What a result that was!! What a game that was! The Arsenal picked up three huge points in their first London derby of the season in game that was expected to be a real test of Arsenal’s ability to defend this title, which they overcame emphatically!
The lineup
Might be the last time this season, but I nailed the first eleven, with Mikel Arteta sticking with the side that has done well to this point, with the only change coming in the centre of defence being enforced, with Cristhian Mosquera missing out through injury and Ezri Konsa coming in for his first start and home debut. Christos Tzolis started his third game in a row, despite an indifferent first half against Aston Villa last time out, in a show of faith from the Manager.
The match
Okay, so it didn’t start great! Letting in such a soft goal, in such a huge game, so early on and to a player who looked all the world an Arsenal player at one point in the summer…it was a painful one. Morgan Rogers really enjoyed it and took his opportunity to ‘give it’ to The Arsenal fans. Looking back after the fact, I quite enjoy seeing his smug face, chest puffed out, knowing what’s coming next…
So there it was, Arsenal’s self made mountain to climb. We were now going to see what the Champions are really made of and let’s face it, they don’t give Premier League titles out for nothing, so what came next should have surprised no one. The Arsenal players seem to take it all very personal as they roared back at Chelsea and went for their London rivals with everything they had. It looked like a swift equaliser had been stabbed home by Riccardo Calafiori, only for the fun police at Stockley Park to correctly disallow it due to Konsa being caught offside in the build up. Chelsea’s reprieve was short lived as Kai Havertz soon restored parity. The one time Chelsea man seems to have developed a real dislike for his former side, which is probably just due to the big German being a decent human being rather than anything to do with his time there, but nevertheless, that definitely makes Havertz feel that bit more like a Gunners legend in the making.
The goal itself game from some intricate passing around the right hand side of Chelsea’s box before Havertz dribbled across the edge of the area before planting an inch perfect strike through the defenders legs and into the near corner, via the despairing dive of Emi Martinez. The former Arsenal ‘keeper should probably have done better, but I don’t really care!! It was the first time this season that I broke my watch in celebrating of an Arsenal goal and it was worth every penny of the £4 it will cost me to replace the pin!!
Despite our dominance and overall supremacy, it was an open game and the risk of the counter from that front line (I’m not using that stupid name!!) was always looming in large in the back of Arsenal minds, so it never felt really comfortable. There was a couple of hair moments before half time with Pedro Neto striking the outside of the post and Joao Pedro almost getting onto the end of a teasing Cole Palmer pass, but both were passed up so the score remained 1-1 at half time.
Into the second half and Arsenal really turned the screw. Passing seemed crisper, more purpose about our play and the game seemed a lot less open, which did wonders for my blood pressure!! It didn’t take long for Arsenal to turn this into something tangible and they went ahead on 50 minutes with a truly lovely goal. It baffled me that no one on commentary compared this goal to our third in the Community Shield as I thought they were near-on carbon copies! Christos Tzolis teased his full back and pushed them back to the edge of the Chelsea area where he played a firm pass into the centre, which Kai Havertz allowed to go under his leg, into the path of the onrushing Martin Odegaard who fired the goal above Martinez to give us the lead.
It was a far cry from the same fixture from last season, with both of our goals coming from corners – this was a thing of beauty and shows what this Arsenal side can do with the likes of Havertz and Odegaard fit and firing. We NEED to keep these two fit this year, along with Bukayo Saka.
We had chances to add to our lead, with a couple of close calls from set pieces, but unfortunately none were taken and we therefore saw out the game ‘The Arsenal way’ by absolutely bricking it under the final whistle! Chelsea rarely threatened either, but again, you don’t really see that when you’re watching the game, it just feels like everything is so fragile, which in hindsight it probably wasn’t, but that’s what a one goal lead does to you!
The one time of real concern was when Estevao danced inside Piero Hincapie to unleash a shot from the edge of the box that looked for all the world a goal, until David Raya dipped into his save of the season magic bag to tip it over the bar to the collective relief of all those in red and white. That’s why he’s the best goalie in the league. Unbelievable save, with unbelievable importance. What a guy, David Raya is!
The rest of the game passed without incident and Arsenal claimed a massive three points to show that London is undeniably red and to send a message to the rest of the Premier League – we mean business!
Three things that made me smile
1. I could probably name about thirty things from this game that made me smile, especially once the full time whistle had gone, but I’ll try and pick just three if I can! The first one has to be the winning goal. I know that’s really obvious, but it had everything. It was the comeback goal to put us in front, just after half time and it was a really good goal as well. You could also tell from the build-up that it was onside and there was no issues etc. so I got to actually cheer it as well – which is always nice when you’re team scores a goal! Great moment.
2. Second one is a bit tougher, but I’ll go for ‘that’ Ezri Konsa tackle, that send our new arch-nemesis Morgan Rogers hurtling through the air. Let’s face it, we all love a tackle like this. I think there’s something primal to our love of tackling someone in a way that sends them a few yards in the air! It’s just a brilliant feeling. It got the fans up, it will have no doubt endearing Konsa to the Arsenal faithful already and it was actually a really important tackle, as I wasn’t sure if he was going to make it when he first set off.
3. Last one, this is tough. There’s so many. The equaliser, that David Raya save at the end, Emi Martinez getting kicked in the head, Rice tripping up Rogers and him getting proper pissy about it…that’s it, that’s the one I’m going for. I think I really like this one as it shows how rattled Rogers is. Let’s face it, Rice didn’t exactly hurt him or in danger his opponent in any way. It was a little trip and Palmer was never going to pass it to him anyway, so what’s he so angry about? Also, why’s he so angry at Rice and not at the ref for missing it? You can’t react like that every time someone fouls you! What an absolute idiot. Another reason I really like this moment, is I really hate all of the pally, pally stuff that you get between players from the same country when they play against each other for their clubs. I really can’t be doing with international football, so to me clubs should always come first and you shouldn’t get too close to anyone playing for another team, as they’re the enemy and clearly I’m a child like that!! 🙂 So it was good to see that at least I didn’t need to worry about Rice and Rogers hugging come full time!
Any concerns?
I don’t think I’ll say this many times this season, but there really wasn’t anything that concerned me. I think everyone played well, Tzolis looked miles better, it was just a good all round performance. If I’m being picky, I didn’t really enjoy Viktor Gyokeres cameo all that much. His touch can be truly awful at times and it was getting to the point where I was pleading with the other Arsenal players to just miss him out completely. That said, it was his first minutes of the season, so I’m not getting too carried away…yet. We’ll leave that kind of behaviour for the social media nuts.
Summary
So, that was it. Another three points. Our great start to the season continues, as although we have now let in our first goal, we’ve got four wins from four under our belt, three in the Premier League and the team look strong. Oh and we had half of our defence missing (Jurrien Timber + William Saliba) and Mosquera out as well, so we’re not even at full strength yet. We move…
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