Doctor, there are signs of life in the patient

 

Chelsea 2 Arsenal 4  

Premier League  
Wednesday 20th April 2022  7.45pm   

Arsenal’s young guns came to the rescue at the Bridge with a huge result to reverse the downward trend of the last three matches, which had looked to prematurely end the hopes of a return to Champions League football. Young players are going to be inconsistent by nature, but the upside of that is when it comes good, and last night they were helped by a Chelsea team that took the game to them, instead of the defence v attack kind of match that saw defeats against Brighton and Southampton. 

The law of averages played a part. Eddie Nketiah couldn’t keep making Premier League appearances and not scoring. Arsenal’s run of defeats could not continue forever. Granted, neither looked likely to change given Chelsea were the opposition, but maybe their playing a day later than Arsenal last weekend helped a little.

Early on, it was all Chelsea and it looked like it was going to be a long evening. Arsenal were playing three at the back with Saka playing as a right wing-back, Holding having come into the centre of the defence. This changed during the game, as Saka moved forward and White went out to right back. Mohamed Elneny was a necessary pick in the centre of the midfield to offer greater solidity than Lokonga, taking into account the reality that the opposition’s approach meant the Gunners would have to be more defensive-minded than in recent matches. 

Mikel Arteta had a decision to make with regard to starting Eddie Nketiah or Martinelli at centre-forward and gave the former a chance. It worked out well as Eddie scored twice, the first time after 12 minutes thanks to Christiansen’s underhit back pass with a good finish. Arsenal were back under the cosh soon enough and the lead didn’t last long, as possession was lost between Nketiah and Xhaka as they tried to play the ball out. The one-touch football was too risky given Chelsea’s pressing, with no margin for error. The ball eventually found its way into the net as Timo Werner’s shot deflected off Xhaka.

Arsenal continued to play their way out of the back when the opportunity arose, and Rob Holding diced with death by taking the ball across his own area and getting away with it in the move that led to his side taking the lead again. The ball found its way to Xhaka, who nutmegged a Chelsea player on his way out of the box to start a move that demonstrated the best of Arteta football as the Gunners scored on the counter attack. Odegaard and Saka combined in a sweeping move that saw the ball teed up for Emile Smith Rowe to strike the sweetest of finishes low into the bottom corner. What a goal.

Once more, the lead was short-lived, the equalizer finding Tavares wanting as Cesar Azpilacueta ran across the Portuguese defender to apply the finishing touch. It was such an open game you felt that more goals were inevitable, and it suited Arsenal to cede possession because of the number of chances they had on the counter attack. 

There were no more goals until half-time, and tellingly, Thomas Tuchel brought on Thiago Silva for Christiansen for the second half, which told you what he thought of his performance. It didn’t help matters, as before the hour mark, Nketiah took the ball in the centre after Tavares intercepted a Chelsea pass. Eddie certainly enjoyed a couple of breaks as the ball bounced off defenders, and it fell for him to poke it home. He was in the right place to take advantage of the situation, and surely will retain his starting place for Saturday’s game against Manchester United. Not having played too much football lately, it was no surprise to see Martinelli replace him after 70 minutes. 

After that it was a matter of dealing with Chelsea’s onslaught, with Cedric entering the fray to assist in defence, as Arsenal returned to a back five, Smith Rowe being removed from the frontline.

That Arsenal conceded two goals was about par for the course, going on recent games, but the nature of the match meant they were able to enjoy more chances with less bodies in the opposition box to contend with, and the goals followed. A late penalty relieved the pressure for the visitors after Azpilacueta held onto Saka, who intelligently then trapped the Spaniard’s arm so he was unable to release it as Saka went to ground to win the spot kick. He converted the resulting spot kick with aplomb, his first since the shoot-out in last summer’s unfortunate final at the Euros. In truth, it was a soft penalty, but Saka was cute in winning it.

The win went a little way to making up for the three defeats, and it was a relief to see the side rediscover their scoring touch. At least Arsenal’s top four prospects remain in their own hands, and in a sense, playing teams that are not going to sit off them in the form of Manchester United and West Ham in the next two fixtures could well be for the best. It’s when teams have focused more on stopping Arsenal than taking the game to them that has created problems in recent weeks. It feels like Arteta’s younger forward players have now been seen enough for opposition managers to make a plan to nullify them. Chelsea were not going to concern themselves too much on this level, having no inferiority complex – just look at the names on the respective subs’ benches last night, a legacy of the Abramovich era in which, on average, the club could spend a little short of £100 million on players and wages every season without needing to earn it through the normal sources of income (which in turn grew as a consequence of their advantage in the transfer market). Those days are hopefully over, and the likely departure of Antonio Rudiger in the summer is not going to help their cause – and it’s fair to say he was missed last night.

Arsenal can now look forward to the run-in with greater confidence, and come up with their own plan to negate Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday lunchtime. One swallow sure doesn’t make a summer, although what is undeniable is that life would have been a lot more difficult if the Gunners had lost last night. They really need to try and win the next three matches before heading to Spurs if they are to still be in contention for Champions League football next season by May 12th. The Monday after – away to Newcastle - now looks like a more difficult game than it did not so long ago. Still, Arsenal have a history of doing things the hard way, and the trio of losses have certainly made things more difficult than they had to be. But where there is life, there is hope. If they do scramble into the top four, it is going to be tight. The next few weeks will tell us plenty about the character of this young injury-hit squad, and hopefully Mikel Arteta will prove his doubters – myself very much included – that he is up to the task of making Arsenal competitive again.

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