Chelsea 1 Arsenal 1
Chelsea have what it takes to fight for the title this season. I think one thing that this game definitely showed us was that Chelsea are good enough to beat any team in the league and I think with 11 men Chelsea were certainly the better team and should have been 1 nil up before the Caicedo red card, many people were doubting Chelsea’s capability this year but they’ve shown in the last few weeks that they are ready to at least push Arsenal this year for the league, whether they can win or not will remain to be seen?
Caicedo let his team down. The main talking point coming out of this game was the sending off of Moises Caicedo for a challenge on Mikel Merino in the centre of the pitch, I don’t think Caicedo can have any complaints over the red card and he will now miss Chelsea’s next 3 games against Leeds, Bournemouth and Everton. The talk before the game was all about Rice vs Caicedo but I think Caicedo was bossing that midfield alongside Reece James in that first half and to be honest I thought Rice was poor in the second half were Arsenal couldn’t really get any control.
Arsenal need players back in this busy December period. This is the first game in a while were I thought Arsenal really struggled to get a grip of the game and it didn’t really change after Chelsea went down to 10, Mosquera and Hincapie looked nervous and understandably so only playing there 2nd game together as a partnership. Mikel Arteta needs players like Odegaard,Gyokeres, Jesus and Gabriel back if they are to continue their form and stay at the top of the league in December.
Reece James was the best midfielder on the pitch. I don’t think anyone before the game would have predicted that Reece James would dominate in a midfield that was surrounded with some brilliant players, whether it was Zubimendi, Eze, Rice or Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, Reece James stood head and shoulders above them all and bossed the game whilst Chelsea had 11 and 10 men. He also assisted Chelsea’s goal from the corner which Chalobah nodded in brilliantly at the start of the second half. It’s easy to forget just how good Reece James is when he’s injured but so far this season he’s been one of Chelsea’s most consistent players. He’s definitely put his name in the ring for Tuchel’s World Cup squad next year.
These two teams are the best in the league. What this game most certainly told us is that Chelsea and Arsenal are the two best teams in the league, the intensity of the match is something we don’t see that often anymore in the Premier League with cards flying everywhere especially in that first half. With City looking shaky against Leeds at home I think if Chelsea can keep up the performance levels they’re at at the minute they might just be better than City. We know already that Arsenal are the best team in the league but their performance in this game might worry Mikel Arteta in that they struggled in that second half against 10 man Chelsea, however you would imagine that when they get some players back and with fixtures getting a bit easier Arsenal will improve further.