BATTLING THE BOOS
Arsenal turn clock back to the bad old days... and the prospects of it getting any better are slim indeed
THE positivity lasted all of 15 minutes.
Then it turned horribly sour and followed a very familiar script at the Emirates.
Arsenal in meltdown, the fans in revolt, booing the players off at half-time and full-time, as Chelsea made it look as if it was men against boys.
Frankly, it was as if they had turned the clock back 15 years, but with Romelu Lukaku in place of Didier Drogba bullying the Gunners’ defence into submission.
The hosts, with main goal threat Pierre-emerick Aubameyang (left) on the bench, looked a team bereft of confidence, belief and direction. The Blues, by contrast, are going places under Thomas Tuchel, and Lukaku may just be the final piece of the jigsaw. It is two clubs going in very different directions. Chelsea spending £97.5million on Lukaku to strengthen a squad which won the Champions League in May while Arsenal have spent £140m on five new players and still look a mess.
The north Londoners are trying to make up ground under the leadership of rookie coach Mikel Arteta, who looks horribly out of his depth just two games into the season.
Arteta insisted Arsenal had missed the fans, could not wait for their return, and yet the reality is they would not have stomached some of the dismal results of last season.
Supporters have lost faith, the club are trying to rebuild, but if fans do not believe in the manager then maybe he is beaten already.
Arsenal have a Carabao Cup tie at West Brom on Wednesday, followed by Manchester City in the league next Saturday lunchtime.
They could soon be bottom and in a full-scale crisis if they are not
already. Clearly, the Gunners have had issues, with four players testing positive for Covid in the past week, including new £50m defender Ben White.
But there is still no excuse for such sloppy defending. Arteta got his tactics horribly wrong as sticking with a back four gave Reece James far too much space on Chelsea’s right.
Right wing-back James tormented Arsenal. And yet each time he got the ball out wide he seemed to have more space to run into. Why the hosts did not change it or get closer is anyone’s guess.
Chelsea are a well-organised, unified team under Tuchel and already look the most likely challengers to City in this season’s title race. From the start they tore into Arsenal, who just could not handle Lukaku.
With his strength, movement and intelligence in the way he drops off and links the play, the Belgium star was different class.
For the first goal, the striker held the ball up, Mateo Kovacic played a lovely ball to James, and his cross was turned in by Lukaku. It was such an easy goal as Pablo Mari crumbled and Bernd Leno missed the cross. It was 2-0 after just 35 minutes.
Marcos Alonso did brilliant work on the left, Lukaku battled, Mason Mount fed James and he smashed the ball into the top corner. It looked like it was going to turn ugly.
Arsenal should have had a penalty when James appeared to trip Bukayo Saka, and did show spirit in the second half as Rob Holding missed a sitter. Leno produced a fabulous save to deny Lukaku late on.
But the gap between the two teams has never been bigger.
And if Arteta can’t change the mood very soon, Arsenal will be falling even further behind.