London Derby
Chelsea dominated proceedings but lost the match in the end after a moment of madness in the buildup phase. Much of the game’s buildup was around the crazy and weird relationship between Thomas Tuchel and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who scored over 70 goals for the German in around 95 games at Borussia Dortmund.
Both teams came into the game with contrasting fortunes as Chelsea had secured a place in the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup finals. Arsenal are toying with missing out on Europe altogether as they hover between 8th-10th.
Tuchel is somewhat of a tinkerman so it was not surprising to see 7 changes to the side that faced Manchester City while Mikel Arteta followed suit with his 7 changes to the side as both sides matched each other with a 3-4-3 formation.
The Game
Chelsea dominated the match at Stamford Bridge but created very little. Arsenal focused on maintaining shape to contain the blues. It was not until the 16th minute that something meaningful occurred and it was decisive.
Chelsea tried building out from the back on the left side and Antonio Rudiger is usually competent in moving the ball with both legs and also carrying it out from the back. Kurt Zouma in his place can be a bit dodgy in this phase and gave an example. He had at least four different angles to move the ball away from the danger zone but gave the ball to Jorginho under serious pressure. The Italian-Brazilian did not make things better as he fired a ludicrous back pass towards an empty post with Kepa Arrizabalaga away from his post trying to assist the gameplay. He recovered well enough but parried the ball into the path of Aubameyang who set up Emile Smith Rowe for the only goal of the game.
Arsenal gave Chelsea the chance to draw level when Pablo Mari was caught on the ball by Kai Havertz who drove towards the Arsenal goal only to fire over the bar. 1-0.
Callum Hudson-Odoi came on for Billy Gilmour and tried his best to drive Chelsea towards the equalizer, all to no avail. There was a penalty claim by Kai Havertz but Andre Marriner was not interested. Mason Mount hit some underwhelming corner kicks that summed up the night for Chelsea. Their best chance came when Zouma headed a glorious ball but Bernd Leno tipped it to the bar only for Olivier Giroud (on for Kai Havertz) to volley the rebound to the bar. A Callum cross was too far for Christian Pulisic as he smashed the ball into the ground before Leno gathered comfortably. 0-1 it ended as Arsenal do the double over Chelsea for the first time since 2003/2004.
