Result: Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 12 May 2021
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Arsenal: Leno, Holding, Gabriel, Mari, Tierney, Saka, Elneny, Partey, Smith Rowe, Odegaard, Aubameyang
Subs: Ryan, Bellerin, Chambers, Cedric, Ceballos, Willian, Pepe, Martinelli, Lacazette
Emile Smith Rowe took advantage of calamitous Chelsea defending to snatch a 1-0 win for Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
Thomas Tuchel’s side dominated the game from start to finish but couldn’t overcome the shock of falling behind on 16 minutes after a terrible mix-up between Jorginho and keeper Kepa.
The Gunners were disciplined in their defensive work but were thankful to Bernd Leno and the woodwork as Kurt Zouma and substitute Olivier Giroud both went close late on.
Pre-game
Mikel Arteta made five changes from the side that beat West Brom on Sunday. In came Pablo Mari, Thomas Partey, Kieran Tierney, Martin Odegaard and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the expense of Calum Chambers, Dani Ceballos, Nicolas Pepe, Willian and Gabriel Martinelli who all took up places on the bench. It looked like three at the back with Saka and Tierney playing as wing-backs.
First Half
It’s fair to say that Chelsea will have felt hard done by at the break. The home side had more of the ball (63% possession), were more accurate in their passing, won more duels and had eight shots to Arsenal’s two.
And yet it was the Gunners who had the lead courtesy of some laughably calamitous defending.
The Blues had two very decent chances to score first. As early as the fifth minute, Mount shot straight at Leno and not long after Havertz, pouncing on a short pass from Gabriel to Pablo Mari, blazed over when the goal was gaping.
We started to put a few passes together after that but our goal, which came on 16 minutes, had nothing to do with slick football. Not looking before he attempted a back pass, Jorginho nearly rolled the ball into an empty net and was lucky that Kepa managed to keep the ball out with a desperate save. The reprieve was temporary. Aubameyang pounced on the free ball, laid a pass off to Smith Rowe and the youngster found the net via the post. His second goal in as many games. (1-0)
With a lead to defend, Mikel Arteta’s side had no qualms sitting back in two lines of five and soaking up pressure. Chelsea weren’t completely unsuccessful at picking the lock. On 22 minutes, Pulisic’s cutback found Mount and his volley looked like it was going to beat Leno before Holding got his body in the way. The centre-back didn’t know a whole lot about it. We were lucky.
Further let-offs came when Mount hit a tame sidefoot effort at Leno and when Pulisic headed over after Zouma got up high to meet a corner. Chilwell will also be kicking himself that he didn’t do better after getting the better of Saka on the byline. A combination of Elneny and Leno kept the ball out.
Second Half
It was more of the same in the 10 minutes after the restart. Blue players buzzed around the edge of the Arsenal penalty area while men in red and white stuck legs out to try and steer them away. Tuchel’s players grew increasingly frustrated and began to force the issue. Havertz hung out a leg trying to win a penalty but saw his claims waved away and Hudson-Odoi struck over.
We needed to find a way out, playing this way was not sustainable. Another warning came when Pulisic put the ball in the net from a corner only for VAR to rule it out for offside.
The managers traded substitutions. Giroud came on for the Blues and Bellerin replaced Saka at wing-back. Both were immediately in the thick of the action; the Spaniard forced Kepa to claim a low shot and the Frenchman took a wild swipe at a shot that flew well wide.
As the game opened up, we started to find out attacking feet. Odegaard swept over after good work by Smith Rowe and Tierney down the left. The England youngster almost single-handedly kept us moving in the final third.
As the clock ticked down, we went back into our shell. A fine bit of defending by Bellerin stopped Hudson-Odoi reaching a Ziyech pass. He overstretched in the process and bought some time on the turf claiming a hamstring injury. He laboured on for a couple of minutes but had to be replaced by Calum Chambers.
The Blues cranked up the pressure. In the final minute, Leno produced a brilliant save to tip a Zouma header onto the bar before Giroud crashed the rebound against the woodwork. We had to keep going through six minutes of stoppage time but did just enough to claim the points.
A first league double against Chelsea since 2003/04 takes us up to eighth in the table and prolongs our small hopes of sneaking back into Europe.
Arteta masterclass.
Reminds me of the Liverpool game last season. We also beat them but were fully dominated from start to finish. Hats off to Smith Rowe and Gabriel, they are top quality. 2nd half was far improved after we decided to play a right back at right back. Players in their natural positions? Who’d have thought.
I thought Gabriel was very poor on the ball, especially in the first half.
Yes, it was. But I can see the trolls are already downvoting you.
I was kinda being sarcastic.
That sarcasm font would make someone a lot of money
Nah, people wouldn’t know how to use it.
Absolute daylight robbery. How have we stolen 3 points here? We’ve been woeful all game and all season yet we somehow end up with the league double over Chelsea.
That being said, few things are sweeter than the taste of Chelsea fans’ tears, especially after they’ve been mocking us all year. Any victory over that lot is glorious in my book.
Well said.
A good post and a win over Chelsea is always good but as a fan base we really need to put this into perspective – they’ve got two major cup finals to prepare for and European football booked for next season.
We’ve got three points in an end of season nothing game and in all likelihood no European football next season.
I don’t think they’ll be too many Chelsea tears. Not tonight, anyway.
I lived in Cardiff for a while when I was younger. I couldn’t get up to Highbury so I went to Cardiff City home games. They celebrated every victory, however it was gained. They knew how to enjoy a win, and they never went home from one thinking they’d stolen it. If you got the win you deserved the win.
The art of football is to score goals while not allowing any. We did that today. I am happy.
is there any possibilty of 8th place being an european spot ?
If you look on the Premier League site, only seven teams can qualify for European competition.
8th place means a place in the newly created Conference League. This is a 3rd class competition.
I think there actually is. UEL spots go to 5 and 6, Carabao winners (City) and FA Cup winners (Leicester or Chelsea). If the latter 2 finishes in the top 4 then the UEL spots goes to 7 and 8.
Unless I’m understanding this wrong, someone can correct me.
That being said, we’re tied 8th on points with Everton who have two games in hand. The same Everton who we royally f*cked up both our games against. So wouldn’t say we deserve to be in Europe at all. We continuously and inexplicably f*ck up our league games way too much.
Link: https://www.premierleague.com/european-qualification-explained
In a word, no.
I’m assuming this is tongue in cheek. Actually reminded me of a typical Emery team performance. In any case I’ll happily take the win and 3 points.
Defensively we were pretty organised throughout the pitch. Unfortunately with the kind of season we have had even a win at Stanford bridge can’t bring complete happiness…..
It can for a day or two if you’re willing to let it. If we end with nothing but mid-table mediocrity at the end of the season, you’ll be wishing you’d just sat back and let yourself enjoy the wins like this one.
A win is a win, and for most football fans getting a win over a higher flying team is the biggest joy on offer. We ARE that team right now. Try to enjoy the good moments when they happen.
This, but unironically.
Chelsea are a team in high spirits, so Arteta set us up to counter them. Literally what many have been begging from our manager during Arsene’s time. Cue whining in the line-up thread comments! Then we beat them…again.
I have to say, the gripes we used to have years past, for our record against big 6 opposition, and our ability to defend, have for the most part been much improved.
Now if we can only not play like twats the rest of the season and manage some consistency, we might actually see some improvement!
Yeah and how many times have WE dominated teams and lost, yet people groan when we finally get a win despite not playing that well?
They had more shots on their goal than we did lol
Shame their finishing is so shit. It would have been an easier game if they’d scored a couple.
Wasn’t expecting that! Great result. St Totteringham Day still possible…
Here here
But let’s not kid ourselves. That was the fine margins of sport right there.
We could and should have lost that about 4-0
Yeah but in at least 6 other games this season we were on the wrong end of shit VAR decisions and opponents who WE dominated but still lost the points. So a bit of swings and roundabouts is fine with me tonight and all the rest of you continuing to moan about actually winning the fkn game…aftv is waiting for you.
And fairy land is waiting for all of you who cannot see this shit show for what it truly is.
Same as the fine margins of Auba hitting the post 2x against Villareal. Sometimes things go your way, sometimes not, that’s football!
here here… one inch towards the center of the goal and we are in a UEL final. Fine margins indeed.
Actually, the result means we played well enough, and Chelsea should have played better. Regardless of how close to scoring they came on several occasions they failed dismally to score against mid-table opposition. They deserved to lose. They know it.
We, on the other hand, did that “winning thing” where you score an actual goal.
ESR, a right footed player, who scores his premier league goals for fun with his left foot.
Was it though? I can’t tell!
Smith Rowe is literally in a league of his own. The way he gets the ball and drives at the opposition when others are just trying to get the ball to someone else as soon as possible, it’s amazing to watch. The way around the 90th minute he sprinted to tackle Reece James as well. Really is a bright spark in a terrible season
First thing on the agenda for this summer should be a contract extension for him. Lock down the players we need to keep before we invest in others.
This is why we need rid of Arteta now. Because if we have to endure another pile of shit similar to this season then ESR and Saka will start getting tapped up – if they haven’t been already – and agents will start engineering big bucks moves.
…and a decent squad number! Let’s show our faith by giving him the 10 shirt.
Nonsense, 32 was good enough for magic johnson. Futbol’s obsession with numbers 1-11 is silly. Players should just wear their favorite number, whether it’s 44 or 56 or 0.
Absolutely. He was MotM and the only one on the team id call a “total” footballer along with odegaard
So … not actually the ONLY one, then.
Don’t where he digs up the energy from. He collapsed on the turf at the final whistle. Amazing player who never gives less than 100%.
Plays for the badge, he is an ARSENAL lad through and through. I Love Him.
We shall soon know where his loyalties lie.
Because if Arteta stays (he will) and we have another season like this season (we will) then expect those lovely people from Manchester City, PSG, Liverpool, Real, et all, to start tapping up both ESR and Saka.
Not so much a case of If as When.
ARTETA OUT
Look, we’ve heard it from you ad naseum. Can you please just refrain from writing the same thing constantly?
I thought Smith Rowe was our best player, but Aubameyang deserves most of the credit (apart from Jorginho) for the goal.
We’re back.
🤣
Where? In the Champions League?
Fucking hell!
Very satisfying seeing the last shots of Tuchel angrily chewing his gum n stopping in anticipation dreading the sound of the final whistle.
Emile Smith Messi
I love a good papering over cracks.
It ain’t quite an FA Cup, but I’ll take that “league double over Chelsea” trophy and stick it in this season’s cabinet.
Mate, I get it, but fucking hell that’s borderline Spursy. 😂
Those cracks are chasms.
The problem is, we’re not just seeing cracks at the football club.
We’re seeing assholes.
You’re obviously looking too closely.
Smith Rowe: apart from the goal, and the beautiful gliding step when he takes the ball (forward!), what covering, harrying and constant intercepting. MoM.
Better lucky than good…
Disagree. Lucky may win you a game, but good will win you a title.
Disagree. Lucky may win you a game, good will win you more games, but best will win you a title with a little luck.
Absolutely brilliant result! We did what we had to do. We knew Chel$ki would try to run at us, so we put out a strong defensive line-up and for once this season, we got EVERYTHING right! It might not have been the prettiest football in the world, but right now I am SO PROUD of this team for completely frustrating the form team in the league.
COME ON ARSENAL!
Seriously scummy win, but it’s ok Chelsea deserve it. We need a complete restructuring of the midfield. Dunno if it’s just me, but this arsenal team passes out wide and back to the def/gk more than any other team I’ve seen. Never passing between the lines, rarely passing forward, such little link up play and neat triangles between the forwards and midfield. We need someone to slot alongside partey who can beat the press, position themselves so that they’re in a good spot to receive a pass from the defense at all times, (this is so important and 1 of… Read more »
also, not saying he’s bad, but I don’t think we should splash out 50m for odegaard (if that indeed is the asking price). I think he’s great, he clearly has remarkable talent and a big roof above him, but I don’t think he’s a good fit right now, particularly in a cash strapped transfer window where we need to make a massive overhaul. Besides his second half masterclass against West ham, I don’t think he’s had an outstanding performance and often fades away, struggles when not given space and is far too comfortable playing at back rather than turning and… Read more »
Average player. Real will struggle to get £20 million for him in the end.
I definitely agree. He’s had an alright loan but isn’t what we need next season.
There are some decent press resistant and energetic midfielders that we can get for cheaper that £50 million.
Homegrown Championship standouts – Josh Da Silva, Michael Olise, David Brooks.
Overseas standouts – Koopmeiners, Renato Sanches.
Heck even Camavinga has only 1 year left on his contract and would still be cheaper than Odegaard. All of these guys are 23 and under.
I fully expect Edu to make Jorginho the #1 target though😒.
Agreed. Hes not been that much more impactful than Ceballos last season to be honest. I think hes a good player but our midfield has needed serious treatment since Ramsey, Cazorla left..Shit it needed rehauling back then.
Wake up people. We’re midtable. We don’t get to buy better players now. We get to buy or borrow players like Odegaard.
shout out to ESR who was absolutely the exception to the midfield problem I talked about today
Our midfield is awful. Alot worse than our attackers and Defenders. The constant U shape football represents that, Cazorla still walks into this team.
I think we should try ESR in the middle, he has the engine/stamina, has an eye for a good pass, the technical ability to get out of tight situations and is very brave. Maybe even give the kid Azeez a shot…..
We won twice the ICL finalist….
Wonderful to see Jorginho on the wrong end of things after he should have been off before scoring against us in 2019:-)
Great Smith Rowe and Elneny performances!
A 1:0 loss is one of the most annoying result in football
😂😂😂
Try 8-2. Now that is bloody annoying. To score enough goals to win a lot of matches and still be thrashed off the park.
Always lovely to beat the Chavs but too little too late as far as the PL is concerned.
We defended very well but didn’t create anything. Goal was a gift.
ESR MOTM
Totally agree. How Martin Keown chose Elneny is beyond me , although he had a decent game.
Elneny ran around alot..I think Keown was just happy to see our midfield not get stripped for pace like Ceballos did the other day.
It’s a gift if it went in as an own goal. We had to score it.
That was a boring match from an Arsenal perspective but a good display from the Arsenal defence. Credit to Auba for picking out Smith-Rowe for the winner. We definitely rode our luck with that one especially with the double cross-bar hit. We have to be more progressive in our play because that was not a comfortable match. So many reunions after the match on the touchline. I wonder what was Auba’s mind after he was substituted It reminds me of the United win.One One shot on target was all it took.I can’t remember the last time we did the double… Read more »
I can’t remember the last time we did the double over Chelsea.
Invincible’s season.
Thanks. I wish I had started supporting Arsenal back then. Would have been an amazing experience
That was a horrible game.
We didn’t just park the bus, we took the wheels off, cut the brake lines, and then welded the gates shut
Maybe, but Chelsea are the new Arsenal. Loads of nice passes and possession, plus no goals.
1-0 to the Arsenal, 1-0 to the Arsenallllllllll
Be nice if we could just enjoy a win eh?
I know, it’s just awful on here, isn’t it?
Chris Sutton could hardly contain himself in telling us Chelsea were all over Arsenal. Of course, the other way around and it would have been great teams win when the play badly.
But this arsenal team is not a great team..Arsenal a great club but this particular team no way
So what? Since when did Chris Sutton know anything about football?
You miss the point. He played for Chelsea.
Saka and ESR are our most important players. When two teenagers are your most important players it talks for itself.
Its been that way since Fabregas…Then Wilshere etc
Let’s enjoy this pre season.
This team is doing my head in. How can we pull off results like this then be so fucking abject when it matters most? Well done to them tonight against a very good (albeit under strength) Chelsea team who I expected to be us. Still, I expect we won’t finish any higher than 9th with the other teams above us having games in hand. Just a few more wins and we’d have been in with a shout of Champions League let alone Europa.
LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY win. But good hard work today if nothing-else but the gift from Jorginho. And it gives us a slim sliver of hope to catch Spurs not least maybe a europa spot. Great escape time. Two matches to go, maximum points needed and a massive slice of luck. Chelsea were proligate today. If Tuchel chose a day to drop points, may as well be against us. They were wholly dominant but not entirely sharp courtesy of reasonable lead to West ham for CL spot. Plenty of issues still for us but take the boring win any day. Big… Read more »
Stressful to watch at times but credit to the team for staying well organised and keeping their shape. Great to do the double over Chelski. 😁
So glad we didn’t sign Jorginho.
We still might.
Sounds like a deal to buy a slightly thinner and shorter version of Willian to me.
Just talked to my Chelsea mates and loved how they ranted about how utterly shit we and Arteta were. Brilliant.
Breaking news: Arsenal Extends Arteta’s Contract After Emphatic Win over Blues
We’ve got another 50 years of him.
Stan and Josh are ‘excited’…..
Classic Artetaball. Works best when we’re expected to be hammered.
Much easier to watch when you’re hammered, too.
🤣👍
Still a lot of poor aspects to our game. So panicky when defending. not direct enough, plenty of times when we turn the ball over, the movement forward is not supported. Tendency is to play ti back or take too many passes. We were reasonable first 10 minutes till the lucky goal then we lost all impetus in lieu of caution protecting the lead. Still you feel we could have better supported our counters. Once when (I believe) Elneny won the ball mid centre circle with Partey, they passed it eventually forward but then both stop running, enither going forward… Read more »
That was dire!
As I watched the game, I imagined it was an ESL game.
Is this the kind of game Perez and his co rebels envisaged?
The commentator summed it up when he said: “You expect this kind of game when Sheffield United comes here; not Arsenal.
Elneny should be paid to leave the club if there are no takers. The guy was horrible.
Interesting he was made MOTM. I believe it should have been ESR. However I thought this was one of Elneny’s best games for us. He never stopped running and defended so well and must have covered more ground than any other player. I find your comment about him made no sense whatsoever. Did you actually watch the match?
Great result, obviously! Let’s hope it will have some negative repercussions for Chelseas season.
Other than that – infuriatingly impotent performance, again. Arsenal will almost have me believe we’re playing rugby nowadays. It feels like all passes are going backwards. And could someone please tell Arteta that it’s pointless to insist on playing out from the back when Ødegaard, Elneny and Smith Rowe just pings it right back everytime we beat the press!?!
Onwards and upwards.
I’m happy we won sure but let’s not forget when Arteta came in he went 3 at the back cos we were desperate. He then got some players he wanted and time to do things his way. Results were worse than Emery and now we revert to back 3 again cos we are desperate. Very worrying.
Our midfield is diabolical and our defenders cant defend 1vs1.
I know – weird eh?
…but we won – wtf?
Doesn’t 7th qualify us for europa since the lease cup and FA Cup will be won by a team in top 4, unless Leicester drop out?
I remember how fans wanted Wenger out because we were always fighting to finish top 4 and now we’re hoping to make europa league.
We won, but the match announcer said it all when he said with surprise: this is how a team like sheffield united plays when they come to Chelsea. Not Arsenal.
3 points against Chelsea. Great!
The performance. Terrible.
Chelsea are good, but not Man City or 2008 Barcelona good. We played like an inferior club, and only passed it forward once Bellerin came on.
I hope this isn’t the blueprint for next season when Arteta basically has his squad of players
Did we play worse, yes.
Did we lose, no.
I’ll definitely take a win no matter what happens so good job I guess, keep building towards next season cuz that’s all we can do
Good performance today, fair play. I like good defending, something that was being neglected for a long time at Arsenal previously and Mikel just needs to improve the attacking part now to create a good, complete team. I liked how everyone chipped in today to keep that clean sheet including the keeper, btw I just read today on skysports Leno saying that he doesn´t want to leave and I am okay with that, we have much bigger problems that need to be adressed in the transfer market. One thing that Mikel managed is that for most of the time in… Read more »
We are the League third best in terms of goal conceded, the problem arises in the number of goals scored….this informs me that with better balance we would be there among the top.
How this can be improved is upon the coach whoever it is or will be to improvise. Whether it’s personnel or changing the system the potential is there.
I keep hearing we were gifted the win and we were so lucky.
but they made 2 or 3 dodgy back passes as a result of our high press.
still fortunate but more intention than people are giving credit.
True, but Chelsea don’t think they were unlucky. They think they screwed up at the back to let us take advantage of them and they know that they failed to score up front. In fact, they feel like we normally do.
I like that.
St Totteringham’s day looking possible.
Now City have the blueprint for how to beat them in the CL final.
Step 1: Make sure Jorginho plays…..
as much as I enjoy double against chelsea I can’t help myself beeing genuinly disgusted by the fact that we’ve got a manager who parks the bus as soon as we score and blames the players when it doesn’t work. we’re stucked with the manager that is best described as ‘late mourinho’. failed investment, overinflated ego and divisions in dressing room is what we can expect next season if we don’t get rid of Arteta which I don’t see coming. Arteta produced the best results and Arsenal played its best football under Arteta in the first 2 months after he… Read more »
He doesn’t so much park a bus as blow up a tank.
Well done lads. A win is a win is a win. The law of averages and all that.
I’ll just leave the Arteta fan boys to their jelly and ice cream. And wish the rest of you a pleasant evening. 👍
Question about backpasses – Jorginho passed back to the keeper, keeper saved the backpass from an own goal with his hand. If we didn’t score, is that an indirect free kick? A penalty, since a wall couldn’t possibly be set up as it was on the goal line? Nothing at all, just play on? I didn’t see the referee playing advantage on the highlights so I’m a bit confused. I also heard the commentators say the keeper did well to keep it out. Apologies if I missed something and I’m asking a silly question that’s already been answered, but how… Read more »
As far as I know, it will be an indirect free kick from the penalty spot.
Still think it should be a red to the goalie when it is this obvious, but the rules have changed there a bit so I’m not sure
I thoroughly enjoyed that. But despite the result why are you benching Pepe after his goal again? One of our most productive players does not have his manger behind him
How many scoring chances did we create? Zero?
Chelsea, on the other hand hit the post a couple of times and straight up missed the goal too.
They clearly had more of the game.
Remind me again how we’re supposed to have improved since Boxing Day?
We pounced on a loose ball in their area, won it, passed it, and scored it. That is a scoring chance and we scored it.
You’re more ExaggerateBot today. Cheer up. We won. Against Chelsea. Again.
Great performance by Holding and Elneny