The Gunners merged victorious over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium by a scoreline of 2-0.
Two first-half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny saw Arsenal get the better of Chelsea in the Premier League. The red side of London narrowed the gap to just three points, making the top four an attainable target for themselves again.
Alexandre Lacazette made the goal for himself, which is nothing he’s not used to. Some fine work on the ball saw him open up the opportunity for a shot at goal, which he took well. He squeezed the ball into the net and gave Arsenal an early lead. Laurent Koscielny doubled the lead later on in the half, courtesy of an unorthodox finish from his shoulder. They all count!
But how exactly did Unai Emery set up to beat his rival Maurizio Sarri?
1. Arsenal won the tight midfield battles
Heading into this match, We were most worried about Jorginho. The Italian is known for his creative ability and his willingness to dictate play. This has been key to Sarri’s system, but Arsenal didn’t allow him to that today. In fact, Jorginho was rather non-existent throughout.
This is because Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka stuck tight to him, while Aaron Ramsey gave him defensive worries to resolve. These three midfield players won’t be together for much longer, but it was nice to see Ramsey have a good game and be involved in picking up three points against Arsenal’s rivals. You can’t win them all, Jorginho.
2. Arsenal didn’t let Bernd Leno do a thing
Bernd Leno is an excellent goalkeeper but Arsenal are prone to taking advantage of that. Too often this season the Gunners have let their German shot-stopper do all the work, but today was different.
Laurent Koscielny stepped up to the mark and was the best player on the pitch. He was always in the right place at the right time to cut out any opportunities. He also got on the scoresheet, which is unlike him.
However, Sokratis Papastathopouolos was also on top of his game. The Greece international was stubborn and didn’t let anyone past. This is the defender Arsenal fans know and love. Who knows? Maybe they could form a partnership after all…
3. Chelsea were caught out by Arsenal’s quick passing
Arsenal showed signs of Wengerball out there today. Not entirely, of course. For one, Unai Emery had his coat zipped up. But on an attacking front, the intricate passing was still fluent in Arsenal’s rhythm. There were signs, even towards the end of the match, that Arsenal had been working on their el-rondos in training. Not only does this get the crowd on their feet, but it also opens up opportunities.
Unai Emery adopted this style to catch the Chelsea defenders out, and that’s what it did. David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger are no good at defending against this style of play, so it was a smart move by Emery. It yet again personifies that a little research goes a long way in football.
4. Who says there’s no backbone?
Alexandre Lacazette will receive all the plaudits for his goal, and rightly so. However, an underrated theme of this match was the defensive input which he and his teammate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang shown.
Particularly in the first half, the two of them would often run back to help their defenders. This lost its touch with Arsene Wenger at the helm, but Emery reintroduced it today. Who remembers the time when Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi started against Chelsea, and much to people’s surprise, it actually worked? This is because of their defensive ability. Luckily though, Arsenal had something to defend tonight.
5. Responding to the fans
We could blabber on about tactics all day long. However, what’s really important is the fans. They were in full voice for Arsenal today, as was expected. The players on the pitch reacted well and matched their tempo, transcending the energy onto the pitch.
It goes to show that a few poor results don’t hinder the season as a whole. If Arsenal can keep the momentum, then the fans will begin to believe again. This was integral to the Gunners during their unbeaten run this season, so they will want to get that up and running again.