Arsenal v Chelsea & Pawson - Ratings

In football they always say playing at home gives you a 12th man advantage: Your fans. Fortunately for our opponents, Mr Pawson felt the need to level things up and act as Chelsea's on field 12th man. Judging by his actions during the game, we should have guessed he doesn't know much about the game and that the 23rd man on the pitch is meant to be the neutral one.

The game could not have got off to a better start for Arsenal, we were the dominant team, Ozil was making things tick, everyone worked for each other and it felt as though something was in the air, a renewed optimism. And it only took 13 minutes for us to for once take a deserved lead. Ozil's out-swinging corner was met by Chambers who flicked the ball towards the back post. Aubameyang had kept himself onside and was able to re-direct the ball beyond a helpless Kepa to set chants of 1-0 to the Arsenal around the ground in full voice.

Arsenal continued the half in the same vein and should have doubled the advantage less than 5 minutes later. AMN played a phenomenal ball down the line for Nelson to burst on to. His cross was accurate towards Aubameyang, his touched laid a bouncing ball in the path of Lacazette but his touch let him down and Chelsea were able to re-group and clear the danger.

For all of Arsenal's good football, there was little else to note in terms of chances for the remainder of the half, but there were 2 key moments that changed the course of the game. The first of those was a potentially serious injury to Chambers on 23 minutes. Having been playing a superb game it was certainly noticeable how we struggled more to keep the ball on the floor playing out from the back and how our back line continuously dropped further and further back. Game changing moment number 2 was Jorginho's introduction on 35 minutes. Kudos to Lampard, he saw exactly where Arsenal were making life difficult for his side and rectified it very quickly. Not only did Chelsea improve, but he proved pivotal in Chelsea's equaliser in the second half.

The second half didn't see us venture forward as much as we may have liked or did in the first half but in terms of putting on a solid defensive display it was refreshing to see. For all of Chelsea's possession they weren't landing a glove on the Arsenal goal and Leno remained untroubled and wasn't tested at all besides an Abraham header straight at him. Having said that, Willock did have a golden opportunity late on to kill the game off. Aubameyang robbed Kante in the Chelsea penalty box and the ball rolled across Willock's body, he turned and shot and the ball went inches the wrong side of Kepa's left hand post, he wouldn't have stood a chance.

5 minutes after Willocks effort on goal and Chelsea were more than just a little fortuitously level thanks to a number of mistakes from Arsenal players and referees alike. the first mistake occurred about 5 minutes or so before the goal, Jorginho should have seen a second yellow for a cynical haul back on Guendouzi but somehow kept playing. A needless challenge by Lacazette as the ball was going out for a throw in gifted Chelsea the freekick they score from in a dangerous spot and that was mistake number 2. The free kick was swung in and Leno punched thin air underneath the ball for mistake number 3 to give Jorginho an unchallenged tap in from 2 yards. Why was the tap in unchallenged you might ask? Well that was mistake number 4 from the officials. A VAR check was making sure the goal should stand, but instead of looking for the Jorginho's more than blatant throwing of Torreira to the floor, they wanted to make sure he was onside instead. As the freekick was taken, he was a good 5-10 yards onside and busy hauling down torreira. Ensue continued bemusement that still remains almost 24 hours later.

Then came Chelsea's winner, another one Mustafi and Guendouzi won't want to look back on if they can help it. It all began with Arsenal on the front foot and looking dangerously. AMN had got forward well and beat his man to whip in a dangerous cross that was well defended. Guendouzi was there to recycle posession and it should have been a simple header to keep the move going. He lost out cheaply though and Chelsea sprung forward with Guendouzi deciding to amble back and wave his hands around. Mustafi was too scared to engage, Saka didn't have the legs left anymore to get back and intercept the wide pass to Willian, Luiz was forced to come out and try to stop the cross as a result but he couldn't reach it in time, and then Mustafi gave him no help whatsoever though and remained static as Abraham could pick the ball up in our 6 yard box, turn it on to his strong foot and shoot between Leno's legs to give Chelsea the 3 points Arsenal deserved.

It was a result that's really difficult to take for Arsenal. Having played so well as a team for 80 minutes and work as exceptionally hard as they did, it was cruel that individual errors by both officials and Arsenal players meant our eyes are now looking over our shoulders rather than upwards towards our opponents. Arteta and the squad can take a number of positives out of the game but wins need to come, and fast.

Ratings:

Leno - 4

I never take any pleausre from giving players a below average rating, but rarely do I not want to do it either in spite of being justified. Leno has saved our arse countless times this season and he tried desperately to help his tiring team, but he chose absolutely the wrong time to do it and it's a really really poor error of judgement. I also found his distribution weaknesses to be more prominent than usual too, more than a few times it was wayward and it didn't help ease pressure on us as much as it could have done. A poor game but we still love him!

AMN - 7.5

I thought this was one of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt, in any position. When he got forward, he was dangerous and his pace/directness caused Chelsea problems. On the ball he had the passing range to make Chelsea think twice. Defensively he was solid and didn't let anyone get past him, his challenges were well timed and well executed. I can't see Bellerin getting back in the team if Arteta can keep this level of performance out of AMN.

Chambers - 7

Up until his injury, he was having a fabulous game. Assured in possession, and not afraid to engage his opponent and win the ball back higher up the pitch. I've been critical of him in big games and if he's up to the standard required but he was meeting those standards today and capped it off with an assist.

Luiz - 8

Excellent, simply excellent. Didn't put a foot wrong, he wasn't to be beaten if he had anything to do with it and won every single header in his direction. Usually picked the right option when in possession too. The best we've seen him play in an arsenal shirt.

Saka - 7

Ran his absolute arse off for the team, unfortunately proved pivotal as he couldn't get back in the last few minutes when Chelsea scored the winner but I don't hold that against him in any way. He defended resolutely and his use of the ball was much better today. Signs of improvement already are very encouraging.

Torreira - 8

To think teams in Italy can sign this guy for less than £30m is utterly ludicrous. At the moment his energy, fitness, and tenacity is unrivalled in this team and he followed up a very impressive performance against Bournemouth with another one today. Did feel he missed his partner in Xhaka to help make up for his struggles on the ball that Xhaka doesn't have.

Guendouzi - 5.5

I don't think I could really go far below average, only the poor fashion in which he held himself as Chelsea scored their winner deducts him half a point. But without doing anything necessarily wrong, I don't think he really contributed to the game. Didn't help his team get any sort of control with the ball in the second half but didn't appear to do much of the dirty work either.

Nelson - 6.5

A strong first half showing from Nelson in which he managed to strike a good balance between attack and defence, he was dangerous going forward and putting his opponent on the back foot, but helped out AMN defensively really well at the right moments. If he could find a way to impose himself more in an attacking sense like he did at Bournemouth, but then also get the final ball right then he could be a very dangerous player. The potential is certainly there and I can see why he's in the side ahead of Pepe at the moment.

Ozil - 7

for the opening 35 minutes he picked up all sorts of dangerous positions and was causing Chelsea a real headache. And he seemed back to his old happy self, skipping past players and making football seem like the easiest thing in the world. He started to fade and was probably rightly subbed off with Man Utd still to come in a few days. So far so good under Arteta.

Aubameyang - 8.5

This was a captains performance if ever I've seen one from him. The work he put in to help out his younger and less experienced team mate behind him was one of the best I've seen from a striker-turned-winger. He took his goal very well and continued to prove his importance to the side as well in a goalscoring capacity, but could also have had assists for Lacazette and Willock. Have we finally seen how we can get Aubameyang out wide that doesn't hamper the number of goals he and the team gets?

Lacazette - 6

My lord he couldn't buy a goal at the moment. It's extremely worrying to see just how little confidence he has at the moment. An in form Lacazette takes the shot laid onto him in the first half first time and scores in the process. Works for the team and helps offer an element of control in attack but desperately needs to find his goalscoring touch again as well.

Mustafi - 4

Mistake aside I found Mustafi to be irritatingly poor today. He didn't look to play the ball on the ground very often, his distribution all round wasn't accurate enough all game, and he looked terrified to commit any attacker that looked in his direction. When he's played so well and been so much better in cup competitions but failed to impress in the chance he had in the league then I think it tells us we found his level, of which it isn't the premier league.

Willock - 6

For a guy that's being used as more of an impact sub with the extra legs he brings, I find him to offer very little impact when not coming on, though I wouldn't advocate for him to be coming on in the number 0 role either. Perhaps a touch unfortunate to find himself on the scoresheet being just about unable to wrap his foot around the ball to be able to steer his late effort on target.

Pepe - N/A