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Arsenal sweated out a 2-1 win over Chelsea, reestablishing the five point gap over Manchester City atop the Premier League table, albeit with City having played one fewer game. At this point of the season, it doesn’t really matter how the wins come, just that Arsenal win ‘em. The Gunners were wasteful in the first half, shaky in the second, but two set piece goals carried the day. That is Arsenal’s second most difficult remaining league match out of the way without dropping points. It wasn’t comfortable or pretty but it is a big result.
The Gunners could have and perhaps should have been out of sight in the first half. They squandered attack after attack with a loose first touch or a poor final pass in and around the Chelsea area. They hardly forced Robert Sanchez into making difficult saves, which is annoying given he looked particularly shaky with the ball at his feet in the first half. Even though that doesn’t necessarily correlate with nerves on his shot-stopping, it would have been nice to test the Chelsea keeper when things weren’t going his way.
Instead, it was Arsenal’s set piece prowess that put them in the lead. The Gunners were on a run of 17-straight open play goals with one from a set piece. With today’s final third struggles, Set Piece FC picked an excellent time to remind everyone how they earned the nickname. Bukayo Saka played a corner beyond the far post, Gabriel headed it back across the face of goal, and William Saliba nodded it home off a Chelsea defender.
Unfortunately, set pieces giveth and set pieces taketh away, as does Owen Goal. As the first half drew to a close, Chelsea equalized from a corner, just the fourth corner kick goal Arsenal have conceded all season. Piero Hincapie couldn’t jump high enough and his failed clearance at the near post redirected the ball in at the back stick.
It’s tough to fault the goalkeeper on an own goal, but David Raya didn’t cover himself in glory on the Chelsea equalizer. He got lost in the wash and was probably too close to his near post. He more than made amends elsewhere in the match, though. He made two or three tremendous, one-handed saves to preserve the Arsenal win. You could probably give him Man of the Match.
With Arsenal going in on level terms at the half, it felt like one of those “we’re going to regret not putting the game away when we had the chance” matches. The Gunners were the better side in the first half with plenty more attacking punch, but they had nothing to show for it. That feeling grew in the opening 15-20 minutes of the second half. Chelsea took control. It felt as if they’d be the ones to score, even though they weren’t creating much in the way of chances. They had the ball in Arsenal’s half and the Gunners weren’t doing anything of note down the other end.
But set pieces are the great equalizer. Jurrien Timber gave Arsenal the lead in the 66th minute, volleying home from a corner while Sanchez and Chelsea vehemently protested. The replay showed nothing untoward in the box. I can’t remember precisely what the announcers relayed from VAR, but it was something along the lines of “there is absolutely nothing there for Chelsea to be complaining about.”
The complaints and protests earned Pedro Neto a yellow card for dissent. Four minutes later, Neto slid through Gabriel Martinelli to stop the Brazilian getting past him. The referee showed no hesitation going to his pocket for a second yellow. At least he got that part right. He did, however, make three inexplicably poor decisions to not play advantage for Arsenal, including on the Neto second yellow. Neto’s early trip to the locker room was Chelsea’s 9th sending off this season. That club have a massive discipline problem.
That should have been game-over — Arsenal had the lead and a man-advantage. Instead, Chelsea saw more of the ball, played more passes, and even had it in the back of the net very late on. The goal was immediately waved off by the linesman’s flag. But still, that’s not how things should go. The Gunners should have been able to keep the ball and run out the remaining 20 minutes without much difficulty.
They kept trying to go long and kept losing the battles around midfield. I guess that’s better than turning the ball over in more dangerous areas, but why not drop another midfielder back to capitalize on the man-advantage. Make it easier to pass the ball around and wait to go long until Chelsea are forced to commit another body or two forward to pressure the ball. Arsenal kept launching it early, which kept the aerial duels and second balls on even terms despite Chelsea playing down a man.
But Arsenal won the match, which as I said, is all that matters. Another game without Manchester City picking up points and one of the more difficult ones at that. Happy St. Totteringham’s Day!