Arsene Wenger was clearly frustrated after Arsenal succumbed to another away defeat at the hands of one our big rivals. But the Frenchman also claimed after the match that the Gunners were unlucky, as an Arsenal.com report shows. His main example was the penalty claim on 63 minutes when Wilshere’s shot was blocked by the hand of Cesc Fabregas. But the Frenchman also felt that the game was decided on small details that just did not go our way and that the referee’s leniency allowed Chelsea to repeatedly break up our attacks with fouls. So was Wenger right?
First the handball and it clearly struck the hand of Fabregas. The Spaniard was pretty close to Jack and it was a fierce shot but you could also say his hands were up and not really in what they call a natural position. You see them given all the time and we have certainly conceded penalties for less, so I would say we were a bit unlucky there, although it was not nailed on.
And when you look at the stats on Arsenal.com and Squawka.com, they show that Arsenal stood toe-to-toe with the home side in most areas. We actually had twice as many shots and created more opportunities. And although the stats show that none of our shots were on target, that includes blocked shots, so Wilshere’s goal bound effort that was blocked by Cesc’s hand does not count, which seems a bit harsh.
Surprisingly, the Gunners also won more challenges, had more possession, passed the ball better, made more clearances and more interceptions. We just could not quite manage to turn our play into goals, while Chelsea hit us with two sucker punches. Football is not an exact science and on another day it could have been Arsenal that left with the points.
So while we were not exactly robbed, we did match Chelsea and better them in many aspects and could consider ourselves a bit unlucky. What do you think Gooners?