Wenger wonders enjoy demolition derby
ARSENAL 3 CHELSEA 0
IF there was a better way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, then it is hard to imagine what it would have entailed. Maybe a result such as this against a Chelsea team managed by Jose Mourinho would have topped yesterday. It is true that for much of the last 10 years, they have played like a shadow of the teams he produced in his first 10. But yesterday was like a throwback to the happy days of Highbury; as though this team wanted to remind him of that glorious past. Nothing has illustrated the difference between the two Wenger decades more than their results against Chelsea. In the first, the Blues couldn’t get close to them in league clashes, but having overcome Arsenal so decisively in the 2005-06 season, it has seemed as though they would never
relinquish their control.
Yesterday was a role reversal. There was the slow, disjointed side conceding space at the back and unable to defend counter-attacks. And there was the more aggressive and hungrier side ready to pounce on such weaknesses. In short, all the ingredients of an Arsenal-Chelsea match, just with the identities switched.
Alexis Sanchez led the way, not just with his finishing and assists. He was outstanding.
For Gary Cahill, it has been a miserable start to the season. When Branislav Ivanovic rolled the ball back to him on 10 minutes, Sanchez was on to him. He forced the mistake, robbing the ball and advancing on goal before chipping over Thibaut Courtois.
Arsenal scented blood and looked in the mood to extract it.
They moved the ball crisply, Alex Iwobi at the heart of the move in the 14th minute which pulled Chelsea one way, then the other. The upshot was that, with neither Eden Hazard back-tracking nor Cesar Azpilicueta in position, Hector Bellerin was fed by Iwobi, pulled the ball back and Theo Walcott converted.
They were a pack of predators hunting down a weary, weakened opponent.
It wasn’t just the old guard, such as Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic who looked unfit for purpose. N’Golo Kante was ponderous when Mesut Ozil robbed him on 40 minutes and the man who defied running stats for Leicester last season was seen jogging back as the German sprinted away.
Ozil exchanged passes with Sanchez, who perhaps should have shot but returned the ball to his team-mate, who volleyed it into the ground and saw it loop over Courtois, hit the post and rebound in.
If there had been a more potent 45 minutes for Arsenal in Wenger’s recent years, it was hard to recall it.
Even Wenger himself could barely contain his joy afterwards of the first half he witnessed, saying: ‘It was an outstanding team performance. We played with spirit and collective pace and movement, always in a positive and committed team way.
‘Ideally, you want the perfect game and you never get it. We got nearly the perfect first half and that is not bad.’
Antonio Conte opted not to make a change at half-time.
It took just one break from Walcott and a cross which Sanchez so nearly connected with to prompt substitutions. Marcos Alonso came on for Cesc Fabregas as Chelsea reverted to a back three.
When Iwobi fed Walcott on 68 minutes, and the wide man was denied by Courtois, it was clear further changes were required. Hazard and Willian were sacrificed for Pedro and Michy Batshuayi. Even then, when Pedro did appear to get a chance on goal afterwards as Laurent Koscielny was robbed, Bellerin saved Arsenal.
In truth, it all seemed a little late by then anyway. Arsenal had assumed a dominance more akin to the Double-winning side of 1998 or the Invicibles by that stage of the game. And it’s a long time since they’ve been able to say that; almost 10 years, in fact.