Arsenal won by a goal to nil at Stamford Bridge at Sunday lunchtime for the third season running as they reclaimed their two point cushion at the summit of the Premier League table. Mikel Arteta’s side largely dominated proceedings in West London, and in truth probably ought to have scored more. However Gabriel’s goal just after the hour proved decisive.
Arteta made one change from the side that thrashed Forest last weekend, with the welcome return of Zinchenko, as the Ukrainian came in to replace Takehiro Tomiyasu who picked up a knock on Thursday. Kieran Tierney remained on the bench despite his stunning goal in midweek. Arsenal started brightly as they so often do although there wasn’t an awful lot going on in the way of clear-cut chances for either side. Gabriel Jesus provided the game’s first bit of spark as he danced round a couple of Chelsea defenders before his shot was blocked by his Brazilian compatriot, Thiago Silva. And Jesus was in the thick of the action again as he got on the end of Martinelli’s fantastic ball following some breath-taking football from Arsenal. However, the Son of God headed wide when he really ought to have scored or at least forced a save from Mendy. His goal drought will be a form of concern for him especially as we are now only a fortnight away from the World Cup. Luckily for him, Richarlison is also Brazilian.
As far as Chelsea are concerned, there was little to get excited about. Aubameyang struggled to get into the game (sounds familiar, doesn’t it?) and the former Arsenal captain was booed by the away fans on his every touch. All eight of them. Meanwhile, Saliba had Havertz and Mount in his back pocket and Chelsea created very little if anything in the opening half. The game had a bit of a strange feel to it as these early kick offs so often do. But Arsenal would’ve gone in at the break the happier of the two sides.
Arsenal again started the second half strongly winning a succession of free kicks and corners. The imperious Thomas Partey headed wide from a corner and then Jesus forced a decent save from Mendy with a low and fierce drive from a tight angle. And finally, the breakthrough came. Saka drove a low and dangerous corner which looked to be heading all the way in, but Gabriel was there on the goal line to make sure as he poked the ball into the roof of the net to send the away end into delirium. Get in. There was some hilarity as Aubameyang was taken off reinforcing the belief that Mikel Arteta made the right call-in shipping him out. Once again, he was invisible in a big game only someone else is paying his hefty wages now.
Chelsea were now forced to press for an equaliser, yet it was Arsenal who looked most likely to nick a second goal. First, Saka sent an effort flying over the bar from a tight angle, and then Odegaard also fired over after outstanding play from Gabriel Jesus who again danced around a couple of defenders before the Norwegian squandered his effort. Would these missed chances come back to bite Arsenal? No was the resounding answer. Chelsea huffed and puffed but did not come remotely close to blowing the Arsenal house down as Ramsdale was largely untroubled.
There was a late scuffle in the corner between Xhaka and the poisonous plastic Italian that is Jorginho. Xhaka laughed at him. He wasn’t alone there. The ref blew his whistle, and we began to celebrate something that we have now become accustomed to in recent years and that is a win away at Chelsea. Once again Arsenal were given another demanding examination and once again, they passed. With distinction. Tottenham, Liverpool and now Chelsea have all been put to the sword by Artetaball. Mind you, we still haven’t played anyone half decent yet, I suppose.
We now sit pretty at the top (as we have done since August) on 34 points from a possible 39. We really are quite good. Better than a certain soulless, oil rigging organisation from Manchester perhaps? Time will tell. But today was further evidence that we can go toe to toe with Manchester City right to the end. We’re going more than toe to toe with them now. Maybe we should be asking ourselves if they have what it takes to go toe to toe with us? I think there is a certain inferiority complex amongst some Arsenal fans which I can understand to some degree given that we are eighteen years without a league title and five years without a top four finish. But a golden opportunity has slowly began to present itself, mostly of our own doing of course. Let’s give ourselves some credit. It is not as though City have had a slow start to the season as they have done in the past before recovering to canter to the title. Results wise, they’ve been largely dominant as ever, winning 10 games from 13. But the problem for them is we’ve won 11 from 13. Against, I would argue, mostly the better teams. The bulk of their squad will be heading to Qatar next week, most of them starters for their respective nations. The same cannot really be said of our players. The general narrative has been that we will drop off after the World Cup due to injuries and fatigue. But we have the least players going of any big six side. That is a perk of having a young squad. Yes, City have a larger squad but that doesn’t make them immune to injuries or fatigue. I’m not wishing injury on any City players, but it is part and parcel of elite sport. Like I said, time will tell. But personally, I don’t think we’re going anywhere. I think we’re quite happy to stay cosy at the top. Onto the next….
Great stuff 21CG. Loving that last para. It was a bit tense in the Countryman household but we got there in the end!
Bravo, 21CG, and a healthy dollop of youthful optimism to round it off.
This will be a season of two halves, as so many matches this term are proving to be games of two halves. We just have to win them both.
Fine report 21CG of a game where the team was the star . Very encouraging and very interesting that in the second half Chelsea had an xG of 0.05 ! I’m starting to feel our main rivals are Citeh and Newcastle rather than the usual suspects . I think we will beat Wolves and be top as we go into the World Cup. Heady times !
it was easy like sunday morning. the dvr made listening to sparrowfart not a requirement, especially on the night our clocks turned back, and i slept in. and what a game to wake up to. i was screaming when gabriel’s goal went in, and at the full time whistle, and sick as i’ve been it’s more energy than i’ve been able to muster since xhaka scored just below us in the north bank vs. psv a couple weeks back.
well in, 21cg. and i agree with c100, hell of a final graph. tasty and true.
Outstanding report on an outstanding day and performance. Many thanks 21cg, and I love what you say in the last paragraph. Win the next game.
Thanks 21CG, a fine report of a great team win. Not only Auba, we made all their forwards look totally second-rate.
@Ollie in the last drinks. You were totally correct😂. I was hedging horribly out of trepidation that they’d nick a totally undeserved point. As it happens we managed the last 10 minutes superbly.
As it was an early kick-off I watched the first half in the restaurant eating spicy Korean food and drinking makgeolli (not a drink I’d recommend without the spicy food to go with it just in case you’ve never tried it) with several gooner friends. We were easily the noisiest table in the place, and it was great to see us so dominant away from home. The longer the game went on the better we played I thought. A couple of taxis took us to a nearby friends house to watch the second half with several bottles of St.Emilion Grand Cru (I can recommend this one 😉) and we shouted and cheered our way through the second half. Everyone played well, but the spine of the team WS, Gabriel, TP, Xhaka and Jesus were just immense. Shout to Zin for coming back after such a long absence and playing so well.
With 10 minutes to go I started to get a “been here before” feeling though all my friends (being totally hammered the lightweights) were still noisily confident and predicting a second. Big relief at the final whistle though we actually won quite easily really. The years of hesitant away performances in big games are gone, thank Dennis (and Mikel obviously as it’s his mentality that has driven our transformation).
A fun night and we’re top of the league! Just sharing a different experience from going to the game or watching in the UK as the locals see it as a big game and a London Derby but don’t have my visceral hatred of Chelsea from growing up in South London. I loved every minute of it.
sounds like a great time, matt! and also you’re back in the east? it was a pleasure to meet you, i’ll hold my likker better next time 😉
still buzzing from this morning. can’t wait to watch it again later tonight with the sound on to hear those amazing away fans helping carry the team. and to ride the crest of the wave again when we scored, and at the whistle. esso’s @19 in the previous drinks still obtains.
Oliver Kay in The Athletic reports “This was Mikel Arteta’s 150th game in charge of Arsenal, equalling the number of appearances he made for them as a player, but the more striking statistic is that this was his 87th victory — more than any of his predecessors, including Herbert Chapman, Bertie Mee, George Graham and Arsene Wenger, over the equivalent period.”
Remarkable stuff.
It was great to meet you too scruz, and a happy coincidence that we were there at the same time – and for a Liverpool game and to go top of the league. What are the odds of that?!
That is remarkable for MA, the other four mentioned all won the league of course. Just saying 😉. It is his destiny…..
another excellent blog from mike mcdonald: https://gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2022/11/07/pnh-expanded-clone-podcast-links-included/
Excellent report, 21CG. Out of habit I’m still suppressing my optimism for the potential outcome of this season, but I have to acknowledge what a superb performance that was. For me, Saliba was MOTM. Quite how he managed to glide around the pitch so effortlessly while carrying Aubameyang in his pocket was truly remarkable.
Cheers 21CG. And what they all said about your last paragraph. Found myself heavily nodding to that one. Baffled that even yesterday I saw someone elsewhere worrying that Liverpool could get back into contention for top 4, which baffled me. That’s not where we ought to look now.
Such an enjoyable match yesterday.
I think I had about five minutes of being a bit nervous when they started getting a bit more of the ball in the second half, but in the end we rode that and the end of the match was comfortable.
Can’t remember us being so utterly dominant there.
Thanks for the link to gunnerstown – it was good as always. I was impressed at the end when he mentioned it took him 6 hours to write. That really is a labour of love.
Hi sruzgooner! Thanks for sharing the article from gunnerstown. Its a great read! COYRRR
Thanks for an absolutely superb match report, 21CG. Your report fleshes out the vague sense of a vibrant, technically accomplished and dominant performance that I gained from the Radio 5 Live commentary as I drove from Glasgow to Cumbria. Even the co-commentator, ex-Chav Scott Minto was fulminant in his praise for the Arsenal team performance throughout. Annoyingly the radio signal was lost with 5 minutes to go, as we approached Shap Summit and just as Chavski were making a final push for an equaliser and seeing more of the ball than they had had hitherto. Tenterhooks doesn’t touch how I felt until I pulled into Tebay Services to check the final score. That was a superb win.
I have now seen the 5 minutes on MotD and some Twitter clips of the post-match celebrations and Xhaka’s ‘Freddy-esque’ interview and look forward to watching the whole match when I get home tonight.
As for your final paragraph….it’s up there with those pearls of wisdom penned by the late Dave Faber. Well done, 21CG. Top report!
This season has been a glorious one with both men’s and women’s teams leading their leagues and their European competitions. Arteta’s success in imposing a style that fits the players so well and is so modern ( contrast the long-ball approach of Conte ) is
remarkable .
There is a coherence about Arsenal that is very clear . It is very hard to pick a player of the season so far . So many have a claim . Saliba has been extraordinary, Xhaka’s adaptation to a new role has been mind-boggling , Jesus has transformed the attack , Martinelli is a tiger but possibly the key player is Partey . It is significant that our one defeat, albeit in a game where we were the better side , was when he was absent . He was terrific yesterday, exactly the player we needed and thought we were buying . I’ve had lots of grudging chats with fans of other clubs and they all remark how enjoyable the football we have played has been.
How we approach the next transfer window will be fascinating not least because new stars may emerge in Qatar . We’ve always had an eye on the long-term previously but when we resume in December we will be top or very close. There is a huge opportunity none of us expected . How brave / adventurous are we prepared to be ? I’d be very tempted to look at Zaha if the fee is reasonable and a good holding midfielder to shadow Partey is a priority . But I’m content to let bloody Edu do his thing .
OM@7: Sounds like a splendid evening. A 1-0 away win at the Bus Stop rounds off any meal.
Ollie@13: ‘Pool has had a lot of injuries allied to a loss of form by key defenders (VVD and TAA). Both factors will pass. They are two wins out of fourth place; I wouldn’t write them off for a top-four finish yet. Their CL tie against Real Madrid will be a test of their progress, however.
PSV drew Sevilla in the Europa League play-offs. A good bullet to have dodged. The Manc get Barca, which is good for us. One of two of the serious contenders will go out, although I am not sure which I would prefer to see eliminated.
TTG@17: Partey is just as much a Rolls Royce as Saliba. They glide through games with that hallmark of great players, never looking rushed. Partey’s ability to half-turn his way out of an opposition press and then break their lines with a forward pass is what makes Artetaball tick.
Wow. David Ornstein reports in the Athletic that owners FSG have put Liverpool up for sale.
https://theathletic.com/3770928/2022/11/07/fsg-liverpool-for-sale/
An insightful post by Mike McDonald (h/t scruz for the link), not least because he makes the serenity point about Saliba and Partey, (rightly) adding Benny Blanco and MØ8 to the list. But his point about the owners backing Arteta with time and money is also well made. Credit where credit is due. Wealth whispers, or in the Kroenkes’ case, says mum, letting the team speak for them.
C100@20: My 2-cents would be that selling Liverpool would be a financial decision by its owners, the Fenway Sports Group, to cash in on peak valuations of professional sports teams. A lot of capital is looking now to buy what are considered rare, premium assets that are (relatively) immune from other investment cycles. Prices are headed skywards for NFL teams in the US, where closed leagues make teams even more attractive as there is no option to buy cheaply in a lower league and play/pay your way up as there is in football. The Chelsea sale opened a lot of eyes in the US to PL valuation possibilities. Never forget that private equity is not buy-and-hold-in-perpetuity investment; there is always an exit strategy, typically after five to seven years. (FSG has owned Liverpool since 2010). FSG has a lot of investment partners, notably Red Bird Capital, owner of AC Milan and Toulouse, who will be looking to redeploy their now greatly increased capital invested in Liverpool. FSG bought Liverpool for $750 million. Fair-market valuation today would be around $4.5 billion. A sale price of $5 billion-6 billion doesn’t seem out of the question in the current sports market. You might see an Amazon or another tech company bidding for it.
Ned at 18. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t write Liverpool out of the Top 4 either.
But my point is that I wouldn’t worry about them taking our particular place in the top 4 (the implication was that it was what said people’s worries were, not their place in the top 4 in itself). We are not in a direct competition with them. And if we ever are before the end of the season, it will be entirely down to our own failings, not whatever run they make (obviously, said run would be a factor, but you know what I mean….).
Excellent review 21CG, and love the optimism.
One reason many Arsenal supporters— including myself — are a bit reluctant to yet consider ourselves serious title contenders may be the scarring memories of the 2007-08 season. With a very young and a completely rebuilt team post-Invincibles we played some of the best football anywhere in Europe, leading the experienced ManU and a star-studded Chelsea until the collapse happened. Looking back in retrospect we can now identify that the team didn’t have as much character, humility and unity as the current one, and hence were not as resilient. But still until we actually win the league that memory will play a part in our belief in the possibilities …
Everyone played superbly on Sunday, and the cohesiveness and concentration for the whole 96 minutes were supremely impressive. Saliba got the official MotM for one more flawless unhurried defensive masterclass, but it could also have been Partey or Jesus or Martinelli or … Jesus played almost like two players, both number 10 and number 9. I don’t remember ever seeing a selfless performance from a central striker as this. Especially a central striker who hasn’t scored for a while would typically incline to preserve energy for the final third, but the ground Jesus covered and the duels he won and the balls he held up all over the pitch was quite extraordinary.
One more league match to go. Let’s win that and come back rejuvenated after a month long break (for most of our players) to fight to retain control of the top spot. Exciting times indeed …
Cheers 21CG!
Villa 3 Red Mancs 1
Good ebening
Jesus and Martinelli are both in Brazil WC squad, Gabriel would be disappointed to miss out but he has time on his side, especially for a defender, to play in maybe next two world cups.
Tomiyasu is selected for the Japan squad, which tells us his injury is not a serious one. Thankfully. Japan squad also includes Takuma Asano, who had joined us in 2016 as a promising young player but I think there were some visa issues and then he was loaned out and now plays in Bundesliga …
I’ve finally managed to watch the whole game. That was, quite simply, a magnificent performance. We completely bossed the Chavs at their manor and really should have won the game by a greater margin. These players are now showing their credentials as serious competitors and the performances of Partey, Xhaka, Saliba, White and Jesus were all worthy of the MotM accolade.
COYG!
And if you don’t know the score, here’s a reminder from the one and only GX34.
Apologies for the size of that image. I’ve tried to reduce it but failed miserably. [fixed. – eds]
Granit is larger than life in more ways than one!
I loved the shithousery he produced to make them lose their tempers and focus.
Congrats to Jesus and Martinelli for making Brazil’s World Cup squad. You have to feel for Gabriel missing out, but the competition was fierce: Bremer at Juve, Militao at Real Madrid, Marquinhos at PSG and Thiago Silva at Chelsea. Marquinhos, Militao and Silva were nailed-on selections, but it must have been a toss-up between Gabriel, Bremer and one or two other young hopefuls (Ibanez at Roma, Leo Ortiz at Red Bull Salzburg and Felipe at Atletico Madrid) for the fourth CB slot. Brazil will take four right-footed CBs to Qatar but leave their best left-footed one in London.
@33 yes, I do feel for Gabriel missing out Ned, and I will feel for Benjamin when, as I suspect, Southgate doesn’t choose him either. Both odd decisions to me but their loss and our gain as we will have them rested and ready to go in December. KT and Zin will stay home too. If WS starts for France regularly, then I guess we will have to think about a rest for him on his return. The World Cup looks not too bad for us compared to some of our direct rivals.
@17 Tempted by Zaha TTG? Resist, sir, resist 😂
Finally managed to watch the match on Arsenal.com. There is something about this team that is really special. And as young as they are, it will only get better. Even with Jesus in a bit of a scoring rut, other players have stepped up and we are getting goals from our midfielders and defenders. We have a ton of talent, but I think Arteta deserves massive credit for having a vision and getting all the players to buy into it. Two months ago I was dreading having to face City. But now I’m looking forward to the match so we can see how our Arsenal play against one of the best teams in the world.
This post is a series of thoughts that lacks cohesiveness. Unlike Arsenal.
Cheers 21CG! Excellent report. Brimming with confidence like the Arsenal int bus stop of Fulham. Speaking of optimism what Dr F said @25. This time could be, could be different I am just somewhat reluctant saying out load. The team is ready.
COYG
ecg @35, “Two months ago I was dreading having to face City. But now I’m looking forward to the match so we can see how our Arsenal play against one of the best teams in the world.”
I feel exactly the same. This team has passed several rigorous tests with flying colours and it’s time to take on the biggest challenge in the PL. However it’s good that the home game against Citeh was postponed as I don’t think we (both players and fans) had quite the self-belief at that juncture whereas if they were next up I think we would be ready for them.
Sadly this damned grubby WC is going to interrupt our charge towards the summit and it’s difficult not to expect some quite random changes in multiple teams’ fortunes after the resumption. It’ll be another major achievement by MA8 if he can keep this glorious show on track.
The World Cup will be disruptive to club form. After a three-week break, middle-of-the-table teams without many participants in Qatar will cause problems for the bigger teams. The hectic fixture list after the resumption of the league will not help.
Is there a trophy for leading the league at WC break?
Didn’t think so, but I do think Ned makes excellent points @38
Let’s wait until the final lists and injured players, but according to this, we’re ‘better off’ than a lot of our direct rivals (Newcastle is a worry….).
But then I’m only looking at their table, and you’ve got to facto who’s going to be staying on the bench (I don’t know if they took that into account).
Alisher Usmanov, the sanctioned Uzbek Russian billionaire who may, or more likely may not be fondly remembered by many in this establishment, is reportedly under investigation by German authorities for suspected money laundering. Usmanov denies the accusations. Offices of Swiss bank UBS were raided today in connection with the investigation. Though it has taken the Kroenkes some time to get behind the team as they are now, it is probably a far better thing that they, rather than Usmanov, ended up as the owner. I remember the Guv’nor, in particular, not caring for the cut of Usmanov’s jib.
Just read that tomorrow’s match is not being televised anywhere in the world. That sucks. I wonder who the idiot is that decided that people want to watch Forest vs the neighbors.
Yep ecg. Doesn’t seem to be here even there. I had booked a gig long before knowing we’d have a match (and possibly having assumed we only played Thursdays), so no regret.
Come on Arsenal!
‘On even here’. Sorry, bit tired after a long day! 😬
Ollie @41, thanks for the link. A very interesting and informative analysis. As you observe there will be adifferent impact for those who are played into the ground and those who simply warm the bench (which probably needs no further warming). I hope none of our boys go far into the tournament except as bench-warmers and that none get injured nor experience an Arshavin-esque depressive reaction to International disappointment.
The Qatar World Cup has always been a flawed concept . On almost any grounds you care to name it is bad for football , for an acknowledgement of various human rights , for the environment two weeks after major green initiatives have been discussed by world leaders but will it be bad for Arsenal ?
Certainly it will disrupt momentum, it will favour certain clubs, it will lead to a host of injuries and burnout and it will create a club season hiatus which will be very disconcerting. It’s great that we are top of the table but bad that when we are the league takes a break for five weeks!
I fail to see how it can be good for us but much will depend on injuries to key players among us and our rivals . I desperately hope this experiment is not repeated .
Thanks for the link Ollie.
Hard to tell who will do well at this World Cup for obvious reasons. For what it’s worth the Europeans teams have dominated since Brazil last won in 2002 – from then 13 out of the last 16 semifinalists have been European nations. Looking at where we can least afford to lose anyone I selfishly hope Switzerland and Ghana go out early. Granit / TP injuries would be a real blow.
The man in the glasshouse speaks
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63554507
Nips in.
Poacher’s goal. Well in, Ned
👏👏👏Ned for the fifty
May you inspire Gabriel Jesus, Ned.
>>>>>>>