Judging from the majority of comments from Arsenal fans in the build up to our fifth Premier League game of the season, most Gooners would have gladly taken a point from today’s trip to Stamford Bridge. Perhaps snapped your hand off would be more accurate as we have a rotten record in recent games there and Chelsea were looking much better in the early stages of this campaign.
So coming away with a point is certainly welcome, as was the much improved defensive showing, organisation, determination and all round performance from the gunners today. However, I cannot help but feel that it could have been so much better.
I do not want to criticise the tactics of Arsene Wenger because he got it right from the start, but perhaps he was also too ready to accept the draw when for large parts of the game we looked the more dangerous and likely to score. Was the boss right to make sure we did not lose three away games in a row or should he have gone for all three points?
You could also point to a couple of incidents in which we really should have taken the lead, such as the Welbeck header but most notably the rebound chance put wide by Lacazette, and say that Arsenal could and should have been sharper in front of goal and made the most of our opportunities.
Finally I have to call out the referee Michael Oliver, even though he did send David Luiz off in the end. It was too late for us to really benefit and he should have done it earlier when the Chelsea defender was a lot more reckless than Sadio Mane in going for an overhead kick with players all around him. It is not like people have not been talking about this exact part of the football rulebook recently, but he bottled that decision and if he had not then Wenger would definitely have gone for the win.
Am I right to rue the fact we only got a point from Chelsea away today?
Bob.