Arsenal 1 - Chelsea 0: to the Arsenal, one-nil
Yesterday at 12:20 PM
A vintage George Graham performance with the man himself in attendance.
Little brightens the day like an Arsenal win over Chelsea, no matter how it comes. Mikel Arteta's Gunners took a page from George Graham's book, winning 1-0 over their cross town rivals, with the legendary former manager in attendance. The win takes Arsenal four clear of Nottingham Forest in third and nine clear of Chelsea in fourth. Barring anything catastrophic, Arsenal should finish in a Champions League place.
Arsenal played lights-out defense. Yes, Chelsea were missing some attacking pieces, including the currently ice-cold Cole Palmer, but you don't hold a top-five side on goals scored and second-best open play attacking team to a solitary shot on target without playing really well. The Blues 0.35 xG was their lowest in any match under Enzo Maresca, and by other metrics, it was their worst attacking performance of the Premier League season. For example, they had just eight touches in the box, their 3rd lowest total since the 2017-18 season.
It was also the ninth Premier League match in which Arsenal have held their opponent to 0.35 xG or under. The Gunners' defense is really, really good.
You know how we get on Arsenal for the U-shape of death and possession with purpose? That's what Chelsea had today. The defense started the match with the door firm closed and refused to open it all day. Chelsea's only shot on target, which David Raya nearly let trickle in, came off the back of two blocked shots that could have ricocheted anywhere, falling directly to Chelsea players. And to be fair to Raya, the shot dipped nastily right as it got to him. It was not an easy handle, by any stretch.
After taking a bit of a hiatus, Set Piece FC made an appearance at the Emirates. Mikel Merino scored the only goal of the match, expertly flicking home a corner from beyond the near post. That's not an easy finish, folks. The makeshift striker nearly netted a brace but his well-taken volley in the second half was well-saved by Robert Sanchez on the line. Had the keeper reacted a second later, it would have gone in — the goal decision system showed that the front edge of the ball had started to cross the line.
Today's match was not the best watch. Arsenal were profligate with their chances and struggled in the final third. Neither Martin Ødegaard nor Leandro Trossard couldn't weight their final passes correctly, frequently taking teammates too wide to kill the danger. Those two, along with Gabriel Martinelli, really struggled with their ball-striking too, scuffing shots right at the Chelsea keeper.
It felt like one of those games where the Gunners were going to rue the missed chances. It also had the feel of a match where something stupid and annoying was going to cost Arsenal points, likely with Wesley Fofana at the center of it. Fortunately, that wasn't the case, which makes the upcoming referee discourse mostly academic. The second half was stodgy, which is exactly what the Arsenal defense wanted. But you cannot tell the story of the first half without mentioning the refereeing, as evidenced by the NBC halftime show reviewing two key moments.
The first was a handball shout. Marc Cucurella, who felt he was fouled by Jurrien Timber but was basically untouched, appeared to move his arm towards the ball and make contact with it as he flopped to the ground. The ball struck high up on his arm, potentially making the slightest contact with the shirt-sleeve. The majority of the arm-to-ball contact looked to be below the sleeve. Both Graeme Le Saux on the immediate replay and Tim Howard on the studio replay thought it should have been a handball. They didn't prevaricate, either.
The second was Wesley Fofana stamping on Declan Rice's upper leg / rear-end as he lay on the ground. Again, both sets of commentators felt the referee got it wrong — it should have been a red card. VAR checked and cleared the incident, apparently because there wasn't enough force in the stamp. Good to know that you can intentionally step on an opponent, so long as you do it nicely.
Fofana was quite lucky to stay on the pitch, honestly. In addition to the stamp, he got away with two or three other yellow-card worthy challenges, going studs up into Arsenal players multiple times. There is no better encapsulation of the PGMOL's misguided focus this season than Fofana getting away with multiple instances of dangerous and violent conduct but being carded for throwing an extra ball onto the pitch to delay a restart.
In the interest of balance, I'd note that Thomas Partey got away with a clear yellow card challenge early-ish in the first half that Graeme Le Saux suggested might have been worth a second look for a potential upgrade. If judged by the standard that Chris Kavanaugh set with Wesley Fofana's (and other's) challenges, it was never worthy of a red card.
It was a weird game, overall. But we said when the injuries really started to pile up for Arsenal that all that mattered was getting the points. With Bukayo Saka set to come back sometime soon after the international break, the Gunners have mostly made it through the rough waters. Yes, the title challenge is over, but Arsenal are still in second place, still in the Champions League, and are four points (really three b/c of the +17 goal difference) away from St. Totteringham's Day. Today's performance was emblematic of this season — not pretty but damn impressive when you consider the circumstances.
