TA: Blues played the most Chelsea game under Maresca against Arsenal

For those who remember Enzo Maresca in his playing days, it can be difficult to square the perception of Maresca the player with the perception of Maresca the coach.

Now cast as a mini-Guardiola, obsessed with shape and patience and organisation, it’s worth recalling that Maresca was once a destructive box-to-box midfielder renowned for his tenacity and aggression.

On a TalkSport show last summer, presenter Jeff Stelling had to apologise for repeatedly referring to Maresca as Spanish, when he is actually Italian. That maybe sums it up; a ‘Spanish’ coach in style, he was very much an Italian midfielder; and by that, we mean a Gennaro Gattuso rather than an Andrea Pirlo.

And while the highlight of Maresca’s playing career was scoring twice for Sevilla in their 4-0 2006 UEFA Cup final win over Middlesbrough, back home in Italy, he’s most remembered for his contribution to a Turin derby. After scoring an unusually long-range headed late equaliser for Juventus in a 2-2 draw at city rivals Torino in 2002, Maresca ran in front of the home fans mimicking the ‘toro’ celebration that opposition striker Marco Ferrante had done earlier in the game. It threatened to cause a riot.

It was Maresca the mischief-maker rather than Maresca the manager that embodied Chelsea in their 1-1 draw with Arsenal. From the outset, Chelsea were aggressive, and the better side when the game was 11 against 11. Marc Cucurella repeatedly got tight to Bukayo Saka, but Moises Caicedo literally overstepped the mark when challenging Mikel Merino, and was sent off. At that point, Arsenal seemed to have the initiative.

Yet somehow, this suited Chelsea. For all their successes over the years, Chelsea have always thrived when being in this situation: their opponents with the ball, themselves as the spoilsports. They’ve won titles when criticised for being defensive. They’ve won European Cups as the clear underdogs against more vaunted opposition.

This has become Chelsea’s identity. It’s not as glamorous an identity as most other big clubs, but that’s entirely the point. Chelsea’s players and fans have largely acted as a counter-attacking counter-weight to the increasing emphasis upon possession football, or attacking football, or pretty football. Which isn’t to say Chelsea haven’t ever been attractive, more that they haven’t been primarily concerned with being attractive.

Yesterday’s performance, then, fitted the bill.

Chelsea stormed into tackles, and refused to let Arsenal play through midfield. At times, everything was man-to-man in the centre, no one finding any space to receive passes.

Chelsea scored the opener with a header from a set piece; Arsenal are considered the Premier League’s dead-ball masters, but Chelsea have scored only one fewer than them in those situations. The man who expertly looped it in, Trevoh Chalobah, is now into double figures for Premier League goals — not bad for a centre-back who has started 80 games. At a club who once relied on a steady stream of headers from defenders such as Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, John Terry and Marcos Alonso, it’s a familiar feeling.

Chelsea sat deep and, save for one moment when Merino equalised, defended the box well. Wesley Fofana won all six of his aerial duels. Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, traditionally not the most reliable with high balls, largely looked comfortable with aerial balls.

Chelsea brought on Liam Delap, a proper old-school No 9, who didn’t have a serious chance to score but could battle for long balls in the manner of a Didier Drogba or a Diego Costa. That meant Sanchez could hit the ball long, rather than attempting to play out, something Chelsea fans have never been too keen on, particularly in the Maurizio Sarri years.

More than anything, Chelsea offered a serious counter-attacking threat, with Pedro Neto a danger down the right and Arsenal players repeatedly cautioned for stopping dangerous breaks: Martin Zubimendi for knocking over Reece James, Cristhian Mosquera for bringing down Joao Pedro, Riccardo Calafiori for pulling back James after being caught on the ball, and then Myles Lewis-Skelly — a substitute brought on to replace Calafiori because the Italian was on a booking — for yet another cynical foul on James. Arsenal constantly looked prone to Chelsea’s quick breaks. James getting three opponents booked shows the extent to which he dominated this midfield zone, despite being surrounded by three £100million players.

“Today was a big statement,” James said afterwards, having been named man of the match. At a time when the Premier League has been going old-school, but when Chelsea have the youngest side in the division, this performance showed they can fight.

Strange though it might seem about a club who won a European trophy last season, then followed it up by becoming world club champions, this was the day when Maresca finally felt like a proper Chelsea manager. It was the game where his side completed the fewest passes, and won the most aerial duels, from his 51 league games in charge.

It won’t be like this every game, and nor should it be. But with Chelsea’s next game a trip to a physical Leeds United side on a cold December evening, some of these qualities might be needed again very soon.