battering from the lower limbs of Gyokeres (on for the disappointing Eze; it wasn't his type of game, I guess - and Odegaard did as much in half an hour as Eze did in 80 minutes). Very late on, Timber got in the way of Gyokeres as he closed in on - and looked certain to bury - Hincapie's stand-up cross from the left. Annoying...
So the points were shared. And I'd have been happy to take that following the news about Saliba. It is disappointing that they couldn't turn their man advantage into a win, but they remain 5 points clear of Manchester City (who were frankly a little fortunate to scrape a late win against Leeds and looked well off their best) and 6 of Chelsea. Whilst the latter remain inconsistent, they are a better side than I thought they were, and now have Palmer to come back. So perhaps they will be Arsenal's biggest challengers.
But one thing I must add here is that I believe that we need to see more tempo and hunger in Arsenal's game. They know that they are better than most of their opponents, but it's as much about hard work as it is talent. They need to show it a little more than they appeared to do against Chelsea. Almost to a man.
Meantime, we move on to a series of games up to Christmas from which Arsenal should hopefully be able to push further clear. Brentford at home in midweek; then Villa away (they're in decent form, to be fair), Wolves, Everton, Brighton and then Villa again before the turn of the year. We await news on Saliba and Trossard, but there are others on their way back now. I'd expect Odegaard to start on Wednesday, but this is where Arteta is really going to have to earn his money.
Arsenal remain well-placed to do what we hope. So all I can say is COYG!
I'll be back on Thursday.
