Arsenal’s recent record against our traditional heavyweight opponents has been extraordinarily impressive, and I think it is one of those areas where the upward trajectory of Arsenal’s evolution under Arteta has been most steadfast and yet, somewhat underappreciated, underappreciated maybe not so much by the astute among the Arsenal fanbase, but by the populace outside of those cognoscenti.
The solidity of our recent performances and results against Chelsea have been particularly pleasing in that respect. In the second half of Arsène’s time with us, we have suffered painfully in matches against Chelsea. In between some notable wins – 5-3 away at Chelsea being a particular high point – we were dominated by an (unlawfully) expensively assembled squad who more often than not won by the virtue of their physical strength, defensive solidity and tactical know-how against a group of technically talented young players not quite up for the boxing ring match-ups. Since Arteta took over, we have been steadily becoming a team that relishes the muscular and tactical battles of football as much as its technical and creative sides. Our recent run against Chelsea is a clear demonstration of this growing solidity – only wins and draws in matches in PL since 2022, 2-4 away, 4-0 home, 0-1 away, 3-1 home, 2-2 away, 5-0 home, 1-1 away.
Despite the run of positive results, we approached the 29th matchday against Chelsea last Sunday with a sense of uncertainty primarily because of our recent dip in league form, caused mostly by the vicious circle of injuries causing fatigue to overworked players causing injuries, and a decimated forward line that has lately been relying on the intelligence, hard work and heading ability of a midfielder who most likely hasn’t even dreamt of playing as a central striker since he was six years old. One loss and two draws in the last three matches before the weekend had seen us falling behind significantly in the title chase, and if the experts are to be believed we have no chance of catching up, and the league might as well hand over the trophy to the great quadruple-chasing Liverpool side managed by a generational managerial genius. I myself believe nothing is certain until it actually is certain, and just because something hasn’t happened before is not a reason for it to not ever happen in the future. But keeping all that aside, we needed to approach the match simply focusing on the match itself, and with all thoughts of league positions or recent form wiped away from our thought process. Every match is its own universe, and deserves its own laws of physics to be discovered.
Arteta chose a side that carried the promise of rediscovering our league form, and to ensure we retain all three valuable points against the west Londoners.
Raya
Timber – Saliba – Gabriel – Lewis-Skelly
Partey
Ødegaard- Rice
Martinelli – Merino – Trossard
I myself would have preferred a slightly different team. Leo has been blowing hot and cold all season, especially when he starts, and I think going back to his original model of contributions coming off the bench might help him to refocus. I would have preferred Gabi on his more natural left side, Ethan on the right, and Merino retaining his central role given his moderately effective impressions of Kai Havertz over the last few weeks.
We started well, with purpose and a characteristic high press. The deers-in-the-headlight frozenness of the Chelsea backline helped us too, and Martinelli almost benefitted from the press as the Chelsea keeper Sanchez passed straight to him. I am sure that the confident Gabi of a season or so back would have put away that chance. His shot this time was too easy for Sanchez.
Timber was playing with his trademark confidence on the ball at both ends of the pitch. And he seemed to be relishing the opportunity of combining with Gabi to expose their left side using Martinelli’s drive with the ball. From one such run we should have been awarded a penalty, as the ever irksome Cucurella blatantly leaned on the ball with his arms to defend against Gabi’s attempt to cut back in. I was under no illusion that the VAR would make the correct decision, and they proved me right. I think we Arsenal fans can better enjoy the VAR if we take that as a performance art called “A tragi-comic demonstration of incompetence or a dedicated effort at bias masquerading as inconsistency? You decide!” It becomes significantly more tolerable that way, and you can then preserve your angst for even more heinous things out in the wonder world.
Leo was playing cleverly, and positioning himself well. From one such position he should have scored as Timber’s excellent cross dropped close to him. He miscued. His pained expression of self-recognition generated an equal mixture of empathy and annoyance in this viewer. After a while Rice had a chance to power a shot through – we all remember his flawless finish against them at the Bus Stop a couple of seasons back – but his attempt flew wide.
Then the goal came. In the last couple of months Mr. Corner, one of our most potent attackers this season, has lost some of his goalmouth efficacy. Gabriel, Saliba, Timber, Merino – all have lately outjumped their markers only to head the ball wide. But this time Merino – meeting a not-too-extraordinary delivery from our captain – finished with a flicked looping header that would have made Olivier Giroud proud.
Arsenal 1 (Merino 20’) – Chelsea 0
The goal should have given us a bit more confidence in scoring one or two more. And in that first half we really should have. There were quite a few opportunities where just the coordination, movement, pass, finish etc. were missing in the final third. In between, Wesley Fofana decided to take out the frustration about his team’s pathetic display on Declan Rice and stamped deliberately on his leg. I applaud Declan for his self-control. How was that not a red card post a VAR review? I respectfully refer you to my previous suggestion about the performance art on display …
Late in the first half, David Raya had an Almunia moment, the ball rolling through his arms and just past his far post. “Wow!”, he said. Maybe it was his respectful homage to the first Spanish goalkeeper to have played for Arsenal. Thankfully the ball decided to spare him the blushes of conceding from a Cucurella volley. He would not have survived the teasing from his teammates.
The second half continued in much the same vein. Enzo Maresca chose to have multiple conversations – especially a suspiciously prolonged one with our young left back – with Arsenal players at every opportunity he could get. I guess he was trying to learn the art of solidarity from players who seem to know how to play for each other. The game was becoming shapeless, tetchy, incoherent. Gabriel and Saliba handled the expensively assembled forward line with the consummate ease that has become the signature of their truly remarkable partnership (young players growing up in different parts of the world now look at these two and think that well, being defender can actually be quite an attractive way to play football). We took an inordinately long time to take a free-kick from a very promising position, only to have Rice hit the ball against the wall. Our recent execution of direct free-kicks has been surprisingly underwhelming given the technical excellence of this team. Now where is Nicolas Pépé when you need him? (Just kidding, no need to hurl such words at me.. :-))
Merino almost scored another goal. Following a fine run and even a better cross by Martinelli, our Basque midfielder-playing-as-a-striker put in a lovely side footed volley that Sanchez saved acrobatically on the goal line. David Villa would have been proud… (no, I am not sure either).
Nwaneri came on for 10+ minutes, and so did Kieran Tierney for just the last few minutes. I know KT is going to go back to his beloved Celtic, but I cannot thank him enough for what he represented and how he played for us. A combination of injuries and our tactical shifts have made things difficult for him to flourish in red-and-white, but I think he will always get a warm welcome from all Arsenal supporters. It seems likely that both he and Zinchenko will leave at the end of this season, and we will go into next season with Calafiori and MLS as our two primary left backs, both the Scorsman and the Ukrainian have been exemplary professionals. It would be great if they can leave with a fond memory of this season.
Which is to say, this season is not over yet. Yesterday’s lacklustre match saw us do just enough to stay on track for finishing the season in top two. The Champions League is still very much to play for. While Real Madrid may feel like a formidable opposition, because they are a formidable opposition, I think it is also fair to say that Real themselves are apprehensive about playing Arsenal.
We may not yet have the swashbuckling, high octane, goals from all corners, attacking team that we would like to become. But we have a team capable of seeing out results even when things are not going well, a team that knows exactly how to follow a tactical blueprint, and a team where the solidarity and professionalism stand up to lead the way when creativity and flair find it hard to bring their mercurial nature to their command.
Enjoy the international break everyone! And let us hope everyone returns fit and firing after the break.
Dr F, this is an excellent and fair report and I know you have issues that made its production very tough. Thankyou for your work.
Looking back on the game , one I’ve discussed with several different Chelsea fans ( who all acknowledged Arsenal’s superiority) I think the key was to score first. If we’d scored first against West Ham we would have won and frankly we resisted Chelsea very professionally. The shape and quality of our press was exemplary and I was extremely impressed with the positioning of both our full-backs . MLS continues to amaze. I just worry that he is so confident he may overdo his drives forward and get caught . Timber was probably the best player on the field and controlled Chelsea’s left side with an iron grip .
I was less impressed with our attack but Merino’s adaptation to the target man/ false nine hybrid is admirable and he did a fine, selfless job here . For a side that got zero credit for outplaying the third side in the table on their own ground with no strikers available I didn’t expect much credit for outplaying the fourth side . We didn’t get it and the annoying Kavanagh made it worse . Compare and contrast Cucurella’s handball and the one the same ref gave at Stamford Bridge against Saliba last season . I’m not sure if Gillett was in charge of VAR for both .
An important and competent win over a side that cost much more to assemble than ours did . We move on in the hope that the Scousers implode
As elegant and thoughtful a read, as ever, Dr F.
You are right that Martinell is better suited to the left and Trossard as a sub. In the link to La Grove that Bath offered in the previous drinks, Pedro suggested that Trossard has no more than 30 minutes left in him. So, bringing him on for the last 20 minutes to half an hour would be his optimal deployment.
I also wonder whether Arteta would have gone with a Sterling/Nwaneri rotation on the right and Martinelli/Trossard on the left if Sterling had been available. I am guessing that Nwaneri not starting meant he had slipped into the red zone, and his workload was being managed. I have given up on Arteta giving Kabia or Butler-Oyedeji an opportunity. However, I can see that if Nwaneri couldn’t start, a rotation of Nwaneri and any other youngster was unlikely in a must-win game against the fourth team in the league.
Many thanks Dr F for an excellent match review – it was much more nteresting than the game itself, one that will very quickly be erased from the memory. It was an important win however in maintaining a healthy gap to those below chasing ECL places for next season.
Our well known lack of effective forwards makes each match a Herculean task in picking up points but Arteta has been able to motivate the squad in giving 100% effort in every game. We outplayed the current 3rd team at their place and have followed this by beating the current 4th team – quite impressive really. Our new “star” CF has done well considering he is playing completely out of his normal position and his goals have been crucial at times. We really need Trossard & Martinelli to find their shooting boots over the remaining matches, Trossards firm of late has been pretty ineffective. Nwaneri has looked tired recently and perhaps this explains his benching recently – he is still just 17 and must be carefully looked after. Hopefully starboi will be back shortly to give a much needed boost our forward line.
Let’s hope all our boys return fit & healthy from this latest set of internationals.
Thanks Dr F, we’ve been on a great run against the Chavs and it was nice to keep them under the thumb. Maresca said afterwards that there isn’t much difference between the teams, I hope he really believes that as it would mean he is delusional. They were very poor.
MA thinks Saka may be available for the Fulham game in two weeks, great news if so.
Top work, Doctor, cheers!
I find myself nodding a lot to Uplympian @ 3 too.
Great news, Matt. Fingers crossed.
With three very good chances to go ahead before we eventually did, I was very relieved when Merino nodded the winner into the net, before that happened I was fearing another 0-0 game. A solid performance by Arsenal – however I was troubled a little by the ease with which, after 35 minutes of home team dominance played almost entirely in the opposition’s half, Chelsea suddenly gained the upper hand before half-time.
Just keep winning.
Thanks Doc for a thoughtful review,
Public transport in now 50cents a ride in Queensland but I wouldn’t even pay 50cents to go near the bus stop in Fulham to watch them play.
Top two should be the target.
UTA.
Rereading your match review, Dr F, my eye was caught by your suggestion that Calafiori and MLS will be our two primary left-backs next season. Might it not be more likely that MLS moves into midfield, taking one of the slots freed up by Partey and Jorginho’s departure, with Tomiyasu as Calafiori’s cover at left-back?
We also have six first-team loanees to think about: Karl Hein, Nuno Tavares, Fabio Vieira, Sami Lokonga, Reiss Nelson and Marquinhos. Marquinhos’s loan runs to December and Lazio has a conditional obligation to buy Tavares, but the other four are due to return to the mothership this summer. Do any of them have futures with the club?
Ned, you might have a point, but….Tomi who? 🙁
(I’d guess none of the loanees have a future, they haven’t exactly set their respective leagues on fire, I think).
Ned
If we sign Garcia I think Hein will understandably want to move on . I hope we sell ( for a decent price !) – Vieira, Tavares, Lokonga and Nelson .Tomi may be unsellable at present given his injuries . I think MLS’s long-term future will be in midfield and I think we will sell Kiwior and Zinchenko and probably Trossard . That should net us £90-100m and save wages of about £500 k per week .
TTG@10: I’m sure you are right about Hein. His Arsenal contract runs only until the summer of 2026, so his sale value isn’t great. He is starting regularly for Real Valladolid, but they look nailed on for relegation from La Liga so there won’t be much money there if he wants to stay and they want to keep him. As for any other possible suitors, very low single figures of millions for him at best. If the Garcia deal falls through, he could come back and work out the final year of his contract as Raya’s understudy and then leave as a free agent, while not the best outcome for him or club, isn’t terrible for either party either.
Tavares is pre-sold for a reported £6 million plus a sell-on clause. We’ll do well to get £50 million for the other three loanees. Kiwior and Zinchenko will probably go for £15 million a piece and Trossard for £20 million-25 million. The sales problem is that the likely buyers of the loanees and the first-team offloads are not going to be the elite clubs with deep pockets but mid-table PL and top European league clubss for whom £15 million is a big transfer spend. Plus there is the financial sustainability factor.
Thanks for the report Dr. F on a rather uneventful game. Very glad we absconded with the three points against the despicable Chavs. Thanks also for your look ahead to what we still have to fight for. It would be great to think that the best part of our seasons is yet to come.
Thanks Dr F for your report in difficult circumstances.
With the news that Bukayo Saka could be available after the Interlull, there has been some debate going on over whether he suffered a hamstring avulsion fracture or not.
In case anyone is interested here, with apologies to any other medics, is a little explanation –
An avulsion injury occurs whenever one type of tissue is torn away from another. A hamstring avulsion fracture would involve one or more of the hamstring tendons detaching bone tissue at either its origin – top end – or insertion – below the knee.
The origins of the hamstrings are located around the ischial tuberosity in the pelvis – seat bone – and the insertions are on the tibia and fibula. An avulsion fracture in itself will often not require surgery unless there is significant misalignment of the bone “fragment”from the main part of the bone. In that case the surgeon will realign the bone tissue and immobilise the joint in order for a clot and callus to form around the fracture, which will then promote the natural healing of the bone.
In more extreme cases the bone may require fixing with pins, plates, screws etc.
While bone healing begins immediately and most of it will happen over the first 4-6 weeks, it can take up to 3 months to completely heal.
The point at which muscle rehab begins will depend on the type of fix to the bone – natural or metal – and the degree of damage to the muscle and tendon.
After all that, we don’t know whether Saka had an avulsion fracture or not. It was reported that he did and that was the basis that one or two of us were guessing on.
The recovery time of itself is not really any indication as a grade 3 tear to the hamstring(s), with no avulsion fracture, could easily have taken just as long.
Thanks Dr Trev. Interesting. I’d not heard of avulsion fracture before.
Hope the knee’s doing fine.
Cheers Ollie – painful but getting there, thanks.
How’s your Achilles doing ?
Good stuff. Slowly progressing too, thanks, removed one wedge from the boot yesterday, so perhaps back a little more painful but that’s very low pain anyway. Scarring well (the external scar anyway) which is a great thing, in fact looks like I may not even require a plaster by this weekend according to the nurse yesterday, so things are looking up.
Thanks everyone for the kind words.
If Saka is back after the international break, I think especially against RM away we can play Martinelli-Nwaneri-Saka as the front three and encourage them to interchange positions, and attack with pace and fluidity. At home we can focus on getting a result out of a more structured setup with Merino as the focus point, as RM is most likely going to play more cautiously away.
Looking forward to the CL quarters …
Thanks for the report. Dr F @17, jumping ahead to RM away and dreaming. If we’re able to secure a 2-0 Home result, I’d be tempted to try a 3-5-2 formation at RM defending what we have but having enough threat up front to keep RM honest.
Raya
White-Saliba-Gabriel
White-Ode-Partey-Rice-MLS
Saka-Martinelli
Main Subs: Nwaneri, Trossard, Merino, Calafiori
White and MLS could help nullify Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo, with Partey and Rice helping out dealing with Bellingham and Mbappe.
If we could KO RM, then a Champions League Title is definitely on the cards. We can always dream.
COYR’s
Timber in the midfield 5, oops.
Good stuff, Dr F. The match I saw.
Welcome to the bar, eastside. The formation you suggest for the Madrid away game is not the daftest idea. There’s a virtual glass of your favourite tipple on the virtual bar as a welcome drink. Haste ye back.
East side
Welcome and Thankyou for an interesting post . I definitely feel that if we take any sort of victory to Madrid we have a real chance of winning the tie . I was amazed when a side in very poor form beat a team of Galacticos in the Bernabeu in 2006 . That’s a long time ago but I believe our current side has a shot at upsetting the odds and your idea at a tactical approach as Bath said , makes a lot of sense . The key away from home is going to be to have the pace to counterattack because I don’t think we can control possession for 90 minutes against Real . Have we got that pace ? We may not need it if we stop them scoring but it would be very handy to have a Thierry Henry Mark 2 .. can’t see one emerging though !
Don’t be a stranger Eastside you are very welcome 🥃
Let me add my words of welcome to those of the bar’s doyens, eastside. Don’t be a stranger.
Your thoughts about the leg in the Bernabeu are sound. I suspect Arteta will recall the 10-man rearguard against City in the league earlier in the season and fancy the team’s chances of digging in and holding out, though I suspect he will stick with his tried and trusted 4-4-2 low block.
An interesting if obscure stat from the academics at Switzerland’s CIES Football Observatory, who have been assessing which of the clubs across Europe’s 37 leagues have the most regular first-team players who will still be under contract beyond 2026, and thus which clubs will have the most settled teams over the next few seasons.
The measure is the share of the current season’s domestic league minutes played by those under a contract with a duration beyond the year 2026.
Unsurprisingly, Chelsea tops the list, with 91.8%, but we come ninth out of the hundreds of clubs on the list with 85.8%. That puts us third among PL clubs behind the Red Mancs, who are sixth overall at 86.4%.
None of this is to say we don’t need to build out the squad in the summer—or that, as in the case of the other two PL clubs, all the squad stability in the world means nothing if you haven’t built the right squad in the first place.
Ned @23, that sounds like yet another of this era’s somewhat vague or indeed irrelevant metrics. Your final sentence carries far more significance!
Ned
I saw a table from a good Arsenal source that said Chelsea have ( sit down to brace yourself for this) 89 players under contact, many of whom are out on loan at feeder clubs or spread across Europe .
A large number of these contracts have seven years or more to run to amortise the cost of transfer fees and the suggestion was that if you looked at what was paid and what those players are currently worth , a lot of ‘assets’ have devalued significantly . A lot of bright young things from South America or Europe have not trained on . It gives tgem little wriggle room in PSR terms and they may face the prospect of selling a Cole Palmer or Caicedo to balance the books
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