EPL: Chelsea 3-2 Arsenal





Unai Emery admitted Arsenal were not good enough in the second half after a defeat at Stamford Bridge. The Spaniard's side fought back from 2-0 down to go into half time drawing 2-2, but Chelsea were stronger in the second half, winning the match through an 81st minute Marcos Alonso goal.





After the game Emery spoke to BT Sport and said, "The half time is good for us and the second half is we need to continue this control, but I think the second half we don't push and keep possession like we did in the first half, and in our moments, our chances, we didn't do and they did".





Arsenal started the match looking to end a 7 year winless spell at Stamford Bridge in the league (5-3, October 2011). Unai Emery set up the Gunners in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Iwobi starting on the left, somewhat surprising many Arsenal fans. Petr Cech remained in goal from the 2-0 home defeat to Manchester City and Granit Xhaka started over the new defensive midfield signing Lucas Torreira. Alexandre Lacazette also remained on the bench.





So, yet again, Emery had worried Gooners before the match had even started. Xhaka had received a lot of criticism after Sunday's loss, especially when Torreira had a positive impact from the bench, and Cech, despite making several very good saves, had almost scored an own goal, showing why he did not suit passing the ball out from the back like Emery wanted.





Cech's old team, Chelsea, started the match with their star number 10, Eden Hazard, new midfield loanee, Mateo Kovacic, and former Gunner, Olivier Giroud, all on the bench.





Emery chose to start Aubameyang up front over Lacazette again

It was the home side that started stronger, opening the scoring when Marcos Alonso beat Mkhitaryan to an over the top pass, crossed to Pedro arriving in the box, who then shot into the bottom right hand corner to beat Cech. One of Bellerin's main flaws is that he does not seem to be able to balance staying back to defend and running up the pitch to attack, which makes him over reliant on whoever else is playing down the right to defend for him. The back 4 were also playing a line as high as Snoop Dogg on a Saturday night. This cost them in the 20th minute too, when Morata latched onto another ball over the top and shot through Mustafi's legs to make it 2-0.





Sokratis looks very slow, which makes him and Mustafi a terrible partnership to have when playing a high line. Chelsea were leading 2-0 far too easily, and Arsenal had already missed several chances to draw level. Ozil missed a volley prior to the first goal and Aubameyang skied the ball from the edge of the 6 yard box. The pressure was on. Would this turn into a repeat of the 6-0 thrashing in 2014?





Aubameyang missed a pretty easy chance to make it 1-1, just a minute later

Arsenal conceded a second

No. Finally, after a very good spell where Arsenal had dominated possession and, again, missed a sitter through Mkhitaryan, the Armenian shot with his weaker left foot into the bottom left corner from outside the box and made it 2-1. Admittedly Chelsea's new goalie "Kepa" should have saved it, but a goal's a goal- the Gunners were just happy to see the ball end up in the net. Mkhitaryan had not looked very good up to that point, having given the ball away a lot before getting beaten by Alonso for Chelsea's first goal, so he set himself on the course for redemption with the goal. Arsenal then continued this brilliant spell to complete a comeback just before half time. Bellerin and Mkhitaryan combined down the right before Henrikh drilled in a cross to Iwobi who smashed it home for Arsenal's second. The Nigerian had done well throughout the first half, and continued to do so in the second, proving why Emery chose him to start. He looked better physically, more mature on the ball by knowing when to hold it up and when to run at the defenders, and scored a deserved goal. He also could have grabbed another in stoppage time before the break, but hit it over in similar fashion to Aubameyang.





Alex Iwobi proved his doubters wrong by creating Mkhitaryan's goal

and scoring one himself

So Arsenal went into the break looking the stronger of the two teams, with momentum on their side. Emery continued to revolutionise the substitution system at Arsenal by making a change before coming out for the second half. Lucas Torreira was brought on for Xhaka, who hadn't really impacted the game apart from a reckless challenge which led to a yellow card. Torreira immediately made an impact. The back four looked more stable with a quality DM in front of them making good passes and tackles. However, Arsenal did not continue their dominance for long. After the first ten minutes of the second half their attacking flair seemed to fizzle out, and they looked more content with playing for a single point. In the 60th minute Chelsea brought on Kovacic and Hazard. The Belgian gave Bellerin a lot to deal with down the right and it looked like he just couldn't handle it. Hazard has such confidence on the ball and his teammates always seem to be looking for where he is so they pass to him. And it was the number 10 that set up Alonso for the winner in the 81st minute. The goal came as such a kick in the teeth. Suddenly Arsenal weren't taking anything from the game. Emery would have been in charge for two games and lost twice, and Arsenal were paying the price for misfiring in the first half.





Marcos Alonso, already a villain of this derby for knocking out Bellerin in 2017, scored

the winner to beat Arsenal 3-2

And pay the price they did. Cue the regular meltdown on Arsenal Twitter. On one side there's positivity, with many Gooners pointing to the promising displays by Guendouzi (again) and Iwobi, Cech's good saves (although he still looked unconfident on the ball), and the great passing move which led to Arsenal's second goal- showing that Emery's style of play is beginning to be understood by the team. On the other side we have the moaners. "We're SIX points off the top and in 17th place". Honestly some of our fanbase are so fickle. They have begun to criticise Aubameyang already, somehow forgetting how good he has been for us since he arrived at the end of January. Emery has been told that Ozil, Xhaka, Mustafi and Bellerin should all be "binned". It enfuriates me. They embarrass the rest of us fans, especially when they go on Arsenal Fan TV. However, I have been pleased that most reactions have been quite positive, agreeing that we should all give Emery time, and that two very difficult games after only a couple of months in charge is not enough to judge him on. So let's do that, sure the defending was very poor on Saturday, but I'm confident this will improve the more they are coached and we created many chances that I'm sure the attack will finish once they find their form. Next week we play West Ham back at the Emirates. Let's all show our support once more and help the team earn their first win of the season! COME ON YOU GUNNERS!





Note:

This is my 50th post for The Weekly Arsenal Blog and it's been around two years since I started it. I know, I know, do the maths and you'll work out I haven't been very consistent, but I feel my writing has improved a lot since 2016 and I've had a lot of fun making posts! My personal highlight has to be rapidly typing up an article in the car when Emery was announced. I want to thank everyone that has read the blog and supported me along the way, going from 10 views to 1500 has really motivated me! Here's to more progress in the next few years!





Next fixture: West Ham (h) Sat 25/8 K.O- 3pm