An in-depth look at the Arsenal game

Before the match, Arsène Wenger had something to celebrate, managing to reach 1,000 games with his Arsenal side since taking over in October 1996, making him the longest serving currently-employed manager in the Premier League.

However, the match that would play out before him left him with little to be happy about.

From the off, an open game started, with lots of space appearing all over the pitch, leaving ChelseaÂ’s countering ability to express itself as much as it could. And it showed within the first 5 minutes, with ChelseaÂ’s first first-half league goal in over a month. A counter attack started from deep allow Schurrle to play a pass into Samuel EtoÂ’oÂ’s path, who dummied and finished with aplomb to put the Blues ahead after before the 5 minute mark.

The Arsenal defence failed to plug the holes they’d left open to the first goal and lost all sense of organisation as an interception from Nemanja Mati? allowed Chelsea to again break forward with ease and left Andre Schürrle with a chance to finish with a shot towards the far post. He made it 2-0 inside the first 10 mins. Though, striker Eto’o was injured in the build-up to the goal and had to be take off with what seems a thigh injury (possibly groin) and Fernando Torres came on early to replace him.

A demoralised Arsenal then had a lot to do, and to their credit, they did try to grasp some of the game. Although, Chelsea were happy to sit back on their cushion and left 10 men behind the ball to soak up the pressure from Arsenal.

ChelseaÂ’s grasp on the game, however, proved too much for Arsenal who failed to make do with any possession they had. The structure and organisation of ChelseaÂ’s defence kept ArsenalÂ’s attack out and the Blues were happy to let the Gunners play the ball around in front of them, squashing any sort of incisive pass that Arsenal attempted to play through.

Another break from Chelsea then lead to one of the most controversial moments of the season, as an Eden Hazard strike at goal was handled on the line by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and a penalty was given. However, after the referee Andre Marriner blew for the foul and pulled out a red from his pocket which he, in what presumably is the case of a mistake identity, gave wrongly to defender Kieran Gibbs. Gibbs, to his credit, made little protest and took his ‘punishment’, whilst the culprit Chamberlain made it clear as possible to the referee that it was in fact him that committed the foul.

The resulting penalty was converted neatly by Hazard and gave the Blues an easy 3-0 lead as they cruised to victory. This red card saw Lukas Podolski temporarily switch to left-back to cover for the dismissed Gibbs, leaving Arsenal with a man down and even blunter in attack – now more focussed on damage limitation.

However, this attempt to quash ChelseaÂ’s attacking intent did little in stopping the Blues, as an attack late into the first-half saw them steam-roll the Gunners into a 4-0 lead at the interval, Torres supplying the pass for a brilliant Oscar finish.

Arsenal, at the break, attempted to reshuffle the pack a bit as they brought on their 2 remaining subs in Flamini and Jenkinson, however it did little to stop the attacks of the Blues. They did manage to keep the Blues out for the first 20 mins, but a lay-off from Nemanja Mati? saw Oscar knock in his second, with the shot bouncing over keeper Szcz?sny, pretty much summing up ArsenalÂ’s day.

That piece of action was the last that the Brazilian wonderkid saw today as he came off for Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah. And that man Salah managed to get a goal, his first since signing for the Blues in January, in only his second game for them. A pass played over the onrushing Arsenal defence saw him run through onside and unchallenged, putting away the ball with a superb finish, showing signs of promise for the manager José Mourinho.

The majority of the half was then dominated by Chelsea, as they sought to keep possession and slow the game down in an effort to conserve energy, and that showed as there was little action from then on. A late chance for Santi Cazorla was presented to him, however his shot was just wide of the post, proving to be one of the better effort from the Arsenal attack. Giroud also had a shout at an attempt when he spotted keeper Petr ?ech off of his line, however the Czech managed to track back in time to keep it out.

Overall, ChelseaÂ’s dominance early on and the wrongly attributed red card saw Arsenal drained of morale and allowed them to keep a hold on the game throughout, giving Arsenal little room to breathe and made keeping the ball much easier. Wenger may have managed 1,000 games for Arsenal, but heÂ’ll certainly be trying to forget this after the poor display his team put on.

In ChelseaÂ’s next game, they travel a short distance to Londoners Crystal Palace to face Tony PulisÂ’ side on 29^th March, whereas Arsenal play hosts to Swansea City at the Emirates in a midweek game on the 25^th March.

Starting Line-Ups

Chelsea:

Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Matic, Oscar, Schurrle, Hazard, Eto’o

Arsenal:

Szczesny, Sagna, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Arteta, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Rosicky, Giroud, Podolski

Subs Bench:

Chelsea:

Schwarzer, Kalas, Mikel, Salah, Ba, Torres, Lampard

Arsenal:

Fabianski, Vermaelen, Flamini, Sanogo, Jenkinson, Kallstrom, Gnabry

Substitutions Made

Chelsea:

EtoÂ’o OFF, Torres ON (9Â’)

Oscar OFF, Salah ON (66Â’)

Arsenal:

Podolski OFF, Vermaelen ON (23Â’)

Oxlade-Chamberlain OFF, Flamini ON (45Â’)

Koscielny OFF, Jenkinson ON (45Â’)

Match Stats

Possession: 53% / 47%

Shots (on target): 16(11) / 9(5)

Offsides: 6 / 2

Yellow Cards: 0 / 1

Red Cards: 0 / 1

 

Final Result:  Chelsea FC 6 – 0 Arsenal FC

Scorers:

EtoÂ’o (Chelsea) (4Â’)

Schürrle (Chelsea) (7’)

Hazard (Chelsea) (17Â’ PEN)

Oscar (Chelsea) (42Â’, 66Â’)

Salah (Chelsea) (71Â’)