Winners
Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba
This might be the best performance for Gabriel Magalhaes in an Arsenal shirt. What a performance.
The Brazilian centre-half came up against his international counterpart Thiago Silva and showed his national boss Tite why it potentially should be him starting in the World Cup side this winter. Every ball, every cross and ultimately the one big chance and the Arsenal man delivered on them all.
William Saliba shone in this game and might potentially be the best centre-half in the world, as claimed by Umar Choudhry during The Arsenal Way’s post-match stream. His composure and strength were unmatched and he rightly won the player of the match award.
READ MORE: Chelsea vs Arsenal highlights: Gabriel seals Gunners win as Aubameyang disappoints
Yet sometimes when Saliba is this good it is easy to overlook Gabriel. In all honesty, we should appreciate having the best partnership of a back two potentially since the last golden era of the club with Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure.
Thomas Partey
Whilst Saliba might be the best centre-half in the world, there is a case for Thomas Partey being potentially the best deep midfielder in the league in his position.
Fabinho? Rodri? Mikel Arteta certainly wouldn’t swap them with the performances of the Ghanaian so far this season and the attention will turn to insuring that in his absence through injury, which has been a common theme of his tenure in North London, that Arsenal have a competitive option through a potential January transfer.
Mohamed Elneny’s return will help. However, there is little hope any other option in the current squad can bring what was showcased today at Stamford Bridge.
Ben White
Whilst Saliba and Gabriel have established themselves as the Arsenal centre-half pairing Ben White has only flourished in his own new role. The current right-back has been brilliant and again at the Bridge showed his quality in the team, preventing almost all threats down the Gunners' right-hand side.
His forays forward are also improving, the nutmeg in the second half was a glimpse of his confidence on the ball only growing. Mikel Arteta spoke after the game and simply said: “I love the boy.” And we do too.
Losers
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
It’s nothing personal, but quite simply the face of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang showed the story of the game for Chelsea. Glum.
Isolated up top with very little to work with, it was almost a carbon copy of the performances of an Arsenal side playing against a “superior” opponent with the Gabon forward as their No. 9. Aubameyang represents a previous iteration of Arsenal that the side has since moved on from, with Gabriel Jesus not scoring but his performance integral to the victory, he was everywhere.
It is quite poetic that Chelsea are the club where Aubameyang now resides. It represents the shift of power in London as Arsenal look to reclaim their crown as the city’s No. 1 side and the 13-point gap between the sides in the Premier League table is only further evidence of it.
Kieran Tierney
After his great performance against FC Zurich on Thursday night, it seemed almost certain that Kieran Tierney would start this game. However, the return of Oleksandr Zinchenko saw the Scot drop to the bench once again.
That said, the Ukrainian was excellent and you could immediately see how his style suited the Arteta game plan far more than the more traditional option in Tierney. He came off the bench to help finish the game and that could be his role going forwards.
Arsenal play Brighton in the League Cup on Wednesday and he will almost certainly start the game there. Takehiro Tomiyasu’s fitness remains a concern and so he won’t be short of minutes still.
Bukayo Saka
It is becoming rather ridiculous that Bukayo Saka is simply not getting the decisions fall his way. The incident in the first half between the winger and Marc Cucurella summed up perfectly this case in point.
The Spaniard clearly fouled Saka and when it wasn’t given, the Arsenal man’s frustrations boiled over and he returned the favour and found himself booked. This needs to be monitored with closer attention because it is getting to a stage, as shown at Nottingham Forest, where he is being kicked to the point of potential injury.
He finds himself in the loser category through no fault of his own. He is here as simply a victim of poor officiating which could cost him, and players like him, a future in the game.
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