Report, reaction and analysis
David Hytner’s match report has landed, so I’m going to wrap this blog up. Thanks for your company and emails – bye!
Arsenal’s record this season
P13 W11 D1 L1 F31 A11.
I mean, I’ve seen worse.
Statgasm du jour The last time Arsenal won three consecutive games at Stamford Bridge was in 1950-51.
“One-nil to the Arsenal,” says Kári Tulinius. “It’s true what they say, the old songs are the best.”
Granit Xhaka’s verdict
“You see the atmosphere, it’s fucking unbelievable… sorry… You see the atmosphere, it’s unbelievable. We deserved to win today, we were much, much, much the better team. We are doing what the coaches tell us, and these are the results.
“After the season nobody asks you how you win in November, December or January. You are just trying to get a lot of points, and let’s see where we end up.”
“Arsenal look different don’t they?” says Zack. “That was so devoid of drama, top six opposition calmly dispatched, not something we’ve been known for.”
That was the most impressive thing – it was a Manchester City win.
Mikel Arteta punches the air wildly at the final whistle, and then the players do likewise in front of the away fans. Something’s happening here; as in the early days of George Graham, a young team is washing away years of frustration and mediocrity. Whether they are good enough to win the league title ahead of Manchester City, I’m still not sure, but they are an outstanding, infectious team.
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Full time: Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal return to the top of the table after an authoritative victory at Stamford Bridge. It was a game of few chances, settled by Gabriel’s close-range finish, but Arsenal were superior in every deparment. William Saliba and Thomas Partey were especially good.
90+4 min Chelsea can’t get the ball. Arsenal make one last change – Rob Holding for Gabriel Martinelli.
90+3 min Xhaka and Chalobah start scrapping over a goalkick/corner, and then players from both sides get involved. There was nothing much in it, just the usual hold-me-back nonsense.
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90 min Arsenal are seeing this out very comfortably. There will be five minutes of added time.
89 min Gallagher almost collects Gabriel’s defensive header, but he runs past the ball and Xhaka picks it up. Arsenal break, Sterling fouls Partey and is booked.
87 min Arsenal bring on Mohamed Elneny for Martin Odegaard.
85 min Gallagher is booked for pulling back Tierney.
85 min Thomas Partey has had an extremely good game today. If Arsenal are to challenge for the title, he has to stay fit. He’s irreplaceable.
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84 min A corner is half-cleared to Cucurella on the edge of the area. His shot takes a deflection and is booted clear.
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82 min Another dangerous cross, this time from Gallagher, is booted away by Saliba. Chelsea are at least playing with more intent now.
81 min Sterling breaks into space down the right and slides a low cross towards Broja and Pulisic. White gets between them to make a vital clearance.
81 min: No penalty! Cucurella’s arm was just outside the area when the ball hit it.
80 min: VAR check for an Arsenal penalty! Jesus’s clipped pass hits Cucurella right on the edge of the area, and Arsenal are convinced it should be a penalty. It’s definitely handball – the only issue is whether he’s in the area.
79 min Ben White is booked for timewasting.
78 min Two changes for Chelsea: Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic replace Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount.
78 min Zinchenko is replaced by Kieran Tierney.
76 min There have been more eyecatching displays, most notably against Liverpool and Spurs, but there’s an argument that this is Arsenal’s best performance of the season. They have played like Manchester City, smothering Chelsea and eventually putting them to sleep.
75 min Saliba (I think) gets a vital touch at the near post to stop Broja’s cutback reaching Gallagher. He has been majestic. Arsenal break and Jesus beats two players before putting Odegaard through on goal. He cuts back inside Chalobah on the edge of the area but then, with Mendy well off his line, lifts the ball over the bar.
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73 min Chelsea haven’t really threatened to equalise. Gallagher looks lively enough but Mount and Sterling contiune to struggle. It’s been a meek performance from Chelsea.
Meanwhile, here’s Gabriel’s goal.
Advantage Arsenal! 🔴
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 6, 2022
Chelsea fail to deal with the corner and the ball falls to Gabriel who taps home into an empty net ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Sm2iNeRt3x
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71 min “Aubameyang did have a lack of service, but do you not think that’s the problem?” says Norrie Hernon. “He seems almost like a throwback now - hence why Arteta sold him. A forward now also needs to be an auxiliary midfielder, and Auba couldn’t and can’t do that. Also raises the question as to whether we’ve seen the end of pure ‘poachers’ like Fowler, whose game was built around moments and movement in the box, and a negligible amount outside it.”
I know what you mean, but have you met Erling Haaland. And yes I know he can play a bit too, but essentially he’s the Gen Z Dixie Dean.
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68 min Saka has another opportunity when he runs onto a through ball, with Mendy charging riskily to the edge of his area. But that mad dash seems to put Saka off – he misses his touch and Mendy is able to claim the ball.
68 min: Chance for Saka! A cross from the left nicks off the head of somebody in the middle and reaches Saka on the fare side. He shifts the ball onto his right foot, away from Cucurella, but then sprays it wide of the near post.
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67 min 26 April 2023: Manchester City v Arsenal. I’m daring to dream, and I’m only a neutral.
66 min Arsenal deserve to be ahead. They haven’t created many chances but they have been much the better side.
64 min: Chelsea substitution Armando Broja and Conor Gallagher replace Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, who was anonymous on his big day due to a complete lack of service, and Kai Havertz.
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Actually, I think it’s Gabriel’s goal. Saka’s wicked, inswinging corner from the right beat everyone at the near post. It was probably going in anyway, but Gabriel made sure by roofing it gleefully from approximately 0.01 yards.
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GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal (Gabriel 63)
Bukayo Saka has scored direct from a corner!
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62 min: Good save from Mendy! Great play from Jesus, who muscles Thiago off the ball in a dangerous position. It’s collected to Saka, who returns it to Jesus on the right-hand side of the area. He smashes a shot from a tight angle that is pushed round the near post by Mendy.
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61 min Saka’s deep cross arrives just behind Martinelli, who screws a difficult volley back across the penalty area. Broja is about to replace Aubameyang.
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60 min Chalobah is booked for taking out Jesus.
60 min There’s a whiff of stalemate about this second half. Both teams have decent options on the bench, including Mateo Kovacic, Christian Pulisic, Armando Broja, Conor Gallagher, Fabio Vieira, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah.
59 min Play has resumed at Stamford Bridge.
58 min “He’s been a Chelsea player for ages now, and I still haven’t found a satisfactory ‘Kai Havertz, and let slip the dogs of war’ pun,” says Matt Dony. “And let slip/Pulisic? War/Var? There must be one out there. Seems like I should be able to do it, but it’s just slightly out of reach. So close to being achievable. I just don’t quite have the quality to pull it off. Anyway, what were you saying about Arsenal’s title credentials?”
57 min There’s a medical emergency in the crowd, so play has been stopped.
56 min Arsenal take a short corner on the right. Odegaard moves into the area and curls a flat cross that brushes the head of the stretching Partey and flies well wide. Martinelli was right behind Partey and would have had a much easier header.
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55 min A dangerous, half-volleyed cross from Jesus is punched away by decisively by Mendy.
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54 min Mount’s outswinging free-kick is headed up in the air by Jesus and booted clear by Odegaard.
53 min Loftus-Cheek breaks down the right and is shoved over by Partey, who is a bit fortunate to avoid a yellow card.
53 min Chelsea have been a bit more aggressive without the ball since half-time. I don’t know what else to tell you, because nothing much is happening.
50 min Azpilicueta is booked for a high tackle on Martinelli. He won the ball but caught Martinelli in his follow through. Actually, replays suggest that Martinelli kicked the bottom of Azpilicueta’s foot. But Azpilicueta’s foot was highest and that’s why he’s been penalised, rightly or wrongly.
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49 min Saliba miskicks a clearance in his own area, straight to Aubameyang. He tries to turn it back into the middle and Saliba makes up for his error with a good block.
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48 min The last man White’s clearance hits Havertz’s outstretched arm and rebounds towards the Arsenal goal. Havertz is away from the defence, just past the halfway line, but he’s rightly penalised for handball.
47 min “While Zack wrote everything about Tierney conundrum, I’d add that Tierney was lying on the pitch ten minutes to go or so of the Zürich match on Thursday night so I reckon Arteta manages his minutes wisely,” says Admir Pajic. “He’s not going anywhere.”
I’ll bet you one dignity point that he’s at a different club next August. He’s too good to be a Europa League specialist.
46 min Cucurella fouls Saha straight away, and Odegaard’s free-kick is headed behind for a corner by Thiago. Nothing comes of it.
46 min Peep peep! Arsenal begin the second half.
“Curious what would make Arsenal serious title contenders?” says Leigh Rogers. “We are outplaying Chelsea. We have 32 points. We won ugly at Leeds and did not lose to Southamptom when playing badly. What is it apart that makes you doubt us apart from a confirming narrative?”
Not much, just the 2007-08, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. And Alf Inge Haaland’s offspring.
“In terms of a title challenge, I think it’s fair to say that since they blow-torched the old project 18 months ago and let Arteta and Edu start again Arsenal has been pretty far ahead of schedule,” writes Zack. “I know they fluffed it at the end but no one really thought we’d be top four as late we were either.
“This year again they seem far out ahead of both external and internal expectations. In a normal year I’d say no chance but in this stop-start year if they do what they didn’t do last season and shore up properly in January then, errr MAYBE! Depends if Pep prioritises his Haaland time for Europe next spring and who City play when they don’t have Haaland, I seriously doubt he plays every league and UCL game.”
One important thing is how Arsenal deal with their first blip. That can often be a problem for young sides, and last season most of their defeats came in clusters.
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Half-time reading
It starts two weeks today, you know.
Half time: Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal
It was Arsene Wenger who coined the phrase “sterile domination”, and it’s a decent description of Arsenal’s first-half performance. They passed the ball persuasively throughout but didn’t have a single shot on target; their only clear chance was headed wide by Gabriel Jesus.
Chelsea struggled to keep the ball and spent most of the half fighting fires in their own half. They need to do better, but then don’t we all.
45+1 min Martinelli dances past a couple of defenders near the byline to win a corner. Nothing comes of it, and that’s the end of that.
45 min One minute of added time.
41 min Saka is booked for a retaliatory foul on Cucurella. He thought Cucurella had fouled him a few seconds earlier, though it wasn’t given. Mikel Arteta and Graham Potter briefly kicked off on the touchline, though it barely registered on the Josearseneometer.
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40 min Here’s that chance for Gabriel Jesus in the 29th minute. I told you Mikel Arteta should have signed Keith Houchen.
That's a golden chance for Gabriel Jesus to put Arsenal 1-0 up! 😳 pic.twitter.com/dri0zcKz1r
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 6, 2022
38 min Chelsea have regained a degree of control, though Arsenal are still playing like the home team. And they haven’t had a shot on target, so stick that up your narrative.
36 min “This Chelsea back four doesn’t look right or comfortable, and they’re easily outmanned in the middle with Zinchenko dropping in and Auba a passenger,” says Norrie Hernon. “Another ‘genius’ sub from Potter to pack the midfield? (Also, funny how spending almost 300m then changing manager gives a team a slightly disjointed look. It’s entirely self-inflicted.)”
The way you’re talking, you’d think Chelsea have had 16 full-time managers to Arsenal’s three in the last 25 years.
34 min Chelsea are starting to have their moments on the break. Sterling plays another good pass to the underlapping Havertz, whose cross-shot is too close to Ramsdale.
32 min Havertz, the least anonymous of Chelsea’s attacking players, slithers down the left to win a corner. Mount’s inswinger is headed over by Thiago Silva, under pressure from Partey. Actually, Partey did well to push Silva with enough strength to put him off the header, but not enough for it to be foul.
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31 min Ben White aside, Aubameyang hasn’t had a kick. That’s not particularly his fault – Chelsea can’t keep the ball, never mind give him service.
29 min: Great chance for Jesus! Brilliant play again from Arsenal. Martinelli cuts inside Azpilicueta on the left and curls a lovely inswinging cross to the far post, where the unmarked Jesus puts a diving header wide from about eight yards. It wasn’t a sitter, but he still should have scored.
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28 min I can’t decide whether Arsenal are serious title challengers. Probably not, if Erling Haaland stays fit. But what is abundantly clear if that they are a seriously impressive side with an age profile that means they are going to get better. If they can keep hold of all their players for the next two seasons, and that’s a big if, they will surely win things – maybe even a league title.
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27 min Mendy faffs on the ball and is this close to being dispossessed by Martinelli. Then Aubameyang is booked for cleaning out Ben White. Xhaka asks for more, but a yellow card was the correct decision.
24 min Chelsea’s attacking play is very disjointed. I suppose that’s to be expected when their coach has only been there a couple of months, but it’s making for an uncomfortable afternoon.
21 min “Apropos of nothing other than the terrifying, ineluctable march of time,” chirps Niall Mullen, “a baby born on the night Wayne Bridge scored the winner at Highbury would now be old enough to drink and vote (likely in that order).”
Good lord.
20 min For all Arsenal’s possession, there hasn’t been a shot on target at either end. Jesus almost manages the first: he robs Loftus-Cheek and slaloms thrillingly past three players on the edge of the area before hitting a shot that is crucially blocked by Thiago Silva.
Chelsea break and Mount’s crisp long-range drive is blocked by Xhaka.
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18 min Zinchenko tries to take a throw-in with a wet ball, drops it and is penalised. Meme alert!
18 min Martinelli whips over from 25 yards. Mendy had it covered.
17 min It must be a while since Chelsea were 10 points behind Arsenal in the league. The 2015-16 season maybe? There’s a real strut about them, like there was when they came to Stamford Bridge in the Invincible era.
15 min A quiet spell in the game. Arsenal are still on top, and Chelsea area really struggling to keep the ball.
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12 min Possession percentage so far: Chelsea 38-62 Arsenal.
12 min A game of head tennis in the Arsenal area ends with the new, improved Granit Xhaka calmly nodding the ball back to Ramsdale. Franz Beckenbauer couldn’t have done it better.
10 min: Chance for White! Arsenal are playing so well. They kept the ball for an age until Jesus picked out White in space on the edge of the area. He took a touch and dragged a tame shot wide of the far post.
9 min Chelsea’s first good attack. Sterling plays a terrific pass to the underlapping Havertz, who has a brainfade and wallops a cross out of play for a throw-in. Aubameyang had made a really good run and was crying out for a cutback.
8 min Odegaard’s free-kick is headed away as far as White, 22 yards out. Goalkick to Chelsea.
7 min “No no no, please don’t say that Kieran Tierney will leave; don’t even think about it,” weeps Charles Antaki. “Arsenal fans have a sense of players they sort of love, and one of them leaving, especially one who has that extra charm of genuineness and straightforwardness, would be too much of a (football-specific, to be sure) loss to bear. Aubameyang going was fine though.”
He’s definitely the best and most likeable third-choice left-back in the Premier League.
6 min Arsenal have started superbly and are passing through Chelsea for fun. Literally. Graham Potter might already be thinking about switching to a midfield diamond because they are getting overrun here.
5 min Saka tries to slide the free-kick to Martinelli in the D, but Cucurella reads it and intercepts.
4 min Saka runs Cucurella and is shoved over, just outside the area on the right. That stemmed from Ramsdale sliding a ball through the lines to Zinchenko, popping up in the central-midfield position that Zack mentioned below.
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3 min Yes it’s definitely a 4-2-3-1 for Chelsea, as below. But it’s Arsenal who have started strongly; they look so relaxed and confident.
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2 min “On Tierney, I think in response to what Eddie has said Arteta ‘not understanding his value’ is a bit strong,” writes Zack. “With Arteta and Tierney it’s two things. The first is, Tierney is fit for about two thirds of a season generally. In the past when Arteta only had Tierney and the system was designed partly to maximize Tierney’s attacking qualities he would inevitably get injured and we’d look a lot worse.
“Second Arteta has moved to reimagine Tierney’s position in the attack using an attacking 8 (hence Xhaka suddenly does goals now) as the fifth member of our attack with both full-backs slotting into midfield. Zinchenko slots into midfield at an elite level and Tomiyasu and Ben White (who also overlaps) at a very good level. Tierney can do it but it’s not quite the same.
“I have really enjoyed Tierney at Arsenal and, he is playing every week at the moment so it’s not like he’s been sidelined. However, Arteta has evolved the side away from his skillset. It happens! He will probably see a lot of game time this year and maybe he goes in the summer, maybe not. The side is more adaptable now and he is still a part of that!”
1 min A long throw is backheaded into the side netting by Gabriel. A quarter chance, at best.
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1 min Chelsea kick off from right to left as we watch. It looks like a back four for Chelsea.
And now, to business.
It’s Remembrace Day on Friday. Before kick-off, the players will gather round the centre circle to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the war.
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The players stroll onto the field. It’s a dank, chilly day in west London.
“As a Chelsea fan I’m not so much concerned about the formation and more the age of the defence,” says Brendan Large. “Silva and Azpilicueta are both legends and have experience coming out of the wahoo, but I worry for them against the young mobile front three of Arsenal. Also the way these two teams have started recently, I’m worried Chelsea will be 2 down before the first 20 mins are up.”
When did football fans become so pessimistic? And yes, I realise I am calling the kettle black here.
If Aubameyang scores against his old club today, he’ll do well to top this celebration from Emmanuel Adebayor.
“Tierney dropped again for a big PL match,” says Eddie Rae. “He should leave. Arteta doesn’t understand his value.”
He’s clearly third-choice left-back, which is a surprise to those of us in his fan club. I suspect he’ll leave next summer, and he’d be most welcome at almost every Premier League club.
Any thoughts on that Chelsea formation? It could be a back three with Azpilicueta and either Loftus-Cheek or Sterling at wing-back, but my hunch it’ll be 4-2-3-1 or a diamond. We’ll soon find out.
Team news
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang starts against his old club. That’s one of four changes from Chelsea’s last league game, the 4-1 defeat at Brighton. Edouard Mendy, Jorginho and Cesar Azpilicueta also come into the side; Kepa Arrizabalaga Mateo Kovacic, Conor Gallagher and Christian Pulisic drop out.
The Chelsea Twitter feed suggests they are playing a back three, with Mason Mount in central midfield alongside Jorginho. I’m calling fake news: it looks like a back four to my admittedly untrained eye.
Mikel Arteta makes one change to Arsenal’s recent Premier League XI – Oleksandr Zinchenko replaces the injured Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back.
Chelsea (possible 4-2-3-1) Mendy; Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Thiago, Cucurella; Loftus-Cheek, Jorginho; Sterling, Havertz, Mount; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Bettinelli, Koulibaly, Gallagher, Hall, Kovacic, Zakaria, Pulisic, Ziyech, Broja.
Arsenal (4-1-4-1) Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Partey; Saka, Odegaard, Xhaka, Martinelli; Jesus.
Substitutes: Turner, Tierney, Holding, Cedric, Lokonga, Elneny, Vieira, Nelson, Nketiah.
Referee Michael Oliver.
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Pre-match reading
Here’s Jacob Steinberg on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Here’s Jonathan Wilson on Graham Potter.
And here’s John Brewin on Mikel Arteta.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Chelsea v Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. This has been, if not the biggest, then certainly the most important London derby of the 21st century. We’ve had a Champions League quarter-final, a Europa League final, three FA Cup finals, a League Cup final, umpteen important league matches and enough needle to prick a contrived metaphor.
The most memorable games tend to happen after Christmas, but today is still pretty darned important for both sides – especially Arsenal, who would love to make another statement of title-winning intent.
Away form is likely to determine whether they can maintain their unlikely title challenge. There have been one or two wobbles lately, and this is arguably their biggest test of the season so far. But Arsenal have won their last two games at Stamford Bridge, the first time that has happened since 1997, so they should travel with confidence – if also a bit of trepidation about what Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s scriptwriter has in mind.
Chelsea have started pretty well under Graham Potter, though they were thrillingly ambushed by Brighton last week and there is a growing feeling that maybe Potter has too many options for his own good. He has changed personnel and formation in almost every game since he first put on a black polo neck jumper.
Arsenal are the opposite, settled and happy in their Pepball formation. And if they win today, they’ll go back above Team Pep.
Kick off 12pm.
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