5 Things we learned from Arsenal’s London derby win over Chelsea
A statement sent from the Premier League holders. This game was billed as the defenders vs the challengers but the current Premier League champions showed that they are a class above in cracking game at the Emirates, Chelsea got off to an absolute flyer after a cross into the box was poorly cleared with the ball being headed into the air by Jorrel Hato to Morgan Rogers on the edge of the box who volleyed the visitors into a stunning lead just two minutes in. Arsenal responded brilliantly though looking dangerous every attack and did have a goal ruled for offside in the 12th minute with an equaliser looking likely to come at any minute, it did eventually come in the 25th minute as Declan Rice played the ball out to Kai Havertz on the right who cut in towards the edge of the box and fired a low shot past Emi Martinez to equalise for the Gunners. From then on it was all Arsenal but Chelsea were holding out and looked dangerous on the break hitting the post through Pedro Neto right on the stroke of half-time were both managers would have been relatively pleased with how their sides were playing, it didn’t take long though for Mikel Arteta’s side to take the lead in the second half as just five minutes in Christos Tzolis cut in from the left before firing the ball towards Havertz who’s brilliant dummy sent Odegaard to a one on one with Emi Martinez with the Norwegian firing into the roof of the net to make it 2-1. From there Arsenal controlled the game going close to getting a third with Saka forcing a brilliant save from Martinez but Xabi Alonso did introduce Estevao towards the end of the game which so nearly snatched a point for Chelsea with the Brazilian forcing an unbelievable save from Raya towards the end, overall a brilliant game of football and a real statement from Arsenal so early into the season.
This is undoubtedly the best team in the league this season. I think it goes without saying that Arsenal look by some distance the best team in England right now, the performance against Villa on Monday night was poor in my opinion but they were electric going forward today and probably should have scored 3 or 4 if they tightened up their finishing a bit. I’ve been quite critical of Arsenal’s attack over the last year or so but I thought Tzolis, Havertz and Odegaard were exceptional today with the German in particular having one of his best games for Arsenal against his former club, it really was a Firmino-esque performance and that’s high praise considering just how highly I rate Roberto Firmino. Tzolis was awful on Monday night but he was right back at it today and just seems to add an extra dimension on that left-hand-side that we didn’t see from Trossard or Martinelli which is top quality decision making and yet again he gets an assist today for Odegaard’s goal in the second half, the Norwegian has been Arsenal’s best player so far this season and yet again today was at the heart of everything good that the Gunners did which was 90% of the game. We all know by now that Arsenal’s defence is near impenetrable and we saw Ezri Konsa for the first time today as part of that defence and he looked right at home alongside Gabriel which I’d imagine will be Arteta’s preferred partnership until Saliba returns, if there’s one negative for Arsenal today it was the performance of Viktor Gyokeres from the bench who might as well have been a fan coming off the bench as the Swede was absolutely awful. Nothing new but just a reminder that if Havertz does get injured you’re left with pretty terrible number nine, I don’t care how many goals he scored last season he’s a complete liability in this team. Overall though this was a brilliant performance from Arsenal which puts down the gauntlet to everyone else watching, can you anyone take the league off them this season? I can’t see it.
This game came far too son for Xabi Alonso and Chelsea. It’s been an electric start to the season for Chelsea but I think this game was a step too far right now for this current side, they were in dreamland after making yet another fast start thanks to a brilliant finish from Morgan Rogers but Arsenal were in complete control for the rest of the half which you can understand with Reece James and Romeo Lavia in midfield for Chelsea. Moises Caicedo is arguably the most important player in this Chelsea side and we haven’t even seen him yet under Xabi Alonso so this team will level up significantly when the Ecuadorian returns from injury, having to sub on Malo Gusto in midfield in the second half was far from ideal for Alonso and you could could quite clearly see he was playing out of position multiple times during the game. Another disappointment for me anyway was the Chelsea attack that has created so many headlines in the first two games but couldn’t get the better of Arsenal’s defence today, Cole Palmer in particular today I wanted so much more from with the Englishman going missing for large parts of the game even when it was basketball game at times in the first half. You could say the same for Joao Pedro who couldn’t get the better of Gabriel or Konsa today but lacked any real service in there which shouldn’t be all that surprising given the team he’s playing against, overall a loss at the Emirates isn’t the end of the world for this Chelsea side but it does show their current limitations just a few months into Xabi Alonso’s tenure.
Will Arsenal regret not signing another attacker? It’s not something that immediately jumps to mind after this game but given how well they played had Raya not save that Estevao shot late on Chelsea would have snatched a draw which they probably wouldn’t have deserved, I had the same feeling on against Villa were you’d want your attackers killing the game before the opposition can build momentum in the final ten minutes or so. I get that Arsenal can rely heavily on their defence but there can be times like we saw in the United game earlier on where a player can just hit a worldy that you can do nothing about, that wouldn’t matter if you’re already 2 or 3 nil up but when it’s just one goal all it takes is a moment of luck or magic. Tzolis looks like he’s going to be a great signing but I just get the feeling that in a few months Arsenal will be regretting not getting one more attacker to bolster that frontline, who knows maybe something will come up in January but Arteta’s side do look light in the attack. Particularly with Viktor Gyokeres still there although he’ll probably score against Napoli on Wednesday.
What’s next for these two sides? As I was hinting at above Arsenal take a trip to Naples this week to kick-off their Champions League campaign against Allegri’s Napoli at the Maradona and are then back in action in the Premier League against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, Chelsea are back in Carabao Cup action this week against Leeds on Wednesday at Stamford Bridge then return to the Bridge this weekend to face unbeaten Hull City which should be an interesting game. All eyes now turn to the Champions League with Real Madrid vs Inter the first match-up I’ll be covering on here, should be a cracker on Tuesday.