Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea
It was a much-anticipated battle between two of London’s biggest football clubs.
Not only was this Premier League clash between Arsenal and Chelsea meant for bragging rights of being London’s best football club, the six-pointer would also help in securing the final Champions League spot. Much was at stake, and both Unai Emery and Maurizio Sarri fielded their best teams for the win.
However, it seemed that the Gunners were the more clinical of the two London clubs as they enjoyed a 2-0 triumph over the Blues. None of Chelsea’s usual suspects was able to step up as a solid defensive performance helped Arsenal hoard the three points all for themselves.
Highlights of the game
Mesut Ozil’s absence from the starting lineup is the biggest pre-game Premier League 2019 news to hit Arsenal and Chelsea fans alike. Not a single soul outside the Arsenal organization has a clear picture as to how a player paid £350,000 weekly is spending time on the bench, but everything turned out fine for Emery.
Both teams tried to take control of the game early on as they both had strong XIs that can easily dictate the pace of the game. Chelsea tried everything they could to establish their dominance early on, but their lack of an established striker still continues to hurt them.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the Gunners were the first side to make a significant challenge to the opposing defence. Alexandre Lacazette puts him through the backline with a precise cross, but the former Borussia Dortmund star failed to convert his chance.
Arsenal continued banging into Chelsea’s door, and the all the backline could do was swat them away by sending the ball as far from the goal as they could. However, their lack of attacking pressure would eventually turn to a goal for the hosts.
Granit Xhaka took a short corner on 14 minutes to Hector Bellerin, and the Spaniard wasted no time to whip in a cross to Alexandre Lacazette. The Frenchman shook his marker loose and fired a bullet of a shot on an extremely tight angle past Kepa Arrizabalaga. The Blues were stunned while the rest of the Emirates erupted in celebration.
You can tell that Chelsea’s creative juices from the early stages of the season have run out as they can’t put together decent attacks. However, Pedro threatened with a shot that barely missed the right post in the 18th minute.
The game fully got blown out of the water when Arsenal took advantage of another dead-ball situation. Sokratis ended up with the ball on the left side of the pitch from the resulting corner. He then made a lob pass to Laurent Koscielny, who managed to beat the offside trap but was on his way to the ground. He somehow contorted his body and headed the ball towards the right-hand corner.
The deflated Arsenal that was taken by surprise at London Stadium was nowhere to be found. Arsenal were in full control of this match. Meanwhile, Chelsea could not wait any further for the Gonzalo Higuain loan to be set in stone so that they can begin playing effective football again.
Chelsea had a chance to finish the first half with a goal when Willian whipped on a corner kick. Marcos Alonso leapt over the Arsenal defence and headed the ball towards the goal. Unfortunately, the ball swept just wide of the left post.
That was the final good chance Chelsea had in the match as Arsenal shored up their defences in the second half. They tried everything they could to somehow salvage a redeemable result, but it’s hard to score when there are ten Arsenal shirts clogging the penalty box.
Some of our experts predicted this to be an exciting duel between two prolific attacking sides. However, it’s hard to imagine Chelsea being an effective attacking outfit if they can’t even thread together some nice attacking moves in the opponents’ half.
Key statistics
Chelsea actually had more time with the football, holding it for 64% of the match. However, they were wasteful on the attack: only a single shot of the 13 shots the Blues made over 90 minutes were on target. Meanwhile, Arsenal had five on target with the same number of shots while only holding the ball for less time.
Chelsea have developed quite a worrying trend for 2019. They’ve been alternating between winning and drawing/losing in all competitions since January third, and this result is the most worrying result they have had so far. However, they are still doing just fine in the league.
What’s next?
I don’t know what Maurizio Sarri has to do, but maybe Higuain’s arrival at Stamford Bridge would help them solve some of their immediate issues. Should the out-of-favour Juventus striker’s loan be finalised in the week, expect him to start against AFC Bournemouth. The Premier League 2019 odds for this game should be overwhelmingly in their favour as well.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have a tough fixture ahead as they face Manchester United in the FA Cup. The Red Devils are performing up to expectations under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and will be tough opposition for the Gunners. SBOBET will follow this match with great interest and offer quality odds for such an explosive match.
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