Arsenal victorious in commanding form
EPL:
LONDON: Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, must regard his team’s 3-0 win over Chelsea as a celebration of his 20th anniversary at the club. It would certainly be one of the most satisfying wins, the first in five years against one of his major London rivals. This was a match that saw Arsenal in total control throughout as they blew away a disorganised Chelsea in clinical fashion.
The west London side were stunned within the first eleven minutes after conceding two wonderful goals from Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott and by the end of the first half they were torn apart with Mesut Ozil adding a third. Arsenal were impressive in all areas from the start with their defence standing firm and the attackers keeping the play much in the opposition’s half.
The home side were in such control that they exposed the vulnerability of the Chelsea defence early in the game. And their attack became quite innocuous with the striker Diego Costa so closely guarded by Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi that he was left with no space to cause a danger in either half of the match.
This was the second consecutive game which brought out the weakness in Chelsea’s defence as in their previous match, the defeat against Liverpool, they conceded two early goals, the first in 17 minutes and the second after as many minutes again.
Even though Chelsea showed a little more fight in the second half and might have grabbed a goal but Arsenal remained as ardent in defence then as they were in attack in the first. Chelsea seemed in disarray in midfield losing possession time and again and their passes kept being intercepted. At the back Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic looked lost at times and midfielder Cesc Fabregas, on his former home ground, was unimpressive and was substituted after an hour. The club must be wishing for an early recovery of the injured John Terry to bolster the back line.
Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte was fuming with his side’s defending and will no doubt want to make changes. He said: “It is incredible to concede three goals. We must find the right way very soon. We didn’t have the right attitude from the first minute. After today, we must work a lot because we are a great team only on paper.” He added: “Yet if someone thinks this team is ready to fight, I think we must wait to improve a lot to come back a great team on the pitch, not just on paper.”
The first goal was a result of a mistake by Cahill. He received the ball from Ivanovic and seemed to hesitate with Sanchez in close attendance. The Chelsea full-back decided to back-pass to his goalkeeper but Sanchez was on to the ball in a flash to deliver an exquisite chip over Thibaut Courtois who was stranded helplessly in the box. Within three minutes, the home side had doubled the lead.
Hector Bellerin exposed Chelsea’s slow left flank with some clever interplay in midfield. Neither Eden Hazard nor Cesar Azpilicueta could get to Bellerin who then crossed a low ball to Walcott to convert from close range.
Chelsea seemed unable to recover from the shock of the two quick goals and with five minutes remaining before the end of the first half came a stunning third goal.
Ozil evaded a challenge from N’Golo Kante and passed to Sanchez who chipped the ball back to the German whose volley into the ground bounced over Courtois and into the net off the far post.
Wenger said: “I’m very happy. We needed to change history and did it with style and steel. If we stay consistent we have a chance to win the title. It’s one of those moments as a manager when you think, ‘ Today is a great day’. In the first half it was nearly perfect. That’s the football we want to play.”