Arsenal Beat Chelsea 2:1. And The Blues Did Not Even Manage To Score Once

December 1, 2008

Alex Nekrassov junior writes: Arsenal’s title charge appears to be back on track after a brave display saw them come from a goal down to beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. And Chelsea did not even manage to score once.Allow me to explain: Chelsea took the lead after a clumsy and unnecessarily rushed throw from Arsenal goalkeeper, Manuel Almunia, gave back possession to the home side. The marauding Chelsea right-back, Jose Bosingwa, accepted the gift and ran down the channel, firing a low and inviting cross which committed Arsenal’s young Swiss centre back, Johan Djourou, into making a sliding block. Unfortunately for Djourou, he inadvertently guided it past his own goalkeeper, giving Chelsea a first half lead.

Explanation ends here.

Chelsea suffocated much of Arsenal’s creativity by retaining possession and imposing themselves physically in midfield in the first half. This continued for a while in the second half, with an Arsenal recovery looking more and more unlikely. Until the 59th minute, that is, when Dutch Arsenal forward, Robin van Persie, received the ball in an offside position but, with the flag staying firmly by the linesman’s side, van Persie fired a right foot shot into the top right hand corner of the net, beating Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Cech.

If the first Arsenal’s goal had a stroke of luck about it, the second, coming only three minutes later, certainly didn’t. Van Persie once again collected the ball in the penalty area, before swivelling and hitting a first time shot through Lampard’s legs, surprising Cech, whose dive saw him merely slowing the ball down across the line.

Chelsea’s response was surprisingly subdued, with Almunia in Arsenal’s goal not being called into action once to make a save. Chelsea fired shot after shot from outside the penalty area, but all went either skyward or wide. For a team supposedly in crisis, this was a match the bookies gave to Chelsea before kick-off.

William Gallas was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy only a week ago, after publicly criticising his teammates for not carrying their weight. His argument was valid and most of what he said was right, but publicly criticising your teammates was never going to win him any favours, certainly not with Arsene Wenger. Arsenal’s league form has seen them lose five matches already this season, and to inferior opposition. Their position off the pace of the champions’ elect has brought strong criticism directed at Wenger, even from some of Arsenal’s own fans, mainly bringing up the argument that Wenger penny pinching policies on the transfer market has seen him fail to plug the gaps left with the summer departures of Mathieu Flamini, Aleksander Hleb and Gilberto.

But all of this was forgotten at Stamford Bridge yesterday, with the Arsenal fans and players equally jubilant. It even brought a wry smile from William Gallas, formerly of Chelsea, as Arsenal’s stubborn unwillingness to surrender their hunt for the Premiership crown sees them move back into the top four, and back in contention.

It seems that now that the team in crisis appears to be Chelsea. Roman Abramovich has allegedly said he does not want to finance the acquisition of further players to bolster an injury-stricken squad in the January transfer window. It is quite possible that Abramovich cannot grant permission for more signings simply because he cannot afford them. Sources in Moscow say that Abramovich now has to be careful with his money in the light of the collapse of the Russian stock market and the overall economic turmoil in the world.

Chelsea fans will have to start coming to terms with reality that their previous unlimited spending has come to an end. Since Chelsea home defeat by Liverpool, Stamford Bridge has lost its aura of being an impregnable fortress. Chelsea stayed undefeated at their home ground for nearly one hundred matches, but after they were beaten by Liverpool and Arsenal in quick succession you’d be forgiven for thinking that the floodgates could now be open. It’s only a matter of time before more defeats follow, as teams turn up more willing to give it a go, knowing that Chelsea armour is chinked.

It will be interesting to see what yesterday’s victory would do for Arsenal’s fortunes. Even with this win the team is still some way off the pace of the top of the league, with further possible injuries aggravating this further. The Gunners’ defensive frailties are bound to be exposed by more competitive clashes over the course of the season and more defeats at the hands of lowly opposition might follow.

Arsenal’s ability to raise their game against the top three teams is the only thing keeping them in the title race, but their inconsistency against the likes of Stoke, Hull and Fulham could be their undoing this season. With Manchester United grinding out a win against their rivals, Manchester City, earlier yesterday, and Liverpool drawing against West Ham and taking over the top spot it would take a brave man to put a wager on Arsenal winning the title come May 2009.

But then in football stranger things have happened.

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