No one expected that going to Stamford Bridge would be easy for Arsenal, and it certainly looked like Chelsea meant business straight from the kick off, and after just ten minutes Kai Havertz should have put the Blues ahead but his easy chip over Leno flew way over the bar.
But against the run of play, Jorginho gifted the Gunners a goal after just 15 minutes with an awful back pass to Kepa. He somehow managed to keep it out (illegally I may add), and Aubameyang pounced and slipped the ball back to Smith-Rowe who scuffed it against the post and in to put Arsenal ahead.
Arsenal then sat back and left Chelsea to try and break them down, and Mason Mount came close a ouple of times, but we went into the break with a one goal lead. Chelsea had 63% possession at half-time but Arsenal are daring them to try and find a way through.
Arteta must have told them to carry on conceding possession and sitting back, and Chelsea took the invitation and kept pressing. The half time sub Hudson-Odoi blasted one over the bar, and after 15 minutes the Blues had the ball in the back of the net through Pulisic, but it was obviously offside.
Saka hasn’t managed to get into the game and is replaced by Hector Belleroin, and Tuchel throws on Mr Plan B, Olivier Giroud!
Chelsea carried on pressing but looked more and more frustrated as Arsenal kept them at bay, and Arteta tool off captain Aubameyang and put on Lacazette for fresh legs to put the game to bed, while Chelsea put on Ziyech.
Despite 70% possession Chelsea didn’t manage one legal shot on target with just 5 mins to go, but Pulisic finally got one but his shot was too weak to bother Leno, and Arsenal were looking comfortable as the clock ticked down.
But Chelsea piled on even more pressure and looked cetermined to get at least one back and by now I’m biting my nails. Can Arsenal keep hanging on under such pressure?
Six minutes added time only frayed my nerves even more as Arsenal as Arsenal held under pressure. The one time we got into Chelsea’s half, Partey tried to sneak a penalty but he only ended up getting booked for simulation.
What a great win for the Gunners!
Lucky win, but our confidence was very poor. It’ll be interesting to see how Areta and his staffs will fix this problem before next season starts
David Moyes and his staffs could turn the table by recruiting new players like the highly motivated Lingard, so Arsenal should be able to do it as well. Arsenal will be sorry if they can’t extend Smith-Rowe’s contract, because he’s obviously our most powerful attacker tonight
Our formation and players we chose made it difficult for us to offer a real threat on the counter and even in possession. Odegaard, Smith-Rowe and Auba were all ineffective. If we actually used wingers Chelsea would’ve suffered in the 2nd half. But who cares because we on I guess.
We couldn’t even break through Chelsea’s high pressing in our area
The playing of Saka as a RWB was totally laughable. Playing Elneny and then Smith-Rowe and Odegaard in such a formation was a mistake
The idea to make Saka cut inside is good, but it’ll only work if we can win the ball possession. Arteta and Edu will have a lot of work in pre-season
That proved my point because it wasn’t going to happen. Should’ve just used a RB
GOT,
You need more players like Partey for example to do that….players that can at least try to absorb pressure, QUALITY players! That’s why I don’t like blaming Partey too much, he is a brave player, the only other player that does that in the whole squad is Lacazette and maybe Ceballos.
That said I hope we don’t sign Ødegaard. There was a situation where he should have taken a shot but he chose to pass. He is kinda passive to me.
What a strange season this is;
First win at OT since 2006
First win at SB since 2012
First loss to Everton
at home since I996
First loss at home to Burnley since 1974.
SB since 2011*** (Van Persie masterclass)
First loss at home to Leicester since 1973
Partey made some heavy touches and misplaced passes tonight, but hopefully he finds his mojo back next season. I agree that this is a strange season, probably because the pandemic isn’t over yet
Believe me, Odegaard is way better than this but he will not reach his full potential here. The squad is generally low on confidence which has affected him a bit but even if not at this club there is still so much more to come from him that will shock people that he was playing like this for us.
didnt the fans and media called partey a deadwood, bad buy recently?
Hey guys, we need to chill for a bit. We won, 3points (which could eventually prove priceless).
It would be extremely arrogant for anyone here to think that this current Arsenal squad would have matched Chelsea toe-to-toe in that match.
We probably would have seen a blood bath!
A win is a win. It doesn’t have to look classy all the time…Ask Jose
Say something about “ inverted wingers” and “ Arteta should stay until December”….
If Arteta is sacked tomorrow, who do you think Arsenal can get to replace him? If Mourinho’s sacking cost was 30 M, let alone Arteta’s
Pick any random guy from the street next to the stadium and name him couch for the rest of the season.The result will be the same(or better) like keeping Arteta.
So you don’t have any idea about the best replacement, only anger towards the man who’s given us three FA Cup trophies as a player and a manager
@ gotaidea. How artera being a player in the teams that won 3 FA CUP makes him a good manager LOL ? Plus he was only involved in 2 ones, not 3. We could find dozens of players that were in arsenal teams and won more than that. I am sorry but this argument is non sense. The one for last year as manager is more solid but still. He did not win it alone and it is a cup. The team got lucky on 2 games, defended greatly, had stunning goals from Auba and stellar display and saves from Martinez… That is not an argument for keeping him even. I highly doubt (and lot of pundits too) he is an exceptional manager
Did not climb any managing ladders like tuchel, Wenger, sarri etc…. Just got here as being supposedly a pep bis. That said, sacking him now is not necesserally the obvious move. Even if i doubt he will improve anything, the club can back him and wait 2021 fall… Hopefully, if things go bad, he won’t have done too much damage with his choice of players (like the big GK mistake of last summer).
antonioro, do we want a “couch” managing Arsenal or is it better to pony up for a chesterfield leather lounge?
GAI, replacement managers available immediately: Rafa Benitez ans Lucien Favre for two.
You comments are funny GOI, can you explain how did Arteta deliver three FA cup, he played in 2 as a player and if my memory serves me right he was behind 4-5 other players interms of giving credit to win those cups. There is no way those cup wins can be laid to Arteta’s feet. Third FA cup it was all Auba. This is what is worng with you Arteta Fan boy, when he was a player you give him the credit not other players and manager but when he is the manager again you give him the credit not the players. I mean how much more spin can you put on things. You should really join BBC or CNN as a reporter you will be a star there 😂🤣
And even if arteta won, let’s say 6 cups and a PL crown would it be an argument to bring on the table for managing arsenal ??? Lol.
Lampard won many things at Chelsea and is a legend there. Delivered nothing compared to tuchel or sarri that never earned any silverware as players but are just better managers… very good article today on ESPN on how the gunners lost one year and the occasion to start the rebuild last summer
Wow!
Gotanidea I strongly suspect you as the admin.
Meanwhile Arteta breaking and creating record; 1st double over Chelsea in over 17 years.
But that was a super boring game. It is not a question of ability, Arsenal simply doesn’t want to play anymore.
The main problem is our players’ confidence. Arteta is full of creative ideas I’ve never seen from Wenger and Emery, but he should fix his players’ mentality first in pre-season or uses an overhaul to do that
Gotanidea, You say Arteta s full of creative ideas you have never seen from Wenger and Emery? What ideas? The same ideas that has the team languish at 10th? Truly you are delusional. I suspect too that you are the admin, and you use the crazy talk to rile up people in order to increase the number of comments
Unlike his predecessors, Arteta has many tactics under his sleeve
We’re stuck at the bottom half of EPL table, because of the series of unnecessary mistakes in the back. The accumulation of those events, like the one tonight, has killed our confidence against big oppositions
gotanidea; Again what tactics? Can you explain? Stop making silly excuses. Just admit you are the admin and this is just a way of garnering more comments. You are always 1st in the comment section and there is no way one person can be that lucky
@Beastmode : He used various tactics in last season’s FA Cup, in the beginning of this season, in EL and in tonight’s game
Gotanidea, Just because he has a variety of tactics doesn’t mean it’s good. Tactics are only as good as the result it produces. Perhaps his changing tactics is because he doesn’t know which one best suit his team, and he hasn’t settled on any and he is just trying swinging it and see which one will stick
I think we are 8th, 3 points from 5th and 1 point behind Spurs and 2 points behind Everton.
8th is likely as high as we will finish and that’s poor. However, in terms of points, we are not a mile away from the top 6 where we belong. Fewer errors by Leno and one or two red cards not given and we are in the top 6.
You are living to different planet,refusing to see the big picture everybody can see.No matter how many “ inverted wingers “ theories are you fabulating daily,you know nothing about football.Maybe you need a rest
Gotanidea…did u actually say creative ideas….wow…I like how optimistic u are ,its needed sometimes but not all the time…
That was a horrible creative idea from arteta….Good for cup games but league not a chance…
Anyways congrats to the lads, they fought for the points…
Let’s judge Arteta next season, after he fixes his players’ confidence in pre-season
“Arteta is full of creative ideas I’ve never seen from Wenger and Emery” – this comment confirmed me that you are 😍obsessed with Arteta and full of emotional love 💞💘for Arteta. You may have lost your clarity✍️ in mind or you watch Arsenal only in these 2 seasons.
Gily,
This would be unpopular because he is winning right now, but Tuchel has been playing with 5 defenders since he came in despite having good attacking players. I have deliberately visited Chelsea forums and there was no single complain as far as they are winning. Arsenal fans would have complained.
Secondly, about being boring, Chelsea under Tuchel has been boring for most games, they scrapped a lot of games and win by the odd goal and not creating much. To be honest, few Chelsea fans have complained about it but they are generally happy since because the results are there.
But with our fan base, we must find something to moan about even after a win.
We got our goal by pressing them and forcing a mistake which is exactly what you aim to achieve when you press. We defend with a deep block when Chelsea pass the centre circle. But all I keep seeing is that we were terrible.
If it was always about the manager, why can’t Tuchel perform a magic and make Chelsea score? If another team did this against us and won, we would still blame the manager.
Our fan base can never be satisfied.
Goonerboy , you are the best’ one of the most objective fans ever to write on this page
Good points my friend. Tactically we may have played different if we did not go one up. But it doesn’t matter, we won. Yet there are people on here who moan when we win, but don’t play attractive football, moan when we loose, but play attractive football. In the current climate of money football those Arsenal days of the early 2000’s are gone. We have to compete financially with the likes Man City, to be dominant once again. The sooner JAMS (just arsenal moaning supporters) come to this realisation the better for all concerned.
Spot-on Gooberboy. Same old Arsenal fans, always moaning.
@Goonerboy..
Thanks for putting this out here, I don’t think I could have said it better. These type of fans don’t really know what they want, they just find reasons to moan. I don’t know what sort of entitlement breeds such attitude. At the end of the day, every football team prepares as hard as you don’t in your career and wants to win.
These fans complain about Wenger who brought the attractive football, “the arsenal way” they feel entitled to, without giving credit to the guy who made it. Now they complain arteta won’t play that way tonight.
Arteta will go and there will be another manager, but these guys may never be able to truly support arsenal in their entire life even though they were fans from childhood.
Only a child fan will want to win every game and the same way facing different teams at different times.
I give it to you bro. Certainly on point
This is the real Gunners that play chelshit today, there is deffernt between Gunners plyers and Arsenal players, I see the real Gunners play today, With three or four additional players that is ready to give his heart to Arsenal, we are good to go come next season. Gunners 4 life
pathetic as Auba’s look in the end.
He looks like “whoa, what a blow for my carreer has been this contract extention!
He thought Partey and all addtions would allow us to fight for titles.
Sure he couldnt imagine bargain teams we had all the way to final
But indeed looking at opponents in November, City at 12th, this season was a real potential one to win league as much everyone done so bad.
Just as last season;but wehave no coach, which is what took a too long minute for Auba to realize.
As soon as he started to play on LW ,last season and finishing at worst spot; he should have been gone .
He cameto play and win titles, strikegoals, and shouldhave not accept to not do so after 2 seasons without it.
Real , Man U , Barça losing Suarez were all after him; Champion if they had sign him and mainly hishuge carreer’s mistake at his age
He should have left with Wenger or att least endof last seaso’, as Laca, Ozil all wantedby top clubs…
Kroenke biting his own tail will end up eating himselfup. All these arehuge businessmistakes and blows as Pepe installement plan trick, flashing 80M when heonly hadtoput 20M down,insteadto bring Zaha andpay cash 60M for…
Artetais cheap option, emotional based on trick to have us all supportive; but a cheap option trickery.
He is getting all ofit back and loses a lot, about to sell!
GAI and who told u arteta will be in the dug out leading arsenal next season .u must be dreaming.this win was a fluke
It was like watching Chelsea playing Sheffield last night was bored to my teeth
Save for the last 10mins it was a nothing match which to me deserved a 0-0. I don’t care about their past results but for today this Chelsea team was there for the taking. The formation we used and the players we chose made it difficult for us to offer any real penetration though most would say it helped us in defence. I do think if we switched up and played with wingers in the 2nd half this Chelsea team would’ve been caught badly on the counter with the way they way playing. Anyway we’ll take the win. Leno is the MOTM for me.
Trust the process
Trust the parked bus
Judge Arteta next season, when the players have a fresh start and a new hope
Gotanidea, will arteta suddenly become a new man or sign cr7 and messi?
We all know mourinho, pep, klopp,bielsa tactics…arteta has shown us what he can offer….pack the bus and score a goal….we won the fa cup and shield this way….but league wise, we struggled to create….
He won’t change…let’s be realistic…
Lol. And what about this 2020/21 season ? We finished at a bad 8th place but on a high with fa cup/community shield. Arteta brought Willian, Gabriel, partey. one proven/solid quality per line…
Fresh start after a shaky year with coaching change. Result? We can have hope as fans, i am ok to see… Who knows. But it would be some magic that would go against facts, stats, displays that came so far.
GAI u must be a mad man for saying judge arteta next season.he’s been here a season and a half, so what’s there to wait for next season.he’s judgement started when he’s kept arsenal at mid table position right from the beginning of this season.
Just like gotanidea and others judged Emery after a season (finishing 5th and Europa League final and 8 games, sitting 8th and forced him out. Yet somehow Arteta having finished 8th, won an FA Cup (all credit) but having lost 13 games, is the new “Moses” to lead Arsenal out of the wilderness. Terry Neil lost 11 and was sacked. Where is the consistency?
Comparing the CV’s of Arteta and Emery which coach deserved patience and support of ownership, if ultimate success is to be achieved?
How is it possible to know the answer to your last question ozziegunner? Nobody knew until Arteta got the job what he’d be like for comparisons to be made against Emery’s record. Do you not accept that Wenger and Emery who had years of experience and success between them were unable to make top4 over 3 years and that at the time was unacceptable? Patience was in short supply after the failure to close out a top4 place and a humbling in Baku.
This is not to say that Arteta is any better but the reality is that he has/had very limited experience and for whatever reason the club has so far decided to stick with him and to allow him to develop- if of course that he can.
SueP, what I do accept is the gross level of incompetence of the Arsenal Board and senior management in making decisions to appoint head coach/managers after Arsene Wenger left. There was absolutely no succession planning, when they had years of preparation to acknowledge that Wenger, despite the thoughts of some, could not go on for ever.
Emery had a major problem in his lack of fluency in English, yet he was not supplied with a translater like Ponchettino in his early years and Bielsa. He was appointed head coach, not manager, not supported in the transfer market having little or no say in whom he had to coach, and then with his status undermined, not supported with discipline.
Then with experienced proven winners available Arsenal go for a manager with no experience, L plates on and only CV highlights that he worked with Pep and was an Arsenal ex player.
And we wonder why everything has gone pear shaped?
Hard fought disciplined to a man … only aubemayang a dud and saka still out of sorts … didn’t miss Luiz xhaka or bellerin for a second … pity couldn’t replicate that against villareal though
Great but terrible….probably the least deserving win for any team this whole season.
I trust MA will realise and admit to this after the game…otherwise how can we improve if we are so good??
Boring boring Arsenal;)
Chelsea not at the races thinking of fa cup and Europe.
We got lucky and did very little to win this.
Well done for hanging on and doing so odd but this looks like the personification of rudderless football
Don’t be fooled by score-we play absolutely nothing!Disgusting,11 players behind the ball,in a 30 meters area in front of Leno,bombing everything forward and hoping for an Auba run.This is how we won FA Cup.,playing nothing.What kind of football is that,without even touching the ball?No shoots on target at all.No attacks,just desperate defending,a la Simeone.Tony Pulis will be jealous for this kind of crap.Arteta out,the man is delusional,desperate,trying to save his skin and reputation in any way,riding his luck all the way to the end.Chelsea looks like 2010 Barcelona,excenging 20-25 passes without any Arsenal player touching the ball.If this is the brand of football we are trying to preserve keeping Arteta,I don’t want any football.Coz this is not football,this is shiite and embarassing.Arteta out,what this man can do to be kicked out the door?Looks like he’s untouchable and I don’t know why.His incompetence and amateurism can be seen from de moon.Out,out,out,now!
What a disgraceful post! You should be ashamed of yourself! You are spoilt, self entitled and the very worst sort of moany. miserable fan. SHAME ON YOU !
I know,telling the truth always hurt the feelings.But it must be done.Shame on you for negating what we all see,live-a shiite team ,playing a crapppy football,coached by a novice who doesn’t know the ABC of management..
We all saw the negative & creative (GAI) soccer ever played by Arsenal. Yet for those fans who are obsessed with Arteta (may be his hairstyles) couldn’t see it. What’s an irony!!!
antonioro – with all due respect you don’t speak for all.
No one is happy with where we are. But a bit of realism would not hurt. If we lose against Chelsea Arteta get’s slaughtered. Now that we win he still gets slaughtered by some of the fans.
We played a red hot team in Chelsea who are in the CL final. We have an inadequate squad with a number of big holes. Yet Arteta fielded a team which gave %110 and won. And now some of the fans judge it like a beauty contest.
Atletico doesn’t have the players Barca has or Real for that manner but they have been competitive largely because of the way the work their socks of.
Is there something wrong with being happy we gave a strong battling performance and won against a red hot team? How many of our recent teams prior to Arteta managing us would have been able to bring home a 1-0 advantage?
If you want Arteta out, good for you. But at least recognize when we maximized what we had on a night like last night.
There are enough examples to question Arteta’s managerial pedigree, last night was not one of them in my opinion.
👍
Jon Fox you always talk about how you have been a fan for 50-60 years and you are experienced seen it all kind of dude, well let me tell you, you have wasted 50 years of your life if this is what understanding of football you have developed in 50 years. Antonioro is right, our football is clueless like Arteta is. All we do is pass side ways and back. Possession football does not mean just keeping the ball it means you control the game, you keep ball to stop opposition from attacking and use the ball to initiate your own attacks. This shxt football is no where near what Barca used to play or even the worst Pep team plays.
Logic you are clearly still a child .Whether in physical age or merely in mentality I do not know, but you wtrite and think as a child does!
Jon fox u are the one that should be ashamed of urself for neglating the plain and simple truth from the obvious. arsenal played shit,defending against Chelsea for the whole 90mins as if their lives depends on it. it was clear and obvious arteta is just trying to save his neck from getting fired and not trying to improve the team
I am very happy with the result of last night and the way we played. We played against probably the second-best team in the PL right now and we won. We didn’t fold, no one can say we downed tools, we even played with a recognized striker ;-). We don’t have the quality Chelsea have in our squad yet we found a way to win and that is worth recognition.
No one is saying Arteta should keep his job based on one game or based on last night’s game but don’t pretend we should play Chelsea like we are Barca. We don’t have the squad at the moment and we are at a pretty low point after our Europa league elimination, yet we managed to show up, work hard, defend well and win. Take the win, take the moment and come back to bash us another day. Today is not that day. It just looks silly to now criticize the way we win.
Antonioro
Are you crazy or just miserable moaner?
Smr top class Player👌🏼
MotM for me
Very powerfull play, like him much more than odegard.
But must say, we were awful today. We still have no clear plan
All the creative arteta tactics / tricks no ? You does not seem to buy them…
Very unexpected win but lets be honest, we got dominated hard.
Back in December we were much better involved in thr game but today Chelsea were all over us.
Great result, but we got outplayed!
Boring boring Arsenal;)
Chelsea not at the races thinking of fa cup and Europe.
We got lucky and did very little to win this.
Well done for hanging on and doing so odd but this looks like the personification of rudderless football
Is it luck ? Or is it arteta Magic 🪄 ?
Doing the double on Chelsea is a proof that we do have quality….If we do shrewed business un the summer than we can have a good season next year
Great 3 points but bloody hell that was horrible to watch yet again .
19 shots to our 5 and over double our passes make for grim reading when you look at the stats ,we have a mountain to climb to get back on lvl terms with teams like Chelsea and I honestly cannot see that happening with Arteta in charge .
Anyway great win and hopefully we can grab the last 6points of the season and put pressure non the spuds .
Arteta continuing the great results against top 6 opposition, and away from home again. Far better than what was happening under pevious managers.
I would always take a scrappy low scoring win away at a top team over dominating possession, but never winning, and often getting stuffed.
But still sit 8th and could possibly finish lower if results go against us and playing football that belongs in the Stone Age .
Not for me I’m afraid .
I remember Scholes commenting years ago that although we played the best football, we never won anything.
Obviously one can play attractive football whilst also being competitive, I am just pointing out the fact we have massively improved against the top 6, and away from home as well. It was all the about the result today!
But we are number 8 and no European soccer.
we have massively improved against the top 6 – we are lucky. No tactics & no fix first 11 but still can win.
Yeah we now play the worst football and still don’t win anything..🤣😂…what an improvement.
TMJW, care to share the stats about our encounters with top 6 in EPL under Arteta and also plz share the stats which your buddy Arteta has achieved against teams like villa, west ham and other mid table teams?
Logic you have you facts wrong yet again, maybe a memory issue? Arteta has won two trophies so far. Results and performances have drastically improved against the top 6, and away performances in general.
Im not saying Arteta is or isnt the answer, im just stating facts, because you and others consistently get this wrong.
Arsenal rode their luck. A win but negative performance. At some point you feel its Chelsea v Sheffield United…..We were dominated through out the game. After our goal, we didn’t create any chance. Anyway, good to get a win at Stamford bridge since 2011 I think…….
Got lucky at times, but first league win in a decade at Chelsea I think, is a fantastic result! And one could tell the players were still playing for Arteta.
Workmanlike. I thought Elneny was good today and a better partner for Partey than Xhaka or Ceballos. Why did Arteta not play him against Villareal in either of the legs? We might have been in the EL final.
Very correct, elneny is so underated …we won the fa cup and shield with him in the line up ….the old Trafford game too, he and party bossed the mancs midfielders….
He’s tidy and always plays safe. But we still need a left-footed DM ahead of him, if we keep using double-pivot formation
And don’t forget the inverted winger!
And the target man!
Arteta creative tactics and experiments… Experimenting on the games that counts… Better to field odegaard recently back from injury and let partey alone as pivot…
IGL, agree Mo Elneny always gives his best and is a solid squad player. Arsenal does need better in midfield, but given his cost and wages, he should be retained, because when called upon he doesn’t let Arsenal down.
This website should be renamed Just Moaning.. No analysis of the game from so called fans.. Just moaning about Arteta all day long.. A good defensive shift from Arsenal.. Well done boys
Mark, I can’t argue with you there
Exactly, and a clean sheet against arguably the most in-form team in the game right now. Not pretty, but we showed lots of grit. Everyone knows we’re not very good right now and nowhere near Chelsea but still complains when we beat Chelsea away. Outrageous!
If this is the way we want to play going forward I don’t want it. The performance was too cowardly. Parking the bus better than the bus driver himself
Simeone also parked six men in the back against Tuchel in CL round of 16 this season, but Tuchel taught him for his negative football. Would you call Simeone coward or prgamatic?
Simeone has 2 EL cups,titles in Spain(ahead of Barcelona or Madrid) and 2 CL finals played.His negative football produced results,Atletico is always a title contender.And you compare him with inept Arteta?
Wow, why there should be a problem to compare anyone to anyone? Maybe after the same number of seasons that Simeone has behind his back, MA will have better results. Who knows?
No complain so far the pride was preserved.
Glad for ESR (& Auba)… the double over the Chavs, who’d have thought it?! Normally I’d be twerking and cartwheeling..
We’re up to 8th!! Faint glimmer of St Totteringham’s day??
Twerking and cartwheeling?? hahahaha
Arsenal-esque from Chelsea.
Are we being managed by Mourinho in disguise?
😅 fair point. Same tactic for less money as Mourinho commands higher wages
Why is Odegaard still playing?Slow as a snail,bringing nothing to the team.Send him back to Madrid.ESR is ten times better than him-what a silky player!So,the “ parking bus tactic” became the official tactic at AFC.If the undisputed title for “ the ugliest style of football” was shared by Mourinho-Pukis-Simeone,from now on mediocre Arteta is the the new king.I never witnessed a style so ugly,atrocious ugly ,like Arsenal style.The same Arsenal who ,few years ago,was nicknamed “ the other Barcelona”.Shame on us accepting this big Zero named Arteta destroying the beautiful game we admired for years.Out with Arteta,back to cones in Manchester,he has no olace in North London.
You obviously weren’t around for our double winning year of 1970-71, that’s how we played then.. 1-0 to the Arsenal…love it !!
Marty that Arsenal side under Bertie Mee and captained by Frank McLintock never won a game 1-0 allowing 19 shots on goal to 5. A totally different team to the current Arsenal.
antonioro,I dont know if anyone shares their life with you but if anyone does , then I pity them! Your constant moaning and nothing is ever good enough would drive any normal decent and properly HUMAN person crazy! You are the pessimist of all time and such an ungrateful, self entitled so called “fan”.
What a sad bunch of moaners are the posts above mine! I WAS PROUD OF OUR LADS TONIGHT AS THEY PLAYED THEIR HEARTS OUT!
Our defence was superb and Leno, far from needing to be man of the match as one stupid post said, had not that much to do, considering the way we had to defend so deep. What he did, he did well but not many real saves needed, apart from the header he tipped onto the bar
Elneny brilliant and the whole defence too. Partey had a great game too.
Proud to be a GOONER BUT ASHAMED OF SOME OF OUR IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE AND FAINT HEARTED FANS ON JA! Talk about pessimists !
Is it difficult to always be the most intellectual person in the room Jon?
He could’ve just said my post was stupid. If you watch the match the from the eye test and common sense its clear Leno is in contention for MOTM. How does he imply he isn’t even in contention for that and call me stupid?? haha some of you people really complicate football.
No ! Not when all the others have an intellect like yours! Then, it is a given fact.
The way we played says it all! We won against liverpool last season the same way! Did it change anything? No! If you’re ashamed of us who clearly see that Arteta will only bring us lower and is not worthy of the task and trust given we are also ashamed of you who gives his trust to a rookie manager who made us worse and we became worse than a laughing stock under him with nothing on the pitch to warrant such trust and support.
I can’t wait for next season for you and your likes to reap what you sow supporting arteta.. If Arteta indeed improves us significantly I will apologize but I don’t foresee that happening with a chance closer to 0%
Rashid, you are so wrong in what you say.
This article is about tonight’s game, it’s result and what it means…. look at the league…. one point behind the spuds because of tonight’s result.
I happen to think that MA is out of his depth, but I’m not blind enough to not recognise an excellent win and a great team performance.
Just listening to MA, anyone who thinks he’s lost the dressing room is WRONG.
Well said Jon.
No article will be posted on here that whatever the subject does not morph into a Arteta out fest.
The double over Chelsea – for TONIGHT suffice to say WELL DONE LADS !
Born offended,Jon?Get a glass of water and kiss Arteta’s picture one more time,you are going to feel better.
Shouldn’t you be in bed! You have school tomorrow!
Ok Jon- like you I will happily take the result over the performance tonight. And the players were sticking strictly to the defensive tactics the manager coached into them for the game.
You, myself, @Ken655BC, Declan etc will know we actually went through the invincible season with a couple of performances like tonight( but that’s never mentioned of course.
So Jon, it’s obvious to me Arteta and Kronke will both be here next season and from August I will be expecting him to get things right, or certainly improve results and performances. Kronke will bear the brunt of the whole fanbase if Arteta is not backed
Really Phil you know comparing this season to the “invicible” one?you said it yourself we’re talking about a couple performances over a season in which we won the title while playing in Cups CL. tonight’s performance was more the rule than the exception this season hence why we are where we are!
@Siamois- perhaps I did not quote the words quite as I wanted. The point I was trying to make was sometimes the result is more important than the performance, and last night that’s what I felt. How many times over the years have Arsenal been played off the park and lost? Take Leicester at home this season for an example.
The younger players will learn more from last night than an easy roll over of someone. And that’s the important issue because this “Process” is not going away.
I now get what you meant Phil and agree that sometimes the result is more important!👍
Phil, KEN “655BC” and I will agree with you. But Oh the sheer amount of moaning minnies on this thread tonight! After a fine, real battling, though under the cosh, perf against a top side in great form, we do NOT deserve so called “fans” like these.
We deserve REAL fans like you, Ken 655 BD(before dinosaurs) and myself, who have all been there when we we far poorer. You and I agree on Wengers last decade or so but most of these “children” have been thoroughly spoiled by his first glory years period and childishly expect all years to be like that was. They have no idea what being a REAL fan entails and that sheer unfairness gets my goat!
Whack argument! Leno was easily the man of the match because if for nothing he made two world class saves to deny certain goals when we were under severe pressure. Our attcack was whack but that was largely due to the formation and pressure on us. The defense was good but Chelsea themselves didn’t play that well and Havertz who was their striker offered nothing in the game. Check yourself.
Couldn’t agree more, Jon!
This Chelsea team are in the CL final, fa cup final and were in great form since their new manager arrived…. what on earth did anyone expect us to do?
We were away from home, in terrible form and the fans were demonstrating about the owner.
How many of you have moaned about us not having any tactics?
It was obvious that MA DID have a plan tonight and it worked perfectly – we scored and then absorbed the pressure from chelsea.
A great win, if not great football – all I care about is the win and looking at the league, we are just one point behind the spuds.
Well done lads, it was all about the result AND bragging rights over the two games… six points from six.
HALLELUJAH FOR A PROPER FAN AT LAST ! WELL SAID KEN. I feel ashamed to be numbered among the ridiculous impossible to please moaners on here. THEY ARE A DISGRACE TO OUR CLUB!
WELL SAID KEN AND JON – TOTALLY AGREE.
GIVEN THE WAY THE GAME PLAYED OUT, I thought each and every one of our lads dug in, stuck to their jobs and got the win.
FOR TONIGHT – well done to each and every one of them.
Jon, it’s fine to have an agenda (MA out) but not to recognise an excellent performance by the team and a tactically won battle by MA, is just plain vindictive and makes me wonder what some fans REALLY wanted tonight?!?!
Ken even though i agree with your post i wouldn’t go as far as calling it an ” excellent”performance.
Ken I don’t wonder. I know that SOME “fans”(to stretch a point!) only wanted us to lose, so they could vent their juvenile hysteria against a manager who has not yet won the Double, the CL the Prem and been here “a full 17 months” already”!
I now would like a change of manager too but am too much of a real fan to ever want our team to lose. I also recognise the size of the task he inherited, esp with our “owner”!
A GREAT SHAME SOME OF THESE PLASTIC ARMCHAIR WARRIORS DONT UNDERSTAND THE FIRST THING ABOUT TRUE FANHOOD AND THE RESPONSIBILITIES THAT GO WITH IT!
Different when you wanted us to lose so Arsene would be sacked though? Going back a while, I know, but I remember saying the exact same thing to you about how I never want us to lose, no matter what the circumstance!
Ken if I may ask, please tell me how the way we scored was part of our plan you say we had?
If it wasn’t for the Chelsea mistake which was barely forced, could you honestly say you would of seen us scoring?
Well PJ-SA, the objective of any game of football, is to score and then win, wouldn’t you say?
We scored…. I couldn’t care less if Chelsea was at fault, we still had to convert that into a goal… and we did.
Then, we absorbed the pressure and, apart from the chance that hit the bar twice, following Leno’s great save, we did it perfectly.
This was despite injuries to both Bellerin and Tierney by the way.
There was not one player who didn’t earn his corn tonight and it’s been a long time since I felt I could say that – credit where credit is due please.
Well done MA and ALL the players.
Let’s not play a game of semantics here Ken. So you do agree that there was no actual plan, as you say it doesn’t matter how we scored just that it somehow happened. Let me tell you it definitely matters in the bigger picture because you only get that luck one every 10-20 games. Personally I’d rather rely on a trusted game plan than luck.
We got lucky, scored and then defended, I agree well.
Where did I say there wasn’t a plan in my post or reply you?
That’s the problem, fans who try to twist words, when they are losing the argument.
Didn’t Aubemeyang have to get to the ball, before crossing for ESR, who had originally pressed the defender into the mistake, to put it into the net?
I’ve seen the goal half a dozen times now and, if we weren’t pressing them, they wouldn’t have made the mistake would they?!?!
If you take time to listen to the players after the game, they are saying EXACTLY what I am saying – but if you don’t agree, that’s just a difference of opinion, so let’s not get personal and agree to disagree – meanwhile I will celebrate 3 points, the double over chelsea and a well earned win… what about you?
“Which was barely forced “
You missed ESR pressing then ?
Our pressing was superb throughout the side tonight.
@AJ Go watch the goal again son. Zouma has 2 very clear passes available one up the line and the other back to Kepa (this is why Kepa was where he was because even he knew he was the correct pass to play at the timd)
Zouma made the pass into Jorginho that was being pressed from both sides. Good pressing I do agree but definitely not a forced error. Zouma had zero pressure and made an unforced error by choosing the incorrect pass.
Go watch it again, Ill wait
SON you condescending fool. I was born in 1953 !!!!!!!!
Thanks for the invitation to watch the goal again.
I repeat – DID YOU NOT SEE ESR CLOSE JORGHINO DOWN ????????????
Why do you think Jorge’ turned towards his own goal and didn’t even look to play wide or forward ?
And as for lack of a game plan , strange how ESR spoke of Arteta working on our pressing all week. – and you couldn’t see that ?????
The fact is you wanted us to go to Chelsea, go toe to toe with them and get best 4 – 0
You could then fire off your small minded Arteta out rants !
By the way ,go watch the bloody goal again !
Off to bed now, it must be way past your bed time.
PJ-SA.
This from the very first report from tonight’s press I found , as it was OBVIOUS what accurate reporting would say;
“ Disrupted by Arsenal’s determined pressing, Chelsea were struggling to play their way out of a tight position when Jorginho made matters worse with a moment of high farce, almost scoring a truly magnificent own-goal with a stray backpass“
WHAT DOES THE OPENING OF THE PIECE SAY ???????
LEARN ABOUT THE BASICS, AND UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE WATCHING ……….. SON !
Well said Ken, if we had gone out and attacked Chelsea tonight and lost heavily some of the so called fans on here would then have said why didn’t Arteta have a plan and not just go gung ho, well he did have a plan and the team stuck to it and ground out a victory over a team that is 4th in the league and in the CL final . Let’s at least give credit where credit is due.
Did not enjoy our football but ESR is my hero. What a great player for a young lad. What a future.
COYG!!! COYG!!!
A no future win. Showed character because they got away with it, but could easily have looked like a bunch of mugs had Chelsea taken their chances.
Despite this result, Arsenal should sack Arteta in the summer. That is the right decision to make. It is not rocket science. Di Matteo won chelsea a champions league trophy, he was sacked the season after. Ranieri against all odds , won Leicester city the EPL, he was sacked the season after. So sacking arteta should not be a difficult decision. It is a sport where result is the only thing that matters. Arteta should pay the price for his foolish decision making. Taking off Aubameyang in that match, not playing Elneny in midfield and his refusal to rest Xhaka in mid week. Arteta must be sacked. I love Arteta, but his time at the club is up.
After stating “I don’t care about the game and result”, how many of us started praying when Pulisic goal was overturned?
A win, is a win, is a win. Not every one is pretty on the eye. Hard fought and well done
Lessons to be learned from the match?Saka should never be played as a RWB again.Odegaard is nothing special .ESR is a real talent, by far and away our best player on the night.Leno and Holding did well but Mari and Gabriel continue to struggle with the pace of the game in the EPL.We got lucky on the night but full credit to the players who showed a lot of resistance.Finally the unfounded speculation that Arteta has lost the dressing room was not apparent to me and the fact that Auba was unhappy when he was subbed is a reaction I want to see from him.
Your post Grandad beats the hysteria from the many.
I just cannot understand the negative comments. We just beat Chelsea, a far superior team. We played hard with heart and passion. Yes we had our backs to the wall for a lot of the game but we didn’t cave in, we didn’t bottle it, we didn’t lose. We won and all you moaning babies are crying about it. I give up with your negativity, some of you need to grow up. Big ups to Jon Fox and Ken1945 for their truthful posts and I, like them, am extremely proud of our performance tonight. Elneny man of the match! Who would have thought? Good night all, sleep well.
Hi Declan, fans have the right to be negative. The day Chelsea sacked Lampard, we were on the same points in the table. This is just a game and we got 3 points. The truth still remains that this season was a disappointment. We dont have anything to play for. Arteta has the resources. But his NAIVETY AND ARROGANCE made us a mid table team.
Naivety I agree
Arrogance. Not sure what you.mean by that
Resource. I think you need to have a look at the squard again
They have millions.of.poinds of talent sitting on the bench
There squad cost a heck of a.lot.more and is far superior
Chelski sack.manager for fun
We don’t have the bottle to do that and that is why we are we are
Nothing to play for… all.games we play there is something to play for and I do think arteta will be the architect of his own down fall but until he has been given the bullet
I will begrudgingly support him and the team and unlike some fans on here I want us to win all the time and not hope we lose so the manager gets the sack
Hi declan, I don’t think any arsenal fan won’t be happy that we won…I bet u we were all on the edges of our seats the 6mins added time..
But as true fans ,who don’t just watch for the thrills of winning one match, we look at the bigger picture and try to understand the future and structure of our Darling club, that is why we moan..
All true fans do it cuz we can defend for 38 games next season, we can’t defend against Brighton, Newcastle etc…
The players will burn out and turn on the coach as we usually see with mourinho…goals brings excitement…
A 5-4 game would always be better than a 1-0 game….
We all love this great club and arteta is not giving us any joy at the moment..period
Well said Instrooments.
Unfortunately a lot of fans are too short sighted to understand the reality
Declan I think you are missing the point.
Everyone is happy that we won, plain and simple. What I’m not happy about is that we got pretty lucky and we played terribly.
The sign of an improving team is consistency and a dedicated game plan. From my perspective what we did tonight was great but definitely not sustainable at all.
If we take our blueprint tonight we’d likely lose 9 out of 10 times. Hoping this gives you some perspective.
Unfortunately MTB, not all fans wanted us to win. Lots of them before kick off shouting for a loss to enhance the possibility of Arteta getting sacked.
Bravo Declan! A REAL fan , unlike so many “spoilt children” on here.
I don’t even know what to say, winning away at Chelsea is not easy and we actually defended very well. But going forward I don’t think arteta is the man.
Excellent win and Smith Rowe outstanding 👌 I’m not going to moan about the defensive performance, I’m just happy with the win and doing the double over Chelsea in what has been a very poor season 😄
What a bizarre night, Kev!!
Did you enjoy it Sue 😉 I didn’t expect a win so I’m overjoyed 😄
The goal, yes, the rest – undecided 😄
Yeah but it was always going that way Sue, there’s no way we could go toe to toe with Chelsea we can barely go toe to toe with Villarreal 😂 keep in mind Atletico win most games playing that way.. yeah I’m not a great fan of it but if it’s successful away to the big boys I’ll take that all day long 😄
We have won at Man utd, Leicester and Chelsea and only lost 1-0 to City so 9 out of 12 away to the current top 4 😀
Would’ve been nice to have ended the season with something on it though, Kev. And I’m sorry to sound a miserable biatch… but I still have a Villarreal hangover!
Oh I know Sue, that still bothers me but it’s done now and I don’t think we would have beaten Man u in the final and it would have been horrible losing to them in a european final 😳 we can just sit back and laugh at the losers 😆 the focus now is to beat Palace and Brighton and hope we sneak into Europe 😄
Nice one, Kev, hopefully at the Mancs!!
Palace and Brighton… and plenty of tissues (for our nosebleeds 🤣🤣)
Yeah no doubt Sue 😆 can you see the yellow Sub sink united ? Haha I hate Palace that’s a game I never look forward to, but we must beat them next week 🤞 who wins tomorrow night or will it even take place ? I wouldn’t be surprised united fans siege old trafford again 😂
I’m going with Yahnited tomorrow… and in the final 😱 how about you?
Ha yes after trashing the scouser’s coach?!
I think maybe a draw tomorrow Sue I would like to see Liverpool miss out on champions league after that Liverpool fan saying we are an elite team so deal with it 😂 yeah i think yahnited will beat the yellow sub leaving Emery in tears 😆 haha that would ruin your night 😆
And for West Ham to nick their spot!! Sweet!!
That would be lovely for your nephew Sue 😄 who knows we may yet play europa next season, finally grab some European glory 😂😂
Don’t hold your breath just yet, Kev 😆
On qualifying or European glory Sue ? 😂😂 At least we can sleep well knowing we have won our last 3 PL games 😄
Both 😆😆
Kev tell edu to just add four players in the summer then we would challenge for the title…bissouma, grealish, zaha, max Aron’s….let’s use our loanees as sweeteners for those deals… Give Villa Nelson or willock, guendouzi, niles, palace too it just needs a good negotiator
I would love to sign Jack Grealish Sekitya but in a pandemic economy I don’t see that happening as Villa will want a huge fee
Edu and Vinai along with Arteta. Feel so powerless. We have to trust these people to make quality judgements in signing players who can take the club forward. Does not look promising. To the rest of you bemoaning the loaners. Get a grip of the big picture and stop taking the crumbs that you are being fed by your betters.
Replace Vinai with David O’Leary and Edu with Marc Overmaars for starters.
Look my fellow dear Gooners, let us all give credit to where credit is due. And to Arteta and the Gunners for their playing a tactical game ingenuity against Chelsea at away tonight that paid off handsomely for Arsenal. Who beat them narrowly in the game to collect all the points in the match that mattered.
If Arsenal had played the kind of brilliant attacking football against Chelsea tonight which many Gooners on here want to see them play. But will Arsenal be able to sustain it to not be caught on the break?
For, if the Gunners are to sustain pressing the Blue, it means their centrebacks will join the fray of attacking the Blues in their box to try their luck at scoring.
Well said Samuel – if we had played attacking football and got humiliated, some fans would have kept on about it more than a decade later!!!
Agree Samuel, the double over Chelsea has been rare over many recent series. Arsenal rode their luck, but on the whole showed commitment and defended well. They allowed Chelsea very little space and the pressing was good. Chelsea has a lot more to play for in upcoming matches than Arsenal does, therefore their eye may have been a bit off the ball. They still hit the woodwork twice.
Arteta’s constant changes of formations and player selections has had more misses than hits. I can’t see how the constant changes, allows development of teamwork and consistent team performances. Again away form is better than home performances.
The constant tinkering this late in the season is to me a major concern. As I predicted Pepe after an excellent goal against West Brom, was dropped to the bench. How does anyone expect him to flourish if he is constantly in and out of the starting eleven. Even so he has scored 11 goals from intermittent playing time.
Anyway a win is a win.
Very poor, very sad to see us so outclassed, very depressing, very forgettable, very…lucky.
One of those games you just try not to think about afterwards.
Luckiest team in the galaxy but we had many bright moments imo that were covered by Chelsea’s quality.
Leno had many good saves, credit where due, glad he kept cleansheet. Even post sympathized with him. Still think he may be able to grab more crosses but he did not want to risk errors, understandable.
Our back three, were solid mostly but had errors, I hope the cleansheet boast their confidence. I loved their aerial ability but Mari has not yet grasp the central role, he does not trust his right foot, Gabriel needs a run of games, to learn, was lucky not to concede a penalty.
Holding least visible errors but he does not do the zonal cover as you may expect sometimes.
Saka was out of position, not on his day. I wished MA sorted that and took Odegard out when he introduced Bellerin.
Bellerin, Tireney did well, hope they are okay. KT was phenomenal mostly on the attack.
Partey and ElNeny, solid game really, loved them, all in all.
ESR, phenomenal performance, glad he scored
Martin O. Still out of form really since injury but tried hard.
Auba, I thought he was sharp, won duels, moved well, glad he had an assist in his name. Was angry to come out but I thought MA was trying fresh legs and to his use different attributes in his squad.
Lacca, Chambers NA
MA good mindset, we needed defense, If we tried to risk, we would have had a hard time with score.
He should though kept Odegard at bench and Saka in the middle (or Saka on bench but fans would have slaughtered him and ate him for dinner) and probably started Bellerin on Chambers, Saka on the rightback was not good.
He cannot cut in because he was away from box, first time in right wing back was not good defensively with Chelsea’s quality and could run and cross because he is mainly lefty (with nice right foot).
Happy win over Chelski xD and 3 points.
Anyone who has the audacity to heap praise on Arteta for the tactical display today has clearly lost the plot, much like our present manager…at least he has the plausible excuse for peddling such uninspiring drivel, as I’m now convinced that it’s not a forgone conclusion that he’s been given any guarantees about his future at the club
of course, in previous seasons when we showed a glaring lack of mettle, especially in road contests against top clubs, this result would have logically received ample plaudits as it would have been an anomalous effort, but this was our 3rd last game of an entirely underwhelming season against a Chelski squad with 7 changes from the weekend, without their best DM, their back-up scrub of a Keeper between the pipes and playing a back 3 in an EMPTY stadium…if this wasn’t the perfect environment to at least attempt some next level evolutionary tactics, as our manager has so eloquently flapped his gums about, I don’t know what is
we didn’t learn a damn thing tonight except that our manager might be strangely addicted to these “hold on for dear life” tactics, which were so difficult to digest that it actually made me yearn for the likes of Pulis…at least Tony had the onions to add a second or physical component to the mix…whereas we didn’t even have the gumption to properly pursue a viable counter-attacking option, even though we had a bevy of offensively-minded players on the pitch
this negative tactical display was analogous to a team fighting for their relegation lives…not to mention the fact that nothing new was derived from this experience as this was largely how we made our way to our incredibly fortuitous FA victory last season and look where that got us
just think about it for a second, we actually played with 11 men behind the ball for the better part of 65 minutes today, almost as if we had someone sent off with a red immediately following our gift of a goal…there was actually multiple times, prior to the 65th minute, where players kicked the ball deep into empty spaces, without any pressure on the ball
so I don’t want to hear about moral victories or a double over our crosstown rivals, who by the way will get over it quickly when they show up well-rested for their FA final and subsequent Champions League final, which were both achieved even after firing their coach midway through the season…fact is we definitely need a clean slate season without European football so that we can focus on playing our best 11 week in and week out, then use the FA and League Cups to give our prospects significant developmental minutes
as for recruitment, we better have our A game on display in this regards if we’re hoping to compete anytime soon…we likewise better pray that if we’re in direct competition for a particular player that the other team involved isn’t savvy enough to send that player’s representatives a recording of this and our 2nd leg EL game or we’re going to be SOL
btw this isn’t an attack whatsoever directed towards the players, as they were simply tasked with a job and somehow, someway managed to get 3 points…they know full-well if they don’t do exactly what our seemingly drowning manager requires that they will undoubtedly suffer the consequences should he find a way to stay on next season
👍 That’s exactly why I’m not overly excited about the win. Had it been the same team that played Real/City, great! But 7 changes in a game that had nothing riding on it!! They’re still in the top 4, with 2 finals on the horizon… while we’ll be lucky to have St Totteringham’s Day at this rate!!
To win 2 games on the spin now is too little too late as far as I’m concerned…
I bet Leicester are hoping Jorginho and Kepa play on Saturday 🤣
Tuchel did an Arteta. Young Billy Gilmour didn’t put a foot wrong and was solid, if unspectacular, and he kept Jorginho on???? I hope Jorginho plays on Saturday heh heh heh!
With that type of ‘performance’ I can see exactly why Edu/Arteta were keen on bringing Jorginho to the Emirates 😄
Bloody hell, we were linked with him weren’t we? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry about that one Sue.
👍 (both haha!)
Very well put TRV4, explained perfectly about how many on here feel.
We won, all fans are happy about that no doubt, but it’s the overall picture that I’m concerned about.
Quoting from another fan in the thread:
“The sign of an improving team is consistency and a dedicated game plan. From my perspective what we did tonight was great but definitely not sustainable at all.
If we take our blueprint tonight we’d likely lose 9 out of 10 times.”
Though we won it’s a game I can’t be proud of. we were dominated we didn’t have composure no venom in our attack and played like scared chicken
That was totally unexpected, I truly expected a spanking! It was a terrible match to watch and we were utter crap but credit where credit’s due, they dug in and ground out the result, well done lads. An Arteta tactical masterclass or pure luck?
Tuchel made 7 changes to his side for this game and it showed!
Yeah, I must admit it was nice to see the lads digging in and grinding out this result, the defence can take a lot of credit for this result tonight, I thought Holding was outstanding and also Smith -Rowe was my MOTM, he reminds me so much of Jack Grealish, and Arteta must get him tied to a new contract ASAP and build this team around him and Saka.
London’s ‘Big Three’ are in talks over pre-season triangular tournament to replace summer tours. Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham will donate income generated to charity.
Much better PR than the ESL!
👍👍
Bring it on Sue! Great idea and Id like to see much more of this typo of preseason .