Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud
Subs: Szczesny, Debuchy, Gibbs, Wilshere, Walcott, Flamini, Welbeck
—
Arsenal failed to make it 9 wins in a row after a 0-0 draw against Chelsea at the Emirates this afternoon.
There were three changes from the team that beat Reading at Wembley last weekend with Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal returning to the full-back positions, and David Ospina back in goal.
With Diego Costa or Loic Remy – and with Drogba on the bench – Chelsea fielded a striker-less formation with a clutch of midfielders looking to crowd out the Gunners. As you would excpdctg the game began in cagey fashion although Chelsea tried to cheat their way into the lead when Oscar tried to win a statue named after himself by tumbling the ground theatrically under a Hector Bellerin challenge.
That was followed by a nasty studs down the Achilles challenge on Alexis from Ivanovic, but referee Michael Oliver somehow kept his cards in his pocket when a yellow was more than merited. In the 16th minute the first chance of the game fell to the vistors when a Fabregas pass put Oscar clean through. The Brazilian clipped the ball past David Ospina and towards goal but it was headed around the post by the very aware Bellerin.
On the sideline Jose Mourinho went ballistic when Oscar was taken out in the incident by Ospina, with Chelsea wanting a penalty that you’ve often seen given, but then Mourinho is an absolute cockwomble so he can stick it up his evil hole.
There was more penalty area action involving Chelsea’s pack of diving swans when Fabregas went down under a challenge from Santi Cazorla. The referee blew his whistle immediately and produced a yellow card for the former Arsenal captain on his return. I laughed.
At the other end the Gunners were finding it hard to create any clear openings. Giroud volleyed over from an Ozil pass, while John Terry had to hack away a dangerous Monreal cross. That was followed by a 34th minute shout for an Arsenal penalty when Gary Cahill clearly handled the ball making a block, but the referee waved away the appeals.
There was another big chance for the visitors when good combination play put Ramires clean through with just the keeper to beat, but his prodded effort was well read by Ospina who got down well to save. Good play from Ramsey and Cazorla set up a chance for Alexis but he dragged his 40th minute shot wide.
There were shots on goal from Bellerin and Ozil late in the half as Arsenal probed for a goal but Chelsea’s strength and organisation at the back made it very difficult to fashion anything too dangerous.
The was a half-time change from Chelsea as Didier Drogba replaced Oscar, and it had some effect as they started the half quite brightly with Arsenal a little sluggish. Like the first period though, clear cut chances were few and far between.
It was exactly the kind of game Mourinho would want, Chelsea were comfortable and under no pressure to do anything while the onus was on Arsenal to try and win the game.
In the 64th minute a Monreal cross for Alexis forced Terry to defend well, while Drogba’s first real involvement was a tame effort that was easy for Ospina. Per Mertesacker had Arsenal’s best moment of the half when a half-cleared free kick fell to him but his first time effort was dragged wide.
There was a big chance for Santi Cazorla in the 76th minute when Koscielny intercepted the ball, fed the Spaniard on the edge of the box but his shot was dragged wide. That was followed by the first Arsenal change with Danny Welbeck replacing Francis Coquelin. There was a second in the 84th minute when Theo Walcott came on for Olivier Giroud.
Arsenal probed, Chelsea were hard to break down and content to just kill the game. In injury time a low Monreal cross skidded across the Chelsea box, Ozil missed it at the near post and no Arsenal player could get the final touch.
There was some late yellow cards for Ramsey, Monreal and Cazorla to stop counter-attacks, which I enjoyed. Certainly more than the shit football Chelsea played, and while the result was vaguely disappointing, there was a maturity to Arsenal’s performance overall that was positive.
Diving cunts…
Boring Diving Cheating Racist Cunts
Cunts
coqsuckers
Don’t want to be negative, but it would be fair to say that even though they played defensively the entire game, they still got the better chances. Still worried.
When you just sit back for 95 minutes , you will get couple of chances.
Great powerplay but come on, we needed to win that game!!!! :-/
Its not about them getting a couple of chances in 95 minutes, its about us not getting more. I’d put it down to not playing true wingers that stretch defences and run behind them. We need atleast one out and out winger.
weve supposed to have got a winger in Walcott ! this makes me wonder why pay someone 100000 a week for 8 minutes now and again !!
Walcott has never had a pinpoint cross on him, and he wants to be a scorer himself. He definitely doesn’t stay wide and try to build play from there. He may run onto a pass and cross it in from a wide position, but he does not drive past defenders on the byline often.
How many clear cut chances did we get? Zero?! One?! They had two, with all their negative tactics. That’s what I’m trying to say. I’m not bashing our team, but this is a FACT that you can’t dispute.
They really didn’t have anything to loose did they. If we were 10 points ahead. We will go there, sit back and hit them on counter. We wouldn’t have to force the issue. They are in position of strength. We are improving side and haven’t lost in 10 games. We can and will improve next year. Hopefully winning the title.
Per shooting wide from a corner, ozil flashing a shot straight at the keeper, two scrambles in the box in the last 10, giroud playing keepy up and nearly catching their keeper off guard, santi shot blocked by cahills extended arm. all in the box. all good chances. and there were more that i couldn’t be bothered listening.
good job watching the match. for what its worth I thought Gibbs and Reyes played really poorly. yeah.
Yeah, I’d like to think that Per turning and shooting after a rebound from a corner is a clear cut chance, it would certainly make me feel better, but it wasn’t a clear cut chance. And you actually have to get at the end of those crosses/low balls to say that you had a good scoring opportunity.
You say that like it tells the story of the game. Fact is, the league was won before the match began. They came to ensure we didn’t beat them because they had the luxury of a 10 point lead and could do that. They earned the right to play boring football and hit us on the break. Next season, lets ensure they don’t have such a luxury by playing consistently from the start and not giving them a head start. Then we will see a very different game of football.
Bus services in Chelsea were severely delayed by 94 mins as they were all diverted to Islington.
Lol, Katie Hopkins and Mouriniho must be related, the hypocrisy must be genetic
Agreed. Imagine if we had to defend the game when coq was on a yellow. Who would we put on? As much as I love our team right now, we can shore up defensively. Mertesacker is only going to get slower. We need a young defender that’s tall enough to be Mertesacker’s replacement. We need a CDM like Axel witsel which will make it 2 per position.
Axel wistel? You must be Belgian. Can remember seeing him anywhere after moving to Russia and the world Cup. I would love kondogbia but to be realistic coq is first choice and I doubt wenger will be looking for specialist fit.
Can’t
Coquelin is a very very good player, no doubt about that, but we can do better for sure at Arsenal. For eg, as soon as we got Giroud out of the game, the started sending Gary Cahill up for free kicks and set pieces. Why? Because other than Mertesacker and Kos, we are a weak team in the air. Coquelin vs Fellaini in the air again will be a tough battle to win. Mou is a c**t that has always had money to buy every player he wants, and he uses it well. He brought on Matic and Zouma to… Read more »
He’s far better than anything we have and would improve our team without a doubt.
Still thinking chambers might be a good replacement at center back for Mertesacker. his taste is not good enough for left back or rightback but I think he would do fine as center back or DM.
Gotta respect chelsea’s organisation and fight for each other, as much as I hate everything else about that horrible club. Arsenal are getting closer but not quite there yet.
Henry is pissed atm, he’s not impressed with Giroud if the club has real ambitions and especially Ozil
“Gotta respect chelsea’s organisation and fight for each other”
No you don’t….the fuckers
Accidentally thumbed this shite up instead of down. Fuck.
Titi is a club legend by his football; I couldn’t give half a fish’s tit about his opinion on Özil. He’s a Sky pundit now and usually Sky pundits are cunts.
Precisely sir!
Danny Mills is a fucking cunt, such biased commentary. Besides cesc did not have any applause from me
Chelsea Use Negative Tactics Successfully
Arsenal Too Wise For West London Cunts.
Very mature performance from Francis Coquelin, he went toe to toe with his opponents and stood tall. Disgraceful and shameless to see a team that spends twice as much as its rivals on every player celebrating draws, but whatever. We are Arsenal, and class is permanent.
Arsenal Too Wise For West London Cunts.
Very mature performance from Francis Coquelin, he went toe to toe with his opponents and stood tall. Disgraceful and shameless to see a team that spends twice as much as its rivals on every player celebrating draws, not to mention our old boy diving.
Fuck them. We are Arsenal, and class is permanent.
@viva vivas
So it’s an acronym not just a swear word. Thanks old chap
The result does not change much and may be not leaving a marker for next season will have us as the dark horse. I guess the best outcome of today is ManU’s lose to Everton. I hope they lose the top four position at the end of the season. That would eliminate a challenger for the league title next year. Even a club like ManU with the money for a big squad can’t play Thursday/Sunday and compete for the league title. Liverpool neither have the money nor have ever been smart enough in the transfer market to be realistic contenders… Read more »
Well, for them its positive…
Can’t fault the effort from our boys but fucking hell I’m getting tired of us not being able to break these cunts down. There’s a part of me that feels I should respect how Infuriatingly organised they can be.. But on the other hand we know how negative they play and we just don’t try anything different.. Poor giroud was 4/5 on 1 most of the game but we still persist on crossing. I was impressed at some of our cynical fouling tho, perhaps it augers well for next season.. Bit of nastiness that we’ve lacked for too long. 2nd… Read more »
If we had oxlade chamberlain, Wenger would’ve put him on the right wing. Without that option, its hard to see what else we could’ve tried.
Why not give Walcott a start on the right? Then you could put Ramsey in the middle. Ozil is about as tough as a marshmallow. Sack up son, or let someone else play.
no, we had a fine starting 11 out there. Walcott starting would have completely exposed us down the right. I think when we clicked and moved the ball at a fast pace then we were most dangerous. Problem is, Chelsea play so deep that they completely suffocate the pace out of the game. Maybe Welbeck on a bit earlier, but it looked like one of those games that could go 3 hours and nobody scores.
um….Ozil had more touches of the ball and created more chances (4) than anyone else on te football pitch.
but yeah, Theo usually dominates games against big defensive teams. should have started him. maybe even as ACM as he is so strong and dominant. would have bossed it today. had ivanavic and matic for breakfast. thats theo. thats so him. dominating big DMs all fucking day long.
beast.
Yes but TW is a defensive risk, exposing right side of the field.
TW14 is not good enough, especially defensively, which is why AW does not play him. I am pretty sure he knows a bit more about his players than we do.
2 strikers was my wish. Got it for all of 6 mins
Yup, noticed that too. Not enough men in the box to keep on crossing like that. But had we had enough men in the box, the likely scenario would be them breaking more efficiently and maybe scoring. Sadly, we still don’t have what it takes to win against them. You can call Mourinho a cunt all day long, but he’s a cunt that can organize his defenses perfectly. All he has to do is sit back and let us attack, then win against the other teams.
First time, I am not disappointing for Arsenal not winning the match. It is horrible to watch Chelsea ruining football.I am not sure how their fans watch this type of football every week.
Too busy being cunts to watch the game.
That foul by Ivanovic is a card. If he’s on a yellow and neutered for 80 minutes everything could have easily unfolded differently. Doesn’t necessarily mean we go on and win, just means that Oliver is shit at his job.
He was alright for us at Old Trafford, everyone makes mistakes.
and the 2 dives today he got right …. even though Fabfagarse’s fall looked a pen on first look … M Oliver for Wembley pse …
Quite pleased considering Chelsea was obviously not playing to win which was confirmed by their celebration at the end as if they won the CL
Exactly. Maureen afterwards “We came to win the game”. No you cunt, you came to not lose the game, and hope to capitalise on a mistake or break to nick a goal. That’s not the same.
Proud of the team! The chance at the end!!!
ooooooooooooo!
Wonder if the official website will dole out the Doncaster Rover treatment for the highlights.
Park the bus deluxe paid off.
We’re playing well but the Chelsea squad is overall just stronger in almost every area. Second and an FA cup is pretty reflective of our quality.
Well at least Arsenal tried to win it.
Ozil really should have connected with that chance at the end.
The longer we can’t beat Mourinho, the more self fulfilling it becomes.
Özil had a fantastic game today.. As did a lot of our players. He was definetly not to blame for not winning. When you play a ‘Moaninho’ side with the objective to achieve 0-0 it is hard. I agree that he could have done better at that situation but other than that the lad deserves credit.
Despite what the TV commenters said, it looked like he intentionally let it run through to Welbeck. I blame the latter more.
Yes, it was a great cut back from Monreal, but it had a lot of pace on it. The close up replay showed ozil with his eyes on it and his legs open to leave it for Welbeck (a good tactic since it prevented it deflecting out, it would have confused the keeper who would have been expecting a shot, and it would have allowed the striker, who should have finished to increase his goal tally) but it seems like Welbeck opened his legs and looked behind him for someone else to finish as opposed to doing the job himself.… Read more »
no kidding. I thought Ozil had a great game! Very unlucky not to draw more fouls.
Ozil has great vision and often makes fantstic passes. He also turns the ball over too easily and does not always try to win it back. I am not saying that it is his job to win the ball. I just prefer players that fight for the ball a little more, regardless of their role. Not trying to bash him. I just want more from him. I know he can do more than just make plays.
While I’m certainly pissed off at this result, I’m not too worried about the Mourinho record. It’s certainly not a self-fulfilling one, and I feel that it’s more of one which the media has been bigging up as they can’t run the “__ years no trophy” bullshit anymore, or the failing to “big” teams record. Hence, they harp on this (and the CL round of 16 nonsense as well) just to make ridiculous headlines and stories. However, most sites fail to mention that Arsenal have thrashed Chelsea in the meantime when Mou was fired, and they certainly don’t mention the… Read more »
Why oh why couldn’t we finish today? We totally outplayed those utter cunt bags , all they did was pass it backwards and waste time. Hazard to win pfa of the year? On that showing he won’t even get into my Sunday leauge team. Ozil and Sanchez were magnificent. Although ozil should have buried that chance. Wish the other chance with mertesacker fell to anybody but him 🙁 Lucky lucky lucky chelshit. That cunt terry celebrating as if he just won the champions league shows what kind of club they are. How was ivanovic not shown two yellows? After his… Read more »
Wait, Hazard played?!
I had to scroll very far, but thanks to Happy Gunner for the best comments of the day. Completely agree! They celebrated like they won the match with that sad display. Not a great advertisement for the EPL.
Same old chelski always cheating
Yes the tittles is gone, but we knew that already…
Could we have done more to win the game? -yes
BUT we could easily have lost, and you do feel this is progress, the Arsenal of a few years ago would have lost this game.
Make of that what u will
If only Ozil or Welbeck had got the slightest of touches in the end..
and it would be seen as a Wenger/Arsenal materclass! so unlucy!
COYG!
Nice to feel disappointed with a draw I suppose. Felt that Welbeck for the last 10 minutes was the wrong idea given that 2 very Giroud-style chances were wasted by him and Theo. Oh well, Chelsea had the league wrapped up long before today. Encouraging football though, I think this team is ready.
blegh
At least we didn’t have to suffer the indignity of losing to that team
Never really looked like they were capable of beating us today. If play had been more open I think we would have put at least a couple past them.
A decade ago, we had the Invincibles. Today, we’re happy with not getting beaten by Chelsea. How times have changed…
We’re just looking at the bright side. No one’s happy about the result.
Every year since the invincibles we would’ve been happy with this result. This year we were disappointed. That’s progress. We will win the league next year with this team.
Look at it this way: Chelsea’s game plan was not to win. They didn’t think they were good enough to beat us, so they didn’t try. Then they celebrated not scoring and not winning like they were taking a rocket ship ride on Ecstasy.
It’s actually a huge compliment to Arsenal and Wenger.
You can’t win them all, but that was a typical “predictable” performance from Arsenal. I thought today Wenger should have swapped Carzola and Ramsey for that wide right position. In my opinion, it would have brought a better balance against today’s opposition. Anyway we’re still on a solid run. Well done to the lads!
While I don’t think we played badly, I don’t think we played particularly well either. Any other season I would have taken this result, but with the way we’ve been playing recently I really wanted to beat those cunts and get the monkey off wenger’s back. Bellerin has shown that he can perform in the big games…. I’d consider him first choice RB at the moment. Coq was great today as well.
Not be that guy. But our shooting was really awful today cazorla, sanchez, welbeck everyone just couldn’t seem to hit the target. It’s not the end of the world but I really wanted us to get one over those arrogant rent boys. At least Man united got dicked.
.
‘An expensive Stoke’ is how the mugsmasher I was watching with called them.
That’s all they are. They sat back and had no desire whatsoever to play football.
Chelsea that is!
Let’s all praise Chelsea for not losing when they didn’t even try to win… Yes we couldn’t break them down, but if they had come here with the mentality to win the game could they have kept us out. Sky make me sick with all the cock sucking. Bring in next season with a better start and we’ll fucking do it!
Majestic display by Arsenal. John Terry is a massive cunt. Up the gunners!
Majestic, are you serious? It was a meek 0-0 draw as we all feared, give me a break.
I feared a loss more than a draw, please don’t speak for me again in the future.
Seeing John Terry celebrating the draw as if they won the league at the emirates clearly shows he is a massive c*nt.
i suppose an OK day, we dont loose vs chav , manure and their deluded manager gettting stuff by everton
Disgusting Chelsea celebrating a draw.
To make it worse it was Terry leading the celebration, I felt like throwing my cup of tea at the TV
cause now they are certified champions
wouldnt you celebrate if you know you have won the title at stamford bin
Arsenal have now gone eight hours and two minutes without a goal against Chelsea.
Now tell me was every team for the last 2-3 years managed by MOANINGHO?
You lot can take as much positives as you want but the truth is we have a mental block against this team
Certainly developing into one.
Well, that was the fifth match between the two teams since Mourinho’s return. That’s close to 8hours of football by my calculations. If anything, it only proves that we scored in the last match against Chelsea before Mou. So, what’s your point exactly?
I really, really really hate that cunt Mourinho. He clearly has a thing for Wenger and the way we try to play our football. He just destroys it, he tells his players to be unsporting diving cunts, hack the shit out of our flair players and slow the game down to a stroll. Ivanovic should have had 2 yellows for nasty challenges on Alexis. Also am I the only one who thinks that penalty claim for Ospina on Oscar was unjustified. I understand Ospina came rushing out, but he needs to accelerate to close Oscar down so the momentum is… Read more »
Boring boring Chelsea!
Lets just win the FA cup we lost the title in the first half of the season. Giroud & welbeck are average finishers (who still have a place at Arsenal) but we should dip into the market for a big game clinical striker.
There’s always one isn’t there? Fool.
Henry really worsen my day with that statement of fabregas over ozil.. I love him but he just gave Chelsea fans the Win today. pissed.
Don’t forget, Henry swapped the Arsenal for Barcelona too. He’s not a fan, I would like it if people stopped treating him like one.
lol how many chances did we have 2 or 3 at max for 90 minutes
The same amount of chances that chelsea had while defending
so i dont agree with anyone that says we played amazing or we outplayed them
They did what they came to do and that was sit back and counter
Hate to feed the inattentive troll, but as per official game stats, we had 12 shots and 6 corners to their 2.
Nice one Virg! 🙂
Bet you want a trophy now for 99% of shots off target.
What does that even mean?
Carragher is a tosspot
Meanwhile thierry said he would bench ozil for fabregas.
WTH bro?
This is the same Thierry that wants to get favours off of Arsenal so he can do his coaching with the club?
You might think it, but there’s no need to say it out loud ffs! Problem with Thierry is that he loves the sound of his own voice too much (you can’t blame him to be fair).
You want these guys to speak their mind or not? Doesn’t matter if you agree or not, making them biased robots isn’t going to make it any better
Can’t be doing with Henry on Sky. Pure legend he’ll always be, but that place is an idiocracy – a culture of mediocrity with crap commentators, and ex-players speaking about the game with no more insight than you or I could provide. Ignore them all.
Actually Gary Neville is an excellent analyst. Don’t care if he’s a dirty manc, credit where it’s due.
Terrible air shot from Ozil! He’s so frustrating in the big games
The Russian Sith lord and his Portugese apprentice got a needed draw from their clones nullyfying the Jedi worriors of the Emirates 🙂
We should have won this game. Do we always get a mental against Rugby teams?
Leicester will win 3-0.. next week.. COYG!!!
Chelsea came here with one game plan, their plan was to not lose this match. Our players did really well, we just couldn’t finish off some of the chances that we had. And Mourinho is a coward, all he cares is about his record against Arsenal and our manager. Shows what a cunt he is by sacrificing a proper football match for his record. And chelsea fans are absolute cunts backing their cunt manager playing cunt football to win the league in the most cunt-ish manner.
no width again!
its hard to drop anyone at the moment but we really do need an out an out winger with pace. we looked most dangerous when we had welbeck and theo on the pitch
After stinking out our stadium with their multitude of buse’s and coaches watching them cunts celebrate on our pitch made me want to throw up.
Thought we played as well as we could, wasted our shooting opportunities when we got them and Ozil and Welbeck both fluffed our best opening late on.
Hate the way the commentators were stroking Chelseas nuts about their defending when we defended just as well..Where was player of the season Hazard today? Cesc? Willian?
Guys I know that most of you are angry right now but I beg you to spare a thought for the people of my country Nepal. A devastating earthquake has destroyed our capital and taken many lives and I just request all my fellow gooners to keep my countrymen in your prayers. I couldn’t focus on the game today but I’m proud we don’t play that boring pile of shit mourinho often uses when he’s scared of the opposition. COYG. God help Nepal
I genuinely lol’ed at the fans booing whilst clapping Cesc – fair reaction I thought.
Same old story; John Terry is still a smelly cunt.
There’s a reason we didn’t have too many clear cut. Chelsea know how to play that kinda game and as much as I hate to say it but that cnt had one of his best game . We just need to learn how to play against teams that set up like that
That’s the Welsh Jesus I know…
Why is no one talking about how this game highlighted Alexis’ weaknesses??? He held on to the ball way too long on many occasions and spent too much time on the ground. He’s amazing and I’m glad we have him, but he still has a lot of room to grow.
Nulling and effective tactics from Jose. Still yet to beat him. Title is theirs. We have to concentrate on second and the FA cup. No surprises then. Feel we are still one outstanding player away to make the difference in these tight games. Sanchez was spent come second half and we came out flat as per usual. Defense was immense today contributing both forward and at the back. No let up even when Coquelin came off. Walcott (to be fair to him Welbeck was equally ineffective but has utility as a CF), if he does not sign the extension, we… Read more »