Arsenal game review Arsenal News

Arsenal clinch a deserved victory in the London Derby with Chelsea

Arsenal have returned to the top of the table with a deserved 1-0 win over Chelsea, with Gabriel Magalhaes getting the only goal of the game.

The Gunners were quick to assert their dominance at Stamford Bridge, refusing to play like the away team and were quickly on the front foot. The Blues struggled to disrupt us in possession, opting to keep things tight at the back as opposed to closing us down up the field, and it was no surprise to see the two sides go into the break level.

The best chance in the opening 45 minutes came from Gabriel Jesus, who won the ball back in the final third before weaving past three defenders, only for his shot to be blocked on the edge of the box.

The other main talking point came from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s lunge on Ben White, with our former striker’s late tackle seeing him pick up a yellow card.

We clearly came out in the second-half on a mission, and the Blues were quickly forced to try and be physical as they tried to stop us from playing. Trevoh Chalobah and Cesar Azpilicueta were both booked shortly after the break, and our best chance of the game so far soon followed. Gabriel Jesus latched onto the loose ball in the box to smash an effort into the far right off the goal, but Edouard Mendy was equal to it.

The opening goal quickly followed however, with the resulting corner sailing through the box and almost straight into the goal, only for Gabriel Magalhaes to get a foot to it on the line to assure us of the opening goal.

Graham Potter quickly reacted to the goal by bringing on Armando Broja and Conor Gallagher, with PEA and Kai Havertz making way, but the direction of the game wasn’t to be changed.

The remainder of the half was played out with very few clearcut chances, despite Chelsea trying to force their way up the field. William Saliba and Ben White were solid in stopping attacks before the could get close and deserve plenty of credit for their role in the victory, which sends us back to the top of the table.

Patrick

Posted by

Tags Chelsea v Arsenal

102 Comments

  1. Potter didn’t have the guts to make Chelsea play from the back. Maybe because he felt his team were still shaky, but I’m sure Tuchel wouldn’t have done it

    Our players’ touches were world-class today. I think our CBs had more confidence to pass to Zinchenko and Partey in tight midfield spaces, as compared to Tierney and Tomiyasu there

    Magalhaes, White, Saliba and Partey were magnificent, but my MOTM as Jesus for being a major nuisance to Chelsea’s CBs

    1. Yep, our player’s touches were almost surreal at times. And yeah, agree on Jesus being MOTM, he terrified Chelsea defense.

      1. Jesus won a lot of free kicks for his teammates and made them able to escape from tight situations. Hopefully Nketiah can reach Jesus’ level

    2. Finally you complement the team on a deserved victory. Otherwise you are always complaining we’ll cone short next time against City.

      1. This is because we were dominant since the first half, which wasn’t the case at Old Trafford and against Liverpool

        It showed that we were much better than Chelsea and well-deserved to win the game

    3. Totally agree with all of your comments GOI, especially your key players. Chelsea at home just parked the bus but this still a truly imperious performance – rarely do teams play with such a swagger at Stamford Bridge, and if we had needed two I always felt we had more in the tank to get them. A 1 – 0 drubbing and a great watch.

      1. Yes. It was very entertaining despite having scored one goal only, because we were totally dominant since the game started

        Chelsea’s park-the-bus tactic could’ve gone either way, but Arsenal were more courageous at making risky passes and obviously well-drilled by the coaches

        1. @jon. I think he meant FUDGING. Definition: to exceed one’s limits. I suspect that you are mr. Jon grammarian. You fail to know that the majority of arsenal fans around the world are non-English speakers. Yet, we try to contribute to JA. Please stop this grammar checking and let the conversation flow. Today is our joyous day. Close your grammar book for now.

          1. Soccer BOY, you are merely guessing what he meant.

            I enquired, as I did not know and still do not, though I DO WANT TO KNOW WHAT MY FELLOW GOONERS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE ACTUALLY MEAN.

            SO TO BE CRITICISED SIMPLY FOR ASKING SEEMS DAFT.

            1. Soccer boy @
              Fudging :
              “they have been fudging figures to make it look as though targets have been met”

              “ The act of something being fudged, altered so as to hide a flaw or uncertainty”

          2. @soccer boy, why do you waste your time on super daft sack of sheit like Jon fox who has absolutely no joy and whose only aim is to spread grim sadness whenever his fingers hot the keypad!!
            Have you ever seen him offering an original first-time commentary before? No, he just wait for others to comment and then jump on it, looking for where to plant his grimness!! Sad sack of sheit!

            In my mind I just picture him as Venom which his dark poisonous and plagued hide instantly wrapping him up anytime he sees a comment from anyone!!

            2. “Have you ever seen him offering an original first-time commentary before? No, he just wait for others to comment and then jump on it”

              And always siding with the majority. Always.

    4. Yesterday mancity match still hurts. Had Fulham little bit of courage to face mancity then we would have been 4 or 5 points clear but Fulham simply game up the game despite playing with one man extra. We still have 5 tough match against Brighton, mancity, Everton, westham, Newcastle. Most importantly 10-11 points above fifth place is very assuring but with our performance and points on the table we surely not gonna content with top 4. So let’s hope other teams can stand up against mancity rather than surrendering hopelessly.

      1. Yeah, I was also disappointed when I saw the final score of Man City vs Fulham game

        If I’m not mistaken, there are more Man City players who’ll become starters in World Cup, as compared to ours. Hopefully that will affect them next year

  3. A dominant and mature performance from a young team and a young manager 😉
    We keep passing the “tests”.
    COYG

  5. Take a bow Mikel fuging Arteta. Your road to greatness is yours to lose.

    I hope you learn the wrongs from Emery’s 22 unbeaten aftermath to go all the way.

      1. @jon. I think he meant FUDGING. Definition: to exceed one’s limits. I suspect that you are mr. Jon grammarian. You fail to know that the majority of arsenal fans around the world are non-English speakers. Yet, we try to contribute to JA. Please stop this grammar checking and let the conversation flow. Today is our joyous day. Close your grammar book for now.

      2. Its f#$king but in all or nothing arteta pronounces it as fugging which kinda is a meme now ….thats what he meant pal

          2. @HH Fudge, Fug, Forge, Fog. These four words may sound alike, but different in meaning…fudging, forging, fogging, fugging. You can check MERRIAM-WEBSTER dictionairy.

  6. A performance defined by control, with almost negligible blips… in fact the only 2 I remember were from Zinchenko, but that’s kind of understandable considering he just returned to fitness. Some lovely midfield play and better finishing would have seen us bury Chelsea like Brighton. The goal might be coming for Jesus, but he needs all the luck for that extra yard….A very comfortable victory with all good performances.
    COYG!!!

  7. We have won three games in a row at the Stamford bridge. Impressive…

    We may not win the league but we are top of it at the moment and we ain’t a joke this season. It’s high time pundits take us seriously. Lol.

    Let’s add some bodies to this team in January to keep us going after the world cup..

    And oh Aubamenyang didn’t show any bite. I was a bit worried initially because ex players have a knack of scoring against arsenal…

    Gutted Fulham couldn’t hold on yesterday but this win just made my day….COYG

    Liverpool can now hammer spurs or they can share the point. Watching the game with ease.

  8. The main point i take from this match is no physical drop in the 2nd half, hell we bodied them😤 our start was more moderate than our usual lightning fast start so a tactical twerk to mitigate what cost us the last few matches

    1. “we bodied them”
      Yeah that’s what I found most impressive – we looked much more powerful than them, when I doubt we were the bigger side. i think that shows the impact of arteta’s tactical changes – our players were always close enough to press them immediately

  9. Though it’s only one goal to show for it, Arsenal’s was a complete dominance. Chelsea was lucky not to have been given basket of goals. We are in ascendency. I’m waiting to hear from the pundits. I meant JA pundits as well. I don’t want to hear that this was a lucky win because it was only one goal.

  10. ManU
    Spurs
    Liverpool
    Chelsea

    Won 3 and lost just 1 (we were good against manu too but lacked concentration at the back on that day)

    Welldone boys. Welldone Arteta

      1. 👍Peter, glad others appreciate the difference Thomas Partey in his current form makes. He and Granit Xhaka totally controlled the midfield, something Arsenal has missed in previous seasons.

  11. One of our best of the season. The football we’re playing is at a high high level. I really have to give Arteta and his team credit. He’s totally turning this club around. Jesus is an exceptional player even with this goal drought I can hardly say a bad thing bout him. He’s essential to everything we do well. And Gabriel and Saliba partnership is so so good. Let’s also give Gabriel credit for finding his form again too. He’s been massive during this tough schedule. Just well done today boys. Can’t praise them enough

  13. Jesus is irreplaceable. The only thing left in his game is composure in one on one with the keeper. But I can never swap him for any striker for now. His ability as a front man is very rare and I am sure, even with Halaand, Pep would still wish he had him in his team.

    1. True. He works his socks off. Great player. We need someone that can feed off him to bang in that goals.

  14. At times we played some Amazing football. This team can only get better. The Process is Marching on! The “Aubamayeng Ambassadors” are really quiet. 🤫🤫

    1. The Auba cheerleaders are still waiting for an Auba revolution at Chelsea so that they can utter “See? Told you so. Arteta is the worst thing that has ever happened to Arsenal”.
      😊🤞

      1. Some of the cheerleaders have apologised for their silliness and are now born again supporters; so they can be forgiven.

  15. I think the style of play that Arsenal are playing is very reminiscent of the beautiful football that is always associated with Arsenal, crisp one touch football (How good was that today?!), but it also has an efficient and effective quality of Man City as well. That blend is so enjoyable to watch.

    Btw, hoping Emery does wonders with Villa. I so want him to succeed.

    And guess what, 2-nil, haha. Go Emery!!

    2. Agree with everything expect the efficient part. We have been so strong this season that if we had been even decently efficient it would be 13 wins in 13 with about 10 goals more.

      1. I kind of meant efficient in passing and progressive play part. Agree, if we could only get that efficiency in front of goal, we could be rampant this season.

        1. Yeah our movement off the ball is miles better than before so less slow sideways passing. We can just cut right through teams either with our dribbling or passing skills.

    3. Yes, it’s wenger-esque but more defensively better..
      We still need another player like Partey or even better to help Partey.

    1. “@Kev” thinks that White should not be a starter and should be relegated into the Europa League team..

  19. MOTM for so many but goes to Partay for me. He’s pressing, passing, dribbling out of pressure, defense, transition from defense to offense was amazing! He’s had many great games of late, but for me this was his best performance as an Arsenal player!

  20. Tottenham +8
    Man u +11
    Chelsea +13
    Liverpool +16

    This is an utterly ridiculous season we are having. If not for a state sponsored team with a cyborg, we would already have the title wrapped up.

    Smh at some people still doubting our quality.

    1. And with another state-sponsored team (Newc) making their way into the top 4 even sooner than expected… this may be the last time we have a chance.

      The new rules replacing FFP say that clubs can receive as much as they like in gifts of money, it’s loans that are limited.

      The idea is to prevent clubs becoming indebted to owners and ending up bankrupt, but the effect on competition is that clubs that are run as a business (e.g. Arsenal, MU) won’t be able to compete with clubs that are owned by people who don’t want or need to make money from the club (e.g. City, Newc).

  21. I agree with the choice of SALIBA as MotM. Defenders are commonly vastly underrated when it comes to being regarded as the most important player.

    SALIBA is a Rolls Royce of a player with speed, power, elegance, grace and the sheer comfort of watching him, while knowing he will be almost impossible to beat.

    Also Partey, Jesus, White, Gabriel and all the others too. More a showroom FULL of Rollers really! All that with a so called”rookie” managing too!
    How utterly ridiculous the anti MA agenda JA Gooners look now!!

  22. First off, what a great performance and result. Totally different away performance than recent times. Controlling the game at Chelsea and looking assured in most things they did. I cant remember Ramsdale making a save. Chelsea were as toothless as i have seen for years and the only minus (and it didn’t matter in the end) we were awful in front of goal. We aren’t creating from Odergaard enough, he is a bit passive. Jesus was great but toothless in front of goal. Partey was immense along with Saliba and Martinelli if he learns to calm down in the box, could be world class. Great performance and great result.

  23. Saliba exhumes confidence and class
    Like the commentator said, he’s the last person you want to face 1v1. So strong and fast

    Partey is World Class, he’s the engine room of the team. Partey fitness will determine how we finish

    Gabriel Jesus is a torn in the flesh for any defence

    The whole back 5 were outstanding today
    Our front 4 are just too wasteful
    It did cost us points against Southampton
    We have to be clinical enough cos it may eventually come down to goal difference
    So many missed chances in games

    Overall, a well confident and dominant performance

    Our away fans are the MOTM for me
    They sure did make their presence felt and voices heard

  24. An absolutely deserved victory against an unimaginative Chelsea. Great defence. The back line were so authoritative. Saliba and Gabriel are becoming the top CB pairing in the Premiership. Happy making.

  25. Yes yes y’all…saw pep and city celebrations yesterday, he obviously thought we’d drop points…I wish I could see his face now…LOL

    Kudos to the lads, the believe and determination is there for all to see….

    Saliba cleaning up d defense ,partey bossing the midfield, Jesus industrious workrate up top is priceless …… Our spine is unmatched, these guys are the best in what they do….

    Congrats to all gunners worldwide, we top of the league where we belong….

    1. Man City players appropriately celebrated after winning a difficult game against one of the less fancied teams in the PL.
      It is worth remembering that some numpties (who call themselves supporters) and pundits have criticised Arsenal players for celebrating picking up points in similar circumstances.

    2. @instrooments I did not see the celebration police hunting pep for shouting into the camera for beating Fulham at Etihad and the team celebrating the win assuming that’s Arteta and Mancity beat Chelsea the front page would have been how we are celebrating like we have won the league

  27. This is the best arsenal performance have seen this season, Chelsea really tried to frustrate us with there negative tactics but we were patient and we played some really great football. What a player Partey is.

      1. Errr… VAR doesn’t make any decisions – referees operating VAR do.

        VAR simply shows the officials what actually happened, if they still can’t get it right then they’re simply terrible referees.

  29. A calme composed performance…..Chelsea was dreadful though as Ramsdale was almost on the beach….a Rainy beach at the Bridge!!!!WE have a title contender first teamers but sadly no depth to “keep the distance” with City, as Sylvester Stallone said in Rocky

    1. One word: Overconfidence.
      we started pushing higher and higher up the field up to the point when a simple through ball completely bypassed the whole teams. It was your typical smash and grab aided by our wastefulness in front of goal.

  33. great victory. still worried that despite dominating we create little chances, and wast the ones we create. we are not killers and in the future it might hurt us.

    1. I know what you mean
      Being on top and a goal up is great at the final whistle but does make it nervy until then.
      Chelsea were poor and the number of yellow cards they got showed their weakness against a highly focused Arsenal team
      Pleased that Xhaka didn’t get a card
      Saliba was self assured and all is good with me 👍

    2. 👍👍Totally agree, on the run and standard of play Arsenal should have been 3 goals up; yet Arsenal was one bad decision, deflection away from a 1:1 draw and 2 points dropped.
      Arsenal’s poor conversion rate in front of goal needs to be corrected (practice ?) before it comes back to bite.

  34. A pleasant surprise as to how good that was. I was worried that Aubameyang would get on the scoresheet, players tend to do that against a former club but in the end he was snuffed out into insignificance. Wonder how he’s feeling now.

    Deserved a better scoreline (closing th gap on City’s goal diff would be nice), but 3 points is what matters ofc.

    Just one PL game to go before the break, let’s hope Wolves don’t improve before their new manager gets there after the WC. I hope we rest the whole team from today against BHA on Weds in the league cup.

    Annoyed with that 95th minute City penalty yesterday, a 4 point lead now would’ve been good.

    1. I was pleased to see Auba in the Chelsea start eleven. I thought” well thats great news, we ARE ONLY PLAYING TEN MEN WHO TRY”. As it proved!

      I based this on the evidnce of Auba wearing our shirt for two whole seasons while not trying a tiny bit.
      LAZY, SELF OBSESSED , AND REPRESENTS ALL THAT I DESPISE IN ANY PLAYER.

      1. @jon fox
        I was laughing when he was subbed. Never thought he was going to do much, if anything…😂

  38. A well derserved win. Arsenal were the dominant side. Great performance by the players and by Arteta as well. I should be very happy if Arsenal could stil be top of the table before the WC break.

  39. What a performance great play happy for the 3points and now onto the next game. Wolves away and 3points before the world cup break sets us up nicely

  40. SueP, I was a bit worried about Xhaka when him and Kovacic were involved in a bust up near the end, as Xhaka looked really angry. Made me wonder if Kovacic said something about the Balkan war.

  42. Who can argue with the result and Arsenal’s well deserved place on the league ladder.Wish I’d been able to watch the game but am currently in Japan where I won’t have access to live broadcasts. Will return to Oz on December 31 where I’ll then be able to watch Arsenal live broadcasts. Thank god for the world cup break. Hopefully the lads will stay focused for the Wolves game.

  44. Great win to Arsenal and Mikel Arteta at Stamford Bridge.
    Congratulations to Unai Emery in beating Manchester United at Villa Park for the first time in 47 years. A very impressive and stylish win, to do Arsenal a favour.

  45. To me the credit should go to Mikel Arteta who took care of Aubameyang by ensuring through his tactics that the blue sloth player was completely starved of service.

    The players were great, but what is often lost is the vitriol Arteta has taken over the years when all he promised to do was to change the culture – and the way everyone is screaming with happiness today shows he has done just that.

    Arteta is an amazing guy, and we are lucky to have him as manager. We have not won anything yet this year, but he has the team on the right path.

    Onward and Upward!

  46. First the Spuds, than Liverpool and now Chelsea, Arsenal have beaten 3 of the top 6 and have lost only to United. This in itself speaks of the improvements in leaps and bounds that Arteta has imbibed into the squad. That said, although Jesus didnt score, it was his effort that Mendey put behind for a corner which subsequently led to the goal. Jesus will surely score in the not too distant future, but he is a complete team man and his efforts are bearing fruit, in that we are winning games.

  47. The game made me think whether Arteta was Pep Guardiola’s ex assistant or Arsene Wenger’s ex player. I’m so happy that we started to teach EPL teams a footballing lesson again just like how Arsenal played Wengerball.

  48. He seems to be a mixture of the two but whatever he is, Arteta has taken Arsenal to new heights and long may it continue.

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors