Written by Mean Lean
on
Sunday, 30 October 2011 11:10
What a crazy London derby at Stamford Bridge, an absolute cracker of a match. I asked the question before kick off, if Villas-Boas would go toe-to-toe with Arsenal or if it would be a more tactical game of football. I said that we could beat them at a straight shoot out of technique but we could get stuck if Chelsea's number one target was to stop Arsenal playing.
Chelsea attacked Arsenal from the very first whistle and Johan Djourou had a rather uncomfortable opening at right back as Arsene kept the same defence that beat Stoke City at the Emirates. Ashley Cole kept finding space in behind the Swiss and should have made an assist on more than one occasion but either Laurent Koscielny was in the way or his final ball was just not good enough.
Johan Djourou then settled down and we started to wrestle control of some possession. Gervinho really should have put us 1-0 up. How he missed, I will never know. Theo Walcott clipped Aaron Ramsey's long pass around Ashley Cole and burst around the other side of him, his low cross was inch perfect to Gervinho who just needed to steer the ball into the open net but he panicked and steered the ball wide from close range.
Theo Walcott in the mood then chipped a curling pass to van Persie at the far post but our captain couldn't keep his shot down. Two gilt edged chances wasted in such a big game. It brought me back to last season when Koscielny's early header over from close range and I thought that we may regret those misses as we did back then.
It got worse for Arsenal when the lively Juan Mata jinked passed Santos and curled in a cross to Lampard to head in from close range. Per Mertesacker could not get close enough to Lampard and the finish was simple.
Daniel Sturridge had a very poor game, he failed to pick out a man in the box when he waltzed past Santos down the left. He also screwed a shot woefully wide from close range after a great reverse pass fro Lampard. I thought Chelsea's best players were Juan Mata and Ramires, especially in the first half.
Aaron Ramsey's influence started to visibly grow as the half went on and it was his daisy cutter pass into the stride of Gervinho through the eye of the needle that brought about the equaliser. Gervinho took a touch and rolled it to his left where van Persie was on hand to tap it in from close range. It was a goal from 2003/04, the team that played for others and not for just for themselves. It could have easily been Henry sliding it across for Pires to tap in.
With only ten games played, Gervinho already has more league assists than Nasri managed for Arsenal all of last season. Gervinho has also missed three games due to suspension. Samir Nasri may well be the more polished player but Gervinho has all the attributes to compliment this Arsenal team a great deal more than Nasri.
As we started to stamp our authority on the game we conceded from a set piece. Mertesacker was not tight on John Terry this time and the Chelsea skipper side footed in from close range. The German coach Joachim Löw was at Stamford Bridge and couldn't have been overly impressed by what he had seen. Mertesacker's defensive partner Laurent Koscielny was having the opposite effect. Koscielny has been consistently good for a long time and held his team together at times in both first and second halves. Thomas Vermaelen should be back in the starting eleven for our Champions League match, I would be hugely surprised if it is not alongside Koscielny.
In the second half Arsenal had released Arsene's famous handbrake and you could see it in the decisions of the players. We looked far more relaxed and confident in our abilities on the ball. We attacked Chelsea and were rewarded when Song turned neatly away from Ramires and his left footed pass sent Santos chugging away in the clear, and the Brazilian steered his shot past Czech. 2-2.
Theo Walcott collected a short free kick by the touchline and purposefully charged at the Chelsea back line but he slipped. Ashley Cole, Ramires and Mikel all stood around watching before Walcott bounced up onto his feet and jinked his way through with the type of quick feet that Gooners have been yearning for from Theo. Aaron Ramsey was in the better position and really he should have squared it but his rasping shot flew inside Czech's near post. Incredibly, Arsenal were 3-2 up at Stamford Bridge after going into half time losing 2-1.
It then became a boxing match of two teams that ignored their guard and just exchanged blows, we looked threatening going forward and Chelsea's attacks were being repelled mainly by Laurent Koscielny. Andre Santos who looked shaky in the first half grew into the second half and looked far stronger in the second but his misplaced pass was punished, that and the referee failing to spot a block off by substitute Romelu Lukaku. Mata picked up the ball turned and fired into the top corner via a clip off the sliding Alex Song. 3-3.
With Chelsea being at home and then grabbing the equalising goal, they would have had the momentum as well as an encouraged support, I feared that the game would go in their favour. Until Florent Malouda over hit a back pass to John Terry and the Chelsea captain slipped to the turf (hilariously) van Persie was alert and strode through towards Czech, he had so much time and as he said in the post match interview had flicked through several ideas of how to finish, I bet one of them was the chip but he instead opted to side step Czech and roll it into the empty net. Astonishingly Arsenal were back in front at Stamford Bridge.
Tomas Rosicky came on for Theo earlier to add some defensive qualities and probably some more possession and he looked very good. Chelsea had to push forward and were caught when the Czech brought the ball out and passed to Arteta who delayed his pass, he didn't have many options on but van Persie was in space on the left and it was his magical left foot that blasted past Cech who could have done better once more.
Szczesny escaped a red card earlier in the game when he came out took Ashley Cole down and could have been dismissed but for the covering Koscielny. It could well be argued that Koscielny would not have been to prevent a goal scoring chance if Cole skipped past our keeper. It is about time a bit of luck went in our favour.
The celebration at the final whistle was wonderful to see. Wenger was right when he said that this team all have the right spirit and they want to fight together. This was not the case at the end of last season but things have changed. The confidence is growing all throughout the team.
I have been saying for a while now that we are waiting to see a group of our team playing at the top of their game at the same time. Gervinho, Walcott, Ramsey and a few others have yet to show their best together in the same game and we finally witnessed that yesterday. Ramsey was exceptional, he was everywhere and held his own against the experience of the Chelsea team. Theo Walcott was direct and dominated Ashley Cole for the most part.
An amazing attacking display and I think it was our offensive game that won the game. The Chelsea front line were not at their best. Torres was well marshaled by Koscielny and Sturridge had a poor game. Mata was the only attacking player that caused us problems and he faded in the second half.
The run continues, the team is finally gelling together. Unlike team Nasri and Cesc, lets hope that complacency does not strike. A massive three points, onwards and upwards.
Man of the match: Aaron Ramsey
Arsenal News 24/7
. In the scheme of the world and looking at the bigger picture, she's right we're probably a sad bunch. 
Yesterday was truely a day to savour. Having had my signifigant other try to rain on my parade I duely popped into the Sainsbury's local as requested. Where my spirits were once again lifted skywards by a local elderly man of West Indian extraction, who had a grin on his face bigger than anything I could ever have attempted, wearing an Arsenal hat. Seeing me obviously still proudly wearing my colours, his grin grew if thats possible. Although I'd never seen him in my life before we spent the next 20mins or so in conversation as if we'd known each other for years.
Comments (14)