It’s that time of year when every point counts to register a spot in the top four. Chelsea dropped three points over the weekend, and their top-four race was left out of their hands. Despite sitting comfortably in third place, their North London rivals are creeping up right behind them. Tottenham remains just five points behind the Blues, whilst Arsenal had the opportunity to close the gap down to two.
This is where things get interesting. In all their glory, Arsenal was in pole position to take three points from their visit to Selhurst Park, but Patrick Vieira had other plans. The goals may have come from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Jordan Ayew, and Wilfried Zaha. However, it was the Cobham boys that stood out.
How amazing is that academy?
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It was a battle between Cobham and Hale end. Arsenal's talents that grew through their academy faced a couple of Chelsea's prospects. Conor Gallagher and Marc Guehi, both starting their young careers at Chelsea, took the fight to Arsenal last night, and fans couldn't help but complain.
There have been tense debates regarding which academy is better, especially with the breakthrough of the talented Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe. I don't tend to feed into the arguments because each academy produces a wicked bunch of players. But last night, Cobham was on top.
Chelsea hasn't had many allies in recent weeks. The media, rival fans, and what feels like the world has had something negative to say about the football club following recent events. Our first loss since Roman Abramovich's sanctioning was to Brentford, and it broke the ice. More rumours of Thomas Tuchel leaving cropped up and increased speculation on Antonio Rudiger's future. We were also somewhat ridiculed by rivals, especially Arsenal fans, on social media despite Brentford having a magnificent game.
One thing that Tuchel unintentionally has up his sleeve is Chelsea's former / loan players. Of course, he probably has no say in how well they perform under their surrogate clubs, but they seem to know the right time to help Chelsea. I think back To Crystal Palace's away game against Manchester City early in the season when the Eagles won 2-0.
The Blues were still at the top of the table, but the pressure was mounting from Manchester City. The Cityzens eventually got the job done over Chelsea. Still, it was special performances from Gallagher and Guehi that helped the Blues hold them off at that time.
The Cobham duo did it again against Arsenal. For far too long, Chelsea has had Arsenal lurking right behind them. They could not let their foot off the gas, but unfortunately, over the weekend, Brentford came prepared. The 4-1 defeat only meant one thing. Arsenal had to lose their next match, or we could be in serious trouble.
Guehi's defending was nothing short of perfection as he pressured Arsenal's front line and made it difficult for them to get in behind. Conor Gallagher's ball into the box resulted in Mateta's opening goal for the Eagles. Patrick Vieira has shown fans worldwide just what Chelsea's academy products are capable of this entire season.
He's done a great job with Gallagher especially. It's a big shame that we have let Guehi go without a buy-back clause, but it is also a bigger shame that the ex-Arsenal man will be losing a talent like Gallagher next season as he returns to Chelsea.
Is it fair that Chelsea's loan system has worked in their favour this season? After the last couple of months that the Blues have had, we could use all of our resources to lend us a helping hand. Is it fair that Cobham seems to produce talent that is undoubted of the highest quality? I'll leave that for you to decide.
Thanks, Vieira, for doing us a favour. Thank you as well, Cobham, for producing such talent.
