Arsenal did the double over Chelsea thanks to an Emile Smith Rowe goal early in the first half. The Gunners capitalised on a mistake from midfielder Mr Tumnus who almost put the ball in his own net, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on hand to set up the 20 year old to score.
It was a backs to the wall performance from Mikel Arteta’s side, with a lot of defending to do, and a bit of luck with Chelsea hitting the bar twice in seconds in the final stages of the game.
Not the best performance, but still very nice to win there, and in a season when we haven’t won enough, let’s allow ourselves to enjoy the three points.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal match report and see the goals here
Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal – Player Ratings
The ratings are hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Bernd Leno. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
3 right backs on the bench and Saka starting RWB –> Mikel knows everything, he is so good, he is so clever, I learn a lot watching his teams, he knows everything about football
If we had had any kind of possession and attack — or if we hadn’t been gifted with a lead and been forced to attack — he would have had a different game and could have been a difference-maker going forward. We’ve seen that before. As it went, he was forced to defend the entire match and, no he’s not the best defender we have.
This is the first comment following a win against Chelsea?!
I guess this season really has been traumatic!
Yeah welcome to the comments page where every victory is a fkn disaster.
Your comment needs saying in the voice of James Earl Jones.
…And the losses even more so
DOOOOOOOOOOM
As much as I enjoyed a shithoused win against the rent boys. It is very hard to marinate in the glory of such a result too much. It’s fairly challenging to take the win in isolation given our campaign has been such a disaster. I wouldn’t have fancied us to get any sort of result last night if there genuinely was something on the line. Getting absolutely pointless wins is kinda our specialty these days. And if we flipped the script, I’d much rather lose to a 9th placed Chelsea side who were utter shite, knowing I’ve got a Champions… Read more »
I agree with your frustrations, but give them credit for a hard won victory. If the team showed this kind of determination more often, we would be further up the league.
Could’nt have put it better myself!!!!
What did we learn last night?
Mo now the best partnership with Partey?
Leno the best goalkeeper in the league?
And come on our goal was farcical they could have had a red shirt on.
Mo has always been the best partner for Partey… just hasn’t had the games to show it.
Leno remains iffy in a few areas – but still a great shot stopper.
Wow…… how dare we score a goal!!!!!!!
He knows more than any of us. A win is a win. Regardless of the circumstances it came in. Give the team and the manager some credit, not that your opinion, or mine is relevant, or important. It was a crap match, but, they dug deep and got a result. Which is surely better than losing?
I bet every single half time team talk starts with ..’Guys, sit down! Nobody talk!’
We can’t one week laud the inclusion of Saka as a left back for his attacking intent, then the next week criticise his inclusion in a more attacking role on the side of the pitch he’s been getting a huge amount of joy on recently surely?!
In 90% of games there is a player in a position that just didn’t quite work out on the day… that’s football.
Jesus, get a grip and stop embarrassing yourself.
League double over Chelsea is awesome (first time in 17 years!). Think we’re unbeaten in our last 4 matches against them now. 3 wins and 1 draw!
I know we didn’t really create much today but to be able to grind out a result at a place we haven’t won in 10 years feels nice. 🙂
Good point. A decent amount of luck went our way, but we grind out a victory against a team in form who just beat the league champions and most fans on here complain about the manager. Odd one that. I don’t really agree with some of his decisions, but I could care less who he plays and where is it gets 3 points on the table. Right now the team just needs to get to the finish line with some momentum and get some time for the players he sees as vital next year.
He pulled out a result at Old Trafford earlier in the year. I think it’s the right approach in these away top 4 fixtures, and if only Wenger had seen that, we wouldn’t have to worry about Arteta.
But it doesn’t change anything – his performance around that fixture has been well under par, and there’s no introspection. He needs to go.
you can whine all you want but he is not going anywhere. the board have backed him and edu and i believe rightly so. if you can’t see the progress we have made this season on so many levels then maybe you should just pipe down and re-asses this time next year. time to get behind the project.
Stop trawling comment sections, Mikel.
So keep firing the coach?
Who comes in next?
Where does the player accountability come into play?
Look back at points lost due to simple player errors made this year
Arteta is to blame for their brain farts?
We’ve arguably shipped 9-12 points directly as a result of player error/recklessness/unprofessionalism. Moments of idiocy that having ZERO to do with the manager and/or coaching… moments that any schoolboy would be ridiculed for.
Add even HALF those points to us now and it’s a bit of an eye-opener.
But the instant-grat crowd will never let facts or stats get in the way of a good witch-hunt.
Someone who has actually managed a football club before. “Player error” is not unique to this squad as much as the “sell them all” crowd wants to pretend it is. Our league position is a result of poor management.
Because it’s a dead game and the results mean nothing to both teams. If we were fighting for fourth against Chelsea I’m absolutely sure everyone will be elated.
chelski most definitely cared about that result. tuchel was livid afterwards. what’s amazing is that we got such a performance out of our guys given we had nothing to play for other than pride.
A derby against Chelsea is never nothing to play for. Chasing down the spuds is NEVER meaningless.
No, we don’t control outer fate, but we’re only 3 points out of Europa League spots.
Far from nothing to play for.
i’d prefer if we weren’t in the europa conference league for next season tbh. a smaller squad that can just focus on the league and maybe a cup run would be ideal. with a fair wind and no distractions we could make top four next season.
Exactly. Sport is Never meaningless because it is FUNDAMENTALLY meaningless before you even start.
3 blokes round the campfire throwing bottle caps into a bucket to pass the time can feel like a CL final
The shame is that I can only thumb that stupidity down once.
Actually, if you clear your cache each time, you can thumb it down forever. And you should because you’re absolutely right, that stupidity deserves to be thumbed down forever.
“Because it’s a dead game and the results mean nothing to both teams.”
See how spoilt we have become? Unless every game is for something it doesn’t matter.
That’s sky sports thinking in a nutshell.
That’s the reason those yank twats thought they could get the ESL off the ground.
Yeah we are so fixated on how we play at times that we forget about how important sometimes it is to just churn out some results even if we don’t play pretty football. All top teams have days were they aren’t on it, yet end up with the 3 points. We need that mentality along with how we perform
i thought we completely stopped them playing in the first half. was pretty comfortable at half time. they improved in second and we had some worrying moments but they still only had 2 shots on target all night. defensive masterclass.
Is it 10 years already since that 3-5 win? It will always be one of the high points of my football watching career.
Agreed
If this type of win would have happened begging or mid season we all would have enjoyed it a lot more.
This win means less in terms of this season but it feels great to all real fans
And yet some rancid old fuckwit somewhere downvotes this… still some Spuds on here, it seems.
I don’t know if was coincidence, but we looked much better as soon as Bellerin came on; I assume he is leaving, and I am sorry for it. Smith Rowe man of the match, Elneny was everywhere, might be worth keeping in the squad. I thought Odegaard was better than Blogs does.
I still can’t believe we pulled this off. And I can’t believe some of the miserable commentary on the game report. Do people not realize we won this match? We went into it with a solild, well-rehearsed plan, we stuck to it, and it WORKED. It was exactly the right plan for this particular match. Chel$ki are a murderously efficient team under Tuchel, and we set up to disrupt that efficiency. We did it to a tee. Mikel’s definitely made some odd decisions at times, but today he got everything spot on and the players executed his plan perfectly. Let’s… Read more »
Think people are just tired of the same ol same ol. This type of performance or beating other big teams is nothing new especially when there is no pressure and it does not matter to us. We are now plucky underdogs like any other mid table team.
Then again i remember games when we played wonderfully creative football and had about 70% possession against Mourinhos first Chelsea for example and we would usually conspire to lose 3-0.
Maybe I’m alone, but I would rather have wonderfully creative football and lose than miserable, Simeone football where we win 1-0.
(Although wonderfully creative football and winning would be best!)
It doesn’t need to be that binary a choice. Good/great managers would strike a balance. I didn’t like it when we lost 6-0 to Mourinho, I don’t like it when we’re struggling to score against mid-table clubs.
It may seem like those are our options, but that’s only because the Kroenkes are making terrible footballing (and probably business) decisions.
Yeah – but that was all on Drogba.
Man… Why’d you have to bring him up? That fucking guy always had our number.
hooray! well said. amazing how much negativity still after we turned over the form team in europe away from home and fully deserved it too. and in a game that mattered more to them than us! gotta love it.
Did you look at their line up, right goal keeper to Havertz? Did that scream important match to you? I understand that you want to support to MA but don’t create perceptions and push them down thru others’ throat.
Think that’s your aim.
lighten up dude. u want to censor folks on an arsenal fan site and can’t even enjoy a victory over chelski?
You mean that goal keeper that cost as much as our most expensive player? And the other half-billion pounds spread all over their half?
It’s your utterly unreasoned bitterness and constant criticism – irrespective of any reality or factual basis – that is ‘creating perceptions’. And you are most certainly trying to ram the ArtetaOut agenda down everyone’s throats, at every possible opportunity – even with your trite comment above!
my speech! shape + commitment as it should be! against a weaker oponent we could have developed an attacking thread…
Arteta seems to have a knack about getting a result against the “big six” but I still struggle to see anything close to a fluent system in this team.
I can’t fault auba for being angry coming off either. Since Arteta has been in charge, the amounts of chances per game that he gets is next to nothing.
Tierney’s frustration during the game shows as well. Bursting a gut to beat the back line to cross it to no one was painful to watch.
We are very very hard to watch these days….
yeah… and we just beat chelsea at the Bridge (with a clean sheet) for the first time in over a decade!
Lighten the fuck up mate – there’s a time for tears… it ain’t today!
Is ESR’s ceiling higher than Ramsey’s? You get the same high energy feeling from Emil, and hopefully he can avoid the injuries that plagued most of Ramsey’s Arsenal career.
It just might be. Thankfully dynamic players like Smith-Rowe are playing at time where dangerous fouls are less tolerated by the referees.
So hopefully we won’t be seeing any bone fractures like what Diaby and Ramsey endured that can kick start further injuries.
His movement and ball control is incredible for a 20 year old. It’s like watch futsal but on grass.
Imagine better players around him..He really comes alive with Lacazette.
Did you actually watch the whole match? He was very much alive for the whole game as he usually is, no matter who is in the team
How I hope Auba have 10 pct of his Emile energy.
That is a great comment re futsal.
Thank the football gods that EPL doesn’t have any brute teams right now. Can’t imagine any talented young player’s career suffer like Ramsey.
That’s also got a lot to do with the clamp-down on dangerous challenges. And, dare I say it, probably the only benefit that VAR has brought to the game.
Because of the context of where this match sits in the calendar, I’m sure there will be some who can’t appreciate the win. (Ie: at the end of a disappointing season).
But for me, this match was hard fought. We battled and we were resilient against a very strong team. So we’ll done to the team and the manager for getting the result.
Props to both Auba for keeping his head and coolly finding ESR who still had work to slot home the shot.
I agree with most of what you said but ESR didn’t exactly ‘slot’ home the shot. I’d say he nimbly planted his right foot such that it would adjust the trajectory of the ball to go in off the post while giving it enough topspin that it would accelerate off the turf and get there before the keeper.
All the while, socks down at the ankles. Masterful.
If that hadn’t gone in would we have got the foul for the goalkeeper handling a back pass?
And if the goalie hadn’t saved it on the line, surely he should have been sent off for committing a deliberate foul that denied a clear goal scoring opportunity?
I mean, it’s Arsenal so VAR would over-turn it for that time Kenny Samson was offside in 1982 but it’s an interesting question.
Pundits said it would have been an indirect on the edge of the 6-yard box – apparently checked it with Poll. If so, that’s utter bollocks – I venture to suggest you will not see a clearer denial of a goal-scoring opportunity, through foul-play?
How on earth could it not be a straight red?
I forgot to mention Leno, who despite his most recent poor performances, actually put in a good performance and came up with a vital save.
Standout performers were probably ESR and Leno. I think Auba was annoyed at the lack of service that he got. Probably was itching to score a second as a reply to Tuchel’s comments. I don’t know what Arteta was thinking playing Saka at RWB. Only the people in the changing room would know. Saka has played everywhere except for CF and CB. He looked very uncomfortable there and forced a couple corners because of it Both Saka and Auba when they came off did not look happy with our set-up. Arteta probably should have just given the teenager a rest… Read more »
Also Saka hasn’t been effective in recent(except LB). Maybe he should get some rest.
Agree Sali – especially since we had Chambers on the bench? Ode looked a lot less effective without either Saka or Pepe to riff those stubbed backspins of his off.
Still have concerns about Leno though – great shot stopper but his out-ball distribution remains pants.
Definitely. We were quite stifled offensively yesterday. Side-note do you know any cheapish goalkeepers out there with good distribution?
Decent fella went for about 20mil earlier this season… although I suspect he’d cost a lot more now – name of Martinez
A few things are very different: this was the tenth time we led in the league at halftime, and we have won all of them. Arsenal do not lose leads very often anymore. We don’t give up set-piece goals, only Man City are better. We rarely give up goals caused by calamitous errors (Chelsea is worst in the league at that). We don’t give up many goals at all–only Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs are better. Which means: we often play like a high-class Burnley, though occasionally there are episodes of football (for example, the second half against West… Read more »
Manure are equal on 38 against. Only Citeh and the Chavs have fewer goals against – and to those lighting the bonfire under Arteta… think where we were just 2 seasons ago in terms of goal-leakage and our utter capitulation against any top 6 team.
10/10: Arteta coming in HOT at the post-match presser. Love to see it. [But, come on Mikel, you totally said that not every player has given their best effort this season. Still don’t blame him for the way he avoids throwing players under the bus the way certain special managers do, but he did slip up the other day.]
His best moment in months. Looked like he was ready to fight someone.
come on, he awoids throwing players under the bus?!
he didn’t just slip the other day. he’s been doing it all the time. Pepe, Nelson, Torreira, Guendouzi, Oezil…
and there is nothing to be proud of in the fact that our parked bus worked once against a dozen ocasions when it didn’t and when it was much more important than today.
arteta is too much like mourinho.
Dropping a player isn’t throwing them under the bus. A couple of those players you mentioned did do a pretty good job of getting under the bus all on their own though.
Mate – just kick the cat rather? We just beat the Chavs at the bridge (with a clean sheet) for the first time in a decade!
Must have missed the Partey goal 😀
I mean, he won a penalty (it just wasn’t given).
I’m surprised at how many Arsenal fans appear to be pissed off that we won, 2021 continues to get stranger
The manager loan program worked out brilliantly, Simeone really installed some defensive solidity and counterattacking flair in this side.
Partey looked like an actual midfielder when he had a mobile competent partner. How about that.
Exactly. I’ve always preferred Elneny – Partey, especially in tight games where mobility and defensive solidity are more important. After the OT win (another one of our first is >10 years), they never really played together for extended periods.
he works better with someone like elneny who is happy to do the dirty work. i think it’s a problem though. does partey plus a workhorse give us enough going forward? i thought we signed him to do the job elneny has been doing much better.
Yeah but he cant play CM by himself. Just having a partner in general helped him. Arteta played him by himself against Villareal and people were wondering why he kept losing the ball under pressure from 3 players and was unable to complete in meaningful passes. We have a deeper squad than alot of teams but our poor centre mid has us about right in the table.
yes. midfield is our big issue. hopefully we can fix it this summer. but i hope we keep elneny around – he’s a very useful player who seems to be getting better with age.
Not sure it’s just age – it’s really the first time in years that he’s had full season (the loan) and then a bit of run in the side (of sorts). And yet the haters still persist….
One of our most under-rated players imo.
I still find his passing too sloppy, and that led to some dangerous moments. But he and Elneny sure had the midfield covered defensively. Huge improvement from that one man midfield from past games.
i agree. he’s been very careless with the ball in most games he has played and seems to just switch off regularly too. huge talent but i’d really expect more from someone who cost so much and has such a big reputation around europe.
This game was the definition of a bad win. We didn’t deserve this result in the slightest. Chelsea were superior to us in every department, and we only won because we capitalised on a mistake they never should have made. We got lucky – plain and simple.
OK – which form does one fill out to hand the 3 points back?
NOT!!!!!
For me , saka belonged forward and odegaard on the bench. Sad to see bellerin’s arsenal career end so badly. He’s been a massive player for us. Never the same since his last injury.
Agree on all of that. Odegaard and Smith-Rowe don’t work together. Saka-ESR-Pepe every time.
You mistakenly gave a goal to Partey. Also, the likeness of the Calum Chambers avatar to Mustafi augurs badly for him.
auba did have one really good chance to score when odegaard pinged a perfect free kick into the six yard box but he didn’t bother his arse making the run.
elneny set the tone again. esr is the future. gabriel, mari, holding should all be 8/10. only allowed 2 shots on target away to one of the best teams in europe on recent form.
Love the bonus rating
I as surprised that Martinelli didn’t come on
Not me. Laca has better composure for hold up and possession play, and we needed someone to press – yes, Martinelli is good at that too – and if possible hold it up to give the defense a brief breather – not his strength at all right now.
I saw this game so often under Arsene Wenger – only we were the team battering our opponent for 90 minutes but losing to the one shot we allowed on target. Always makes my day to see Chav fans unhappy. ESR – what a player.
Often= Every game against the other top 4 or 6 after 2006. Premier league years is equally the best thing ever and incredibly depressing.
Great to get the double over that scummy club.
Spurs are Spurs, but that scummy club isn’t far behind it.
It’s been a brutal year and everyone have been under similar conditions, and sure he has made lots of mistakes this season, but so has Klopp.
For me, I’m sticking behind Mikel. He brought us a trophy last year, has always put in everything for the club whether as a player or coach and deserves a year of the fans in the stadium…
I just hope we don’t repeat previous mistakes in the transfer market. Youth please!
Odegard has been less impressive of late I think we need a more athletic player in d middle of d pack
Anyone else feel like our view on Elneny’s performance is very heavily dictated by the result? I feel like he offers a very similar 7-8/10 performance in most games, which if we win is praised and if we lose is criticised for not being enough.
Yeah, pretty much becuase Elneny will not be the reason we score, but he might be the reason we don’t concede.
If we concede, his performance will be overlooked as it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
He’s an alright player but not the player who will change something in a game (well unless he decides to take a pop from 25 yards or something)
One of our most under-rated players.
I feel like I was watching a different game to everyone else yesterday We just kept a clean sheet away at Stamford bridge and held on to a 1-0 for 75 mins and the CBs get 7, 6.5, and 6.5?! I know we rode our luck in the first half and they got into some good positions, but even then the only clear chance I remember was the Harvertz one where he lifted it over the stadium. In the second half, up until the siege at the very end, we were very good defensively. They created nothing. The two crossbar… Read more »
Bonus rating 10/10 – Bloggs suggesting that Partey got a goal!! Top banter bloggs, top banter.
Comments on a couple of ratings: Leno – the ‘brilliant’ tip over from Zouma was only because he badly misjudged it? Perfect Pat (jennings) woulda caught it both hands. Some great stops and good domination of most of the Chav’s crosses – however his out-ball distribution remains really poor. Saka – we must question Arteta sticking at RB when Chambers was on the bench… WHAT??? His poorest game in a while – but not entirely his fault, Mik. Mo’Nenny – Blogs-hated and under-rated. Gets a 7 with Partey, who did break up some dangerous attacks, some neat pirouettes out of… Read more »
Not tactical masterclass. Lucky to beat Chelsea B team.
Shit game, hilarious result.
So nice to be lucky for a change as Chelski missed enough chances to win comfortably even with a weakened team. Elneny was just the same Duracel bunny that played in another unlikely away win at Man Ure: bags of energy but a championship player at best. If Partay is a 7 then Mikel Arteta is as bald as Pep Guardiola and Ray Parlour will be asked to join AFTV. Is there another Arsenal manger out of the League Cup, FA Cup, Europa League and Champions League places and likely to finish lower than last season who would have survived… Read more »