Arsenal Are Close To Chelsea But Are They Close Enough?

Match Review: Arsenal 0 Chelsea 0 - Premier League 26.04.15

The title race came to its inevitable conclusion on Sunday as Chelsea wildly celebrated a 0-0 draw at the Emirates. Really, the title race was over weeks ago but the draw put to bed any notion of Chelsea being usurped at the summit. There can’t be many complaints, Chelsea have been the best team in the league this season and they did what they needed to do on the day. For our part, I think we can take a lot of positives from the game and from the season as a whole.

Arsene Wenger stuck with the same set up as we’ve used since the Liverpool game, with Ramsey out wide and Coquelin and Cazorla in the middle. Bellerin and Monreal returned to the side, as well as Giroud up front. The manager resisted the temptation to go all out to win and set the team up in the balanced way that has seen us become the form team in the league.

We played very well in the first half, dominating possession and looking dangerous, but Chelsea were compact as usual and very difficult to break down. They also posed a threat on the break and gave us a huge scare on 16 minutes when Oscar was sent clear and lobbed Ospina, only for Bellerin to race back and head it behind. Ospina clattered Oscar in trying to stop the lob and on another day, the referee might have awarded a penalty and a red card. But I think Michael Oliver made the right call, playing an advantage that finished when Bellerin cleared off the line.  

Chelsea also gave the diving game a try in the first half, with first Oscar and then none other than former Gunner Cesc Fabregas throwing themselves over in the box to try and win penalties despite limited contact. You’d have thought that after his distasteful exit and coming back playing for one of our biggest rivals, Fabregas would have had the decency to just keep his head down and let his football do the talking. Alas, it seems that the Barcelona and Mourinho culture of using any dirty method to win has rubbed off on him.

Our best chance to score in the first half came following a goalmouth scramble, as Cazorla had a shot, Bellerin tried to cross for Giroud and then finally Özil fired straight into the arms of Courtois. For all our good play and monopoly on possession, we couldn’t create any clear cut chances and Courtois had very little to do.

The second half started exactly how Chelsea wanted. They held on to the ball, passing it around the back, slowing the pace right down. It took any sting out of the game and wasted about 20 minutes of the half before we finally got a half chance. Courtois flapped at a corner, but the ball fell to probably the last person you’d want it to, Mertesacker. The German is good in the air and can pass the ball with great aplomb, but his shooting leaves a lot to be desired and he scuffed the effort well wide. There were a collection of other half chances and shots, but the match essentially boiled down to one moment right at the end.

Monreal got into the area down the left and pulled the ball back from the dead ball line. It was crying out for someone to just poke the ball home, but Özil failed to get a foot to it and Welbeck couldn’t sort his body position out in time. That was the moment and as it so often has over the last 10 years, it passed us by.

The team has improved a huge amount since the turn of the year and for us to be up in pole position to secure second place and a second consecutive FA Cup is a great achievement. But there’s still that sense that the killer instinct isn’t quite there. It would be very harsh to be critical of the team when most predicted another battle to secure a top four place, but the difference between us making a proper challenge next year and being also rans will be those moments like the one in the last minute of the game. You sense that Wenger sees his squad as being close to completion and ready to make the step up to challenging for the League and Champions League. But those small moments can be the difference between a successful challenge and a near miss.

Teams

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal (Y), Coquelin (Y) (Welbeck 76’), Cazorla (Y), Alexis, Özil, Ramsey (Y), Giroud (Walcott 84’)
Subs
Szczesny, Gibbs, Debuchy, Wilshere, Walcott, Flamini, Welbeck

Chelsea (4-6-0)
Courtois, Ivanovic (Y), Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Matic, Ramires, Fabregas (Y) (Zouma 90’), Willian (Y) (Cuadrado 93’), Oscar (Drogba 45’), Hazard
Subs
Cech, Luis, Zouma, Drogba, Mikel, Cuadrado, Loftus-Cheek

Player Ratings

Ospina - 6/10 - Made one decent save, but maybe lucky not to be sent off and concede a pen
Bellerin - 8/10 - Excellent, looking more and more like our future at right back
Mertesacker - 8/10 - An excellent display considering he was a doubt for the game
Koscielny - 7/10 - Exposed once, but otherwise solid
Monreal - 8/10 - No doubt our first choice left back now
Coquelin - 7/10 - Kept a watchful eye over Chelsea’s more attacking players
Cazorla - 7/10 - A decent performance, maybe could have created more
Alexis - 7/10 - Tried hard but is too wasteful at the moment, needs to pass more often
Özil - 8/10 - Late chance aside, he was imperious and outshone the traitor in blue
Ramsey - 8/10 - One of his best performances out wide, constantly involved
Giroud - 7/10 - Didn’t get much of a chance to get involved, could have done with more crosses
Subs
N/A - Welbeck showed a few flashes of promise, Walcott less so

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