I t was better from Arsenal Sunday -- but it was still not good enough. There was at least fight in their 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday, a sense of coherence and a game plan. This was a much-improved performance on last seasons four capitulations away from home against the other sides that finished in the top five. And yet, this was still a game ultimately decided by some all too familiar Arsenal failings -- and by the remorselessness of a Chelsea that now stands five points clear at the top of the table. The key to beating Arsenal, as Sir Alex Ferguson outlined in his latest autobiography, is to push high up the pitch and look for interceptions. That was how Chelsea crushed them last season, pressuring Arsenal into giving the ball away and scoring five of its goals in a 6-0 drubbing off rapid transitions. This time, though, there was aggression and intensity from Arsenal from the off, Alexis Sanchez yapping around Branislav Ivanovic like an angry terrier with Danny Welbeck scampering back to offer support. Ozil, so effective through the center against Aston Villa and Galatasaray, spent most of his time on the right as Arsenal reverted to a 4-3-3 from 4-2-3-1. When Ozil has played wide this season it tends to have been on the left, but that was presumably deemed too risky given Ivanovics propensity for forward surges. And, not for the first time this season, Ozil was largely ineffective from the flank. There was aggression on the touchline too, a bad foul on Sanchez by Gary Cahill leading to a confrontation between Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger. The Arsenal manager, with seemingly little provocation other than a decade of history, shoved Mourinho with both hands on his chest. Mourinho, his face a picture of shock, seemed to consider flinging himself to the floor before his hand flicked up, catching Wengers tie. Wenger then loomed over him, stooping like a furious eagle eyeballing a well-heeled owl before the fourth official intervened. Wenger walked away smiling, as though this were all part of some master plan to unsettle Chelsea. Arsenals assistant coach Steve Bould, a notable hard man as a player, then engaged in some less than polite badinage with Chelseas irritant-in-chief, the goalkeeping coach Rui Faria. Mourinho, though, had the last laugh: his record against Wenger now reads played 12, won seven, drawn five. Events, anyway, had conspired to disrupt Chelsea, an accidental collision between Sanchez and Thibaut Courtois leaving the goalkeeper flat out. A few minutes later, he staggered towards the touchline and went down again, a thin trail of blood leading from his right ear. He was forced off and taken to hospital for precautionary tests, Petr Cech coming on for his first league appearance for the season. Yet for all that Arsenal began well -- and went on to play as well as they have for a long-time away to a top-class rival. The back of their midfield is such a perennial issue it feels slightly ridiculous bringing it up again, rather like pointing out the grass was green, and yet it continues to cost Arsenal. Even at full strength, it is not that robust and without Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey, it is distinctly flimsy in that area. Santi Cazorla did his best to fill in, but it is not his position, something made horribly obvious as Eden Hazard accelerated past him 27 minutes in. A more natural holder might have jockeyed, or at least got a shoulder into the challenge to throw Hazard of balance, but Cazorla just let the Belgian sweep past him. Hazard then jinked Callum Chambers, who was perhaps tentative having already been booked for a foul on the winger, and darted into the box where Laurent Koscielny, his birdlike gait always making him look as though is on the verge of panicking, did panic and hacked him down. Arsenal, having seemingly arrived with a strategy of standing up to Chelsea, had simply let Hazard saunter though them; he then rolled in the penalty. Hazard was by some distance the most dangerous player on the pitch, and his run and cross very nearly resulted in a second 12 minutes into the second half, the ball hitting Mathieu Flamini before being pushed wide by Wojciech Szczesny. He then fired just over with a chance created by the doggedness of Diego Costa who led the line with great diligence before running through onto Cesc Fabregass ball over the top and touching his finish over the goalkeeper -- respectively their seventh assist and ninth goal of the season. Fabregas was subject to predictable abuse form the Arsenal fans, but he now has as many assists this season as the entire Arsenal squad put together. Yet again, Arsenal conceded from the cheap concession of possession, the same mistakes, the same lack of answers, again and again and again. A slightly more aggressive approach couldnt disguise that.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 21:44:03 +0000
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