Sunday, December 22, 2024

Report: Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal (inc goals)

Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Jesus

Subs: Hein, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Partey, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Havertz, Nketiah, Trossard

Arsenal staged a dramatic late comeback to maintain their unbeaten start to the season after drawing 2-2 with Chelsea, thanks to goals from Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard.

Mikel Arteta made two changes to the side that beat Manchester City two weeks ago, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli coming in to replace Eddie Nketiah and Trossard.

Arsenal struggled to settle early on with Chelsea pressing high, and were fortunate not to concede within the first five minutes after Enzo Fernandez curled over from close range.

However, it wasn’t long before the Blues were ahead when William Saliba was penalised for handball after referee Chris Kavanagh was sent to the monitor by VAR – with Cole Palmer scoring the resulting penalty. 1-0.

Arsenal began to string some passes together after the goal and created their best moment when Declan Rice escaped down the left hand side, although his cross evaded both Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard racing into the box.

For all their possession (it was 80%-20% in the Gunners’ favour after 30 minutes), Palmer raced through again and almost doubled Chelsea’s lead but his low effort went through the legs of Gabriel and past the post with David Raya beaten.

From that point forward, the game fizzled through to half time with neither side able to create any clear opportunities.

But it took just three minutes for Chelsea to double their lead after the break when Mykhailo Mudryk broke down the left hand side and accidentally lobbed Raya whilst attempting to cross the ball. 2-0.

Arsenal could have been awarded a penalty on the hour mark when Jesus was clattered by Robert Sanchez, who struck the Brazilian in his attempts to punch a free kick away, only for the appeals to be waved away.

Just as the game started to ebb away from Arteta’s men, they were gifted a lifeline when Sanchez carelessly cleared the ball straight to Rice who finished expertly into the empty net with 15 minutes to play. 2-1.

Arsenal were reenergised after their equaliser and with Leandro Trossard, Emile Smith Rowe and Kai Havertz introduced, began to sustain pressure as Chelsea dropped deeper.

And it was one of those substitutes who netted the equaliser with Trossard finishing brilliantly again with the outside of his foot after losing Malo Gusto at the back post. 2-2.

Chelsea were visibly rocked at that stage and Eddie Nketiah was inches away from making it 3-2 after beating Thiago Silva to a long ball, only for his toe-poke to bounce agonisingly wide.

There were seven minutes added on but the game lacked any fluency during injury time and both sides were forced to share the spoils after a breathless evening at Stamford Bridge.

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Vieiraera

Raya out!!

Mayor McCheese

We had three shots on target. Three. That’s Raya’s fault, surely. Also I’m sure it was Raya’s handball that caused the penalty. The other goal, sure, but you could make a case for a fluke. Either way, it was poor from a lot of people today, no need to single out Raya.

Hi-brid

Didn’t look like a fluke to me, to be fair.

Mayor McCheese

Maybe, maybe not. It’s not right to look at Raya for why we dropped points today. We gave them way too many chances and gave ourselves almost none.

Flash

Scapegoating sucks of course. But in the past when we had to rely on young talents, or had to involve 1 or 2 mediocre players because of financial restraints the occasional mistakes had alwalys had a big toll on our overall performances. To win the best league in the world – I think we will have to have stability.

PeSt

They really had zero chances except for the penalty and Rayas confusion.

He’s got no hair but we don’t care...

Of course it’s not right to just look at Raya. It’s right to look at Arteta and why this promised rotation of keepers isn’t happening with Raya doing nothing to keep Ramsdale out.

Dr. Gooner

Arteta didn’t promise a rotation of keepers as far as I’m aware.

Dr. Gooner

That was so obviously a cross…!!

Goonersince55

It was a crot (patent B Mead).

portugunner

and if we defended? maybe there would have been no cross/shot… 🤬

Dr. Gooner

I know we’re conditioned that every goal must be the consequence of some mistake, but let’s be serious, that’s an epic fluke of a goal and there’s no accounting for those.

Ebo

It’s definitely poor form, we’ve been impotent offensively for a while, our midfield hasn’t clicked yet this season and it’s gone fairly uncriticised and unpunished because of how defensively spectacular we’ve been.

It’s just a shame our new goalkeeper has made us less spectacular on that end instead of more.

Bleeding gums murphy

Really miss partey. He makes the midfield click.

Mayor McCheese

He got well and truly interlulled, I guess. Really unfortunate.

Ebo

He was on the bench so it can’t be that bad. Imagine Arteta preferred not to risk him unless we had to defend a lead and he’ll be back on the pitch in midweek.

But yes he does help massively, we deserve to see him and Rice together a lot more than we have so far

PeSt

U much prefer Rice as a lone holding midfielder-

He’s got no hair but we don’t care...

Well said. Ramsdale back in the team will boost that energy.

Sam

Yeah the attacking is more of a worry but Ramsdale for Raya is an easy fix. Cost us one goal, very nearly cost us a second and looked shaky at other times too. And also vs Man City and in champions league. Penalty was different and unlucky, shouldn’t have been a penalty as just natural jumping and he was half a metre away.

RockyRog58

Even after Artetas claims about the keeper situation ? No doubt there’ll be a stat coming out saying the wind was in the wrong direction & at the wrong speed for Rayas perfect positioning ?
He got it wrong simple as !

He’s got no hair but we don’t care...

Yeah you carry on deflecting. I’m sure that’s what Arteta will do when asked about his promised rotation of even the keepers and why that hasn’t materialised even when Raya has exactly been faultless.

Rufusstan

It was bad positioning; not a fluke. It may be that he was told to play like that, but he was there in any event

Takeshita

Raya is born out of nepotism after having had well known & worked with our current GK coach.

Fatgooner

The Raya and Havertz signings have been disastrous, especially when you consider that we needed to spend money elsewhere.

We have gone backwards since last season.

IndoGooners

Lucky for us, Raya is only on loan, so we don’t need to make it permanent

NorthernGooner

It doesn’t matter if he’s a loaned player or not, Arteta has basically told Ramsdale that he doesn’t trust him.

kaius

Some of you take this stuff way, way too personally.

El Mintero

I’m actually gonna say that mudryk’s goal was absolutely a fluke and Raya not at fault for that.

ArsenesLongSufferingZipper

Yes he was. By being horribly out of position.

Adebanjo

That’s absolutely not true. Whether it’s intended as a cross or a shot on goal, it went in because Raya was way off his goal line. That’s calamitous goalkeeping if you ever saw one.

Dr. Gooner

Wait are we having a serious discussion that Raya is at fault for the cross/goal??? Feel free to dislike him or prefer Ramsdale or whatever but that’s crazy talk. No keeper gets near that. The much bigger worry about him was when he passed it straight to a Chelsea player. Can’t happen.

Glenn Helder's Perm

Dave Seaman’s baseball-like glove-hand claws that one out from under the bar every time.

charvakan

Well, he was out of position. Had that “cross” reached the back post, Raya could have done nothing about it. Maybe no GK could have kept the Mudryk crot out, but if anyone could have, it would be Rambo. And yes, Raya’s footwork was not good today or against City. If that’s why Arteta wants him between the sticks, he should take a look at the videos.

Dr. Gooner

What in the world gives you the idea that he was out of position? He’s positioned to field a cross and a cross was attempted.

Norwegian Wood

Bro, Rambo was clipped from the halfway line in the Europa League 😂

That one was very intended and he saw it coming. I didn’t see him keeping it out.

Y’all can stop now 😂

Rufusstan

In the end, if he isn’t in such an advanced position, there is no opportunity to even make the cross/shot

Dr. Gooner

He’s inside his 6!

Ebo

I personally prefer Ramsdale in goal but however he’s performed so far, calling Raya’s signing “disastrous” is over the top silly, we’ve spent 3mil on him so far and he’s a pretty significant upgrade over Matt Turner. Whether he should be starting over Ramsdale is a different question and nothing to do with the transfer If he doesn’t impress this season, we don’t have to pay anything more for him.

As for Havertz, still an open question, far from conclusive. He did assist the winning goal v. City just one match ago.

IndoGooners

If we try to be very objective, Maddison is better than Harverts, and he hates spurs…. idk what happen with our scout team, until we prefer Havertz over Maddison

BLUEBERRY

I think that decision was purely based on injury history and a bringing in a different player. Pretty sure ESR is more than capable. Also we have fabio

Adebanjo

Madison was cheaper too.

Walter White

Havertz gave us something completely different today that no other players does. I really liked it.

BLUEBERRY

Yep. He should be used as our bully against mid table teams like these

Doctor Perceptron

The “foul” on Cucarella felt really harsh. Havertz was already in the air when Cucarella jumped up and into his arm.

Dr. Gooner

Totally dominated his aerial duels. We needed to react better and anticipate the second ball from those.

Frankie

Exactly .. Havertz won all his duels . I’d rather seen him than Nketiah a little earlier in the game….

Adebanjo

On the Raya signing, I agree it’s a good piece of business getting him on loan with no obligation to buy. However his promotion over Ramsdale and the persistence with him has been counter productive in my humble view. While we have not played well with the Harverts experiment and Gabriel’s benching early in the season. The introduction of Raya has witnessed a series (maybe except the 4:0 win over Bournemouth) of docile controlled games where our heavy possession has been largely a result of consistent passing of the ball at the back. I have also observed that this period… Read more »

Dr. Gooner

Is it a case of controlled evolution that has not yet fallen into place, or a case of needless over-complication of what was already a good thing? It depends on who you ask and a case can be made for both. It really comes down to your opinion of Arteta and what you think he’s capable of. I believe that the attacking stagnation is mostly due to a lack of fitness of key players and a revolving door midfield. Granit Xhaka was a consistent presence in midfield and his subtraction has caused a degree of instability. Thomas Partey has not… Read more »

Adebanjo

Yeah. Good reasoning. However we have already dropped 4 points that we gained at a gallop last season with the Spurs and Chelsea draws. But we keep faith. Gunners for ever.

RockyRog58

Apart from Rice I agree Fats !Currently in the Emperors Brew Clothes phase !

RockyRog58

Or even new !!!

He’s got no hair but we don’t care...

I wouldn’t say it’s been disastrous. The Raya thing was I’ll thought out, unfair and unjustified.
Havertz was a big mistake mainly because that money should have been spent on a striker.

Suzi Q

Kai gave the pre assist again…..

Thierry Bergkamp (non negotiable)

Yes, Raya is to blame for a poor team performance.

RAYA OUT!

Joker

We did well to salvage a result from that performance.

I miss Ramsdale.

Bleeding gums murphy

We were terrible. It was like we had never played in the rain before. Got out of jail with a point.

yes

Yeah I don’t usually place much stock in the opinions of Ty from AFTV but I gotta say the phrase “we mustn’t forget it has been raining” was on repeat in my head all game. Which isn’t to say it’s an excuse, but it felt like it was definitely a factor if that makes sense. In the first half it felt like we wanted to play a safe passing game in our own half and on the halfway line and the weather wouldn’t let us, while Chelsea looked like they were up for a proper old-fashioned skirmish and seemed to… Read more »

Dlo

Spot on. Nearly every player who started played poorly. Under the circumstances a point seems like a gift

Dada

Raya. Discuss. Or not.

Goonstein

Crazy goalkeeper. Great one on one. But Jesus, those misplaced passes give me heart attacks.

Dada

3rd consecutive games he’s poor. One win. One draw. One loss. Comparatively against Ramsdale in the same number of games hes been shit.

Cygan’sbaldspot

He’s made 5 or 6 big errors now. If it’s a true meritocracy, which it isn’t, he’d lose his place. I want it to work though and I think it will in time. But how many more costly mistakes will he make before that?

Ebo

Instead of discussing here’s a haiku I just wrote:

Once there was a chap named Aaron
He did a great job for us in goal
Then he was unnecessarily benched

Tomaury Bischfeld

It’s just boring really discussing it all the time.

Dada

We would not be if Raya was evidently better than Aaron. I don’t blame Raya for playing he does not select himself.

TotsOfJack

Tough one. The whole team was below par today. Singling him out doesn’t help. Rice and Martinelli were very good, I think.

Gooner1317

Errors vs City, Spurs, Chelsea, and away to Lens in the UCL.

That’s 4 big games. We’re lucky to get a point after he gave the ball away to Palmer with the goal open.

Ramsdale clear. Anybody who disagrees is blind.

Dr. Gooner

Only the Sith speak in absolutes.

yes

Depends what Arteta considers grounds for dropping a keeper. If he’s making decisions based on a player’s skillset and assumes mistakes are anomalous but inevitable, Raya likely stays on regardless. You can also make an argument it’s early in his Arsenal career, he’s still getting used to things. As for the cross, people have said one of his strong points is claiming crosses, so Mudryk’s goal concession could just be a freak result of what would usually be deemed a strength. But if Arteta thinks these mistakes have crept into Raya’s psyche and are not anomalous but a direct result… Read more »

Gooner1317

If errors are inevitable I’d rather have Rambo making them. It’s not like he was bad at playing out from the back.

This whole great at claiming crosses is because he leaves his goal post open and tries to anticipate too early.

Any mishit cross will lead to danger, like Spurs first goal. Like Mudryk today. They had no true striker and we have Saliba and Gabriel, we don’t need our keeper rushing out of his goal for every damn cross.

Truther

Raya’s a little too short for a top class keeper, no?

yes

princess leia over here

ArsenesLongSufferingZipper

Yeah. What did Iker Casillas ever achieve?

yes

Yeah all 100% fair points (except maybe the crosses one which I would guess you are making off a sample size of one but even then maybe it’s fair). But there are still clear and valid statistical and technical arguments to keep Raya in the team as well. Arteta knows what he wants better than we do and deserves our trust. If Raya is an issue I trust him to see it (the guy isn’t blind contrary to your earlier comment, like he knows the Palmer and Alvarez chances were fuckups). But if he thinks the errors are worth the… Read more »

RockyRog58

Rambo’s only fault was having an opinion other than Artetas! Sad to be honest

yes

what opinion?

RockyRog58

Keep up son They had a disagreement about how he should play Arteta loves his own opinion too much & is way too stubborn Again stop with the stats thing ! Denilson was shit hot statistically but the point of him was ??? Too many FIFA football managers trotting out their printouts Football is about passion will to win teamwork but outdoing your opponent individually is THE start point ! Tired of moments, actions & stats
Bye for now

Dr. Gooner

Take a moment to look at some GK stats. Ramsdale was one of the worst in the league last season compared to the level of his team. I think he’s better than that but the numbers don’t lie over the course of a season. If you scroll through @markstats timeline, you see convincing data that shows that he was an outlier in terms of his ability to progress the ball vs his team’s ability to do so, in a bad way, and he wasn’t good at stopping shots either. It was an obvious area for improvement from an analytics perspective.… Read more »

Madness

Really happy with a point and let’s just be thrilled we got something from this game.

The refs are terrible. Really fucking terrible and destroys the games. Chelsea should have been down to ten after Palmers tackle.

Vonnie

That was another one sided dodgy refereeing performance. The Palmer tackle was a red all day long, how was it not a penalty when Gabi Jesus was taken out by the goalkeeper? Where were the yellow cards for surrounding the referee and a whole lot of other things that Arsenal players get instantly carded for. And Chelsea players won every decision by throwing themselves on the ground and acting. I hate them, and Cucrella is their poster boy, right up there for the award of biggest cunt in the premier league. We were poor, but when you’re not at your… Read more »

karl g

Slow ponderous play and passing around the back his not giving us an edge. Thank goodness for Rice and Trossard waking the team up.

Raya getting chipped still has me worried about his lack of height.

Norwegian Wood

That has happened to a great number of goalkeepers in this league. It’s not about the height. It has happened to Mendy and Ederson. An intended cross that went goalwards and caught out the goalkeeper. Y’all can stop the agenda now.

karl g

What about the 1st Spuds goal. There are situations in this leagues where a shooter keeper will cost you.

karl g

Auto correct. I meant short keeper

JuiceJ

It’s not height but his poor positioning. He got beat by poor position, a few yards towards his goal makes him save that easy.

Public Elneny

It wasn’t his height that was the problem, he was nowhere near it, he could have been 8′ and still not reached it Why was he positioned out in front of his near post? You want your keeper to be positioned towards the edge of the 6 yard box there, but reasonably central. Absolutely no reason to be ahead of the near post unless the forward has reached the byline, close to the goal and the aim is to block the cross at all costs. Any other circumstance and any deep cross, whether it’s on target or to an oppo… Read more »

Norwegian Wood

He was positioned there because Mudryk meant to cross. That was a fluke.

Public Elneny

I know, you shouldn’t be positioned ahead of the near post for a cross from there, that was my point

Norwegian Wood

He was positioned to gather the ball because the cross was to come from Mudryk’s weaker foot. Raya has been plucking crosses from the air since he came in. He knew what he was doing. He had the basics covered. It was a fluke.

Public Elneny

He should be anticipating the cross, but in a central position relative to the goal. Just cos Mudryk was on his left doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of delivering a deep cross, that’s a crazy gamble to make. And if Mudryk did go near post it would have been an easy claim for him whether he was positioned past the near post or where he should have been It was a fluke but there are saveable flukes and unsavable ones. Even if it wasn’t a fluke and had gone towards the backpost forward as intended, Raya would have had no… Read more »

dr Strange

Happy with a point.

Ebo

If this was Chelsea of 3+ years ago, sure. Not against this Chelsea. Not when you’re trying to win the league.

yen

Another week where the post-game focus will be on ref’s decisions & goalkeepers, great.

(I think it’s a penalty according to the rule but the rule is stupid so)

Tobi6footplus

I’ll take that. A point gained considering the circumstances. Great comeback.

Tomaury Bischfeld

Handball: consistent but mental and the rules need to change because it’s just silly

We won’t be beaten and great depth but this team isn’t really functional at the moment, not enjoyable to watch and recent results have flattered us.

Leo is officially a super sub.

10/10 making Chelsea fans miserable.

Hurensohn

They haven’t haven’t been giving them when there’s been a touch really close. It’s a joke decision..

Demonflic

What about when Raya almost gave them another goal? Can we see that in the write up too?

Jack

If Arteta really is ruthless, I think there was enough there today to drop Raya for Ramsdale next Saturday

Crash Fistfight

Next Tuesday

IndoGooners

not only this match but the last 3 matches…. i miss Ramsdale

Norwegian Wood

Follow him on SM.

Dada

We wait to see if he’s a man of word…

Assshavin

Cucurella has to be the biggest cunt in the pl. No doubt hes from la masia

IndoGooners

he should be red carded, 1st half foul to Saka, and then the 2nd half, double yellow

Momozemio

Absolute madness he didn’t get booked on his foul on Saka just before the ref went to see the VAR screen…

Norwegian Wood

He kept kicking and slicing without getting cautioned. Some of his plays were just cuntish too. There was one where the referee had stopped the game and he just clipped Saka. Stupid refereeing

NorthernGooner

erm…..so is Arteta mate

Tayo

We were lucky to get a draw. Why’s Jorginho starting ahead of Partey??? It’s time to see Ramsdale now if Arteta isn’t biased.

Norwegian Wood

How and why?

On what could you fault Raya that was so shambolic, he should lose his place? The penalty? The fluke cross that flew goalwards?

charvakan

The poor passes, the bad positioning…

Norwegian Wood

Ramsdale never makes those errors? He never has? In fact, he lost his place for making those errors and never really doing the basics of this Arsenal team right.

Tobi6footplus

Rice has got some balls of steel with that goal. He didn’t hesitate for a second.

Tomaury Bischfeld

Instant Rice.

ObiKing

That was terrible. Everyone was terrible. I am thinking Partey is not a 100%, because MO, Rice, and Partey are our best three. I also noticed that our players were very hesitant on getting stuck in, maybe they have the Champions league on their minds.

charvakan

Sometimes the other guys have a great game. Our players got “stuck in” plenty, but they didn’t come out of tackles with the ball often enough. Cucurella may be Marouane Fellaini’s minime, but he was all over Saka and with the referee’s indulgence kept him quiet until the assist. Chelsea played some really nice football at times. We’ll learn from this and do better next game.

Sheldon

Hate it when these midtable teams don’t cut their grass. Pitch was terrible. Totally stifled our flow.

thw14

What do you expect them to do though? It’s not like Fernandez (105m) or Mudryk (stupid money) have ever been taught to trap and pass a ball, the lambs.

ArsenesLongSufferingZipper

Shit penalty for their first goal and Raya inexplicably out of position for their second. But we were shit for 75 minutes, so I’ll take the point.

portugunner

jorge out!

Fatgooner

A thoroughly undeserved point.

We were garbage for 70 minutes and didn’t even turn up for the first half. Chelsea looked completely comfortable and should have won it easily. Then their goalkeeper had a brain fart and that opened the door.

Well done to Rice and Trossard.

Please, now, Arteta:RAMSDALE MUST COME BACK!!!!!

Swallow your pride: Raya isn’t good enough and must be dropped!!!!

We got away with it today: LUCKY ARSENAL!!!

Crash Fistfight

Undeserved’s got nothing to do with it, haha

Seriously though, it’s not like Chelsea were that great: a bullshit penalty and a fluke. The breakaway was constantly on for them because they got the first goal. It’s not like they did anything amazing.

Fatgooner

Exactly!!!!! A bang average Chelsea side dominated us! Embarrassing!!!

Dr. Gooner

That bang average Chelsea side cost > 1 billion and includes two players for whom Arsenal wanted to push the boat out. I also have to question your definition of “dominance.” Chelsea registered 1.1 xG in the first half, about 0.7 of which was the penalty.

Dinosauras

It’s just dawned on me – Trump is a GOONER

IndoGooners

100% agree with you, TBH this season is not good as last season, we keep getting lucky, including last match vs city, where we escape 4 mistakes from our GK, and get winning goal by deflection

V h

Raya was Terrible and needs can’t start the next game.

Jorginho not enough pace. Ø was anonymous.

Tomi also deserves to be starting at left back.

IndoGooners

Love Zinchencko, but i think he is better as our DM, instead of LB, i think we bought Timber to be our LB… but for now i think we can start Tomiyasu

Mootilated

hot take but I really don’t rate Zinchenko. He does not fill me with confidence at all.

IndoGooners

not as LB… but he is a good DM, far better than Jorginho, and his position in national team also as DM not as LB

yes

horses for courses

JMD

Toni impressed me today, for the short time he was on. Seems to have adapted well to the inverted back role. Maybe not quite as dynamic as Zinny but more of a physical presence defensively. Versatility makes him a valuable asset,

BLUEBERRY

Tbf on Ode, he did try some wonderful passes on Jesus. Only if Jesus had an ounce more of striker’s killer instinct

db10

Hopefully the last time we see Rice at left 8, playing there wastes his main strength, which is defensive positioning and anticipation (which was where his goal came from). Both Havertz and Smith-Rowe showed they offer more than him going forward.

portugunner

👏 bravo 👏

COYG1001

Huge use of VAR to re-referee. Could have gone either way, but how is that clear and obvious error.

Crash Fistfight

What nobody seems to have mentioned about that was that Mudryk jumps with his hands up in exactly the same way as Saliba. It’s just that the ball got to his head first, so it hit Saliba’s hand instead of going where Saliba was jumping to.

Dr. Gooner

Yeah, massively unfortunate for us. There’s no way he’s trying to gain an advantage there. There’s no time to react to that ball traveling toward his hand, nor would he see flying in that direction with his head down. Poor call.

charvakan

The replay did not show that the header was on goal, imo. On the other hand, when there was a penalty shout later (some chav tried to squeeze through two defenders, creating contact, and went down), and this handball had not been given, I bet the ref would have pointed to the spot. Stamford Bridge crowd.

Norwegian Wood

Odegaard has had a number of poor games this season. This was easily his worst.

Chelsea had pressers in the middle. People who harry opponents once they are in possession of the ball in the midfield. Partey would probably have been better suited for that.

It was pointlessly shaky and we allowed that joke of a team gain a point.

BLUEBERRY

We needed our dribblers today or just hit long with Havertz. Sad our best dribblers in ESR and Partey were ignored.

Shirish

Iff that Nketiah toe poke had gone in…pundits would have given us EPL trophy

Deano

Performance as bad as the weather along with a poor penalty decision but salvaged a point away.

Mootilated

Rice is just. Wow. On a completely different level.

Mentalista

He’s showing that we need to build the team around him. The game only started for us when he dropped to DM.

Mentalista

What’s the explanation for the keepers assault on Jesus not being a penalty? Was the ball out of play?

Norwegian Wood

He didn’t make a contact with Jesus. The bigger contact was on Colwill

Dr. Gooner

Not true. Sanchez’s hip hit Jesus square in the temple. I’ll bet my salary that was a concussion. For whatever reason when it’s the goalkeeper those are seldom given, but I absolutely think it’s a foul.

charvakan

The ball was gone if not already out of play. You hardly ever see keepers penalized for that, and it isn’t rare.

Dr. Gooner

you take out a player without touching the ball = foul. ball gone, ball there, it’s a foul. seems like a magical exception when a GK does it.

Walleye

Only saw the last ten minutes. Grandchildren events this morning.
from what I read these are the points that will win the league. Plat badly, trail by two and nearly win. Wow

Der Kaiser

Rather fortunate today but ultimately the lads demonstrated great resilience and togetherness not giving up. We also showed our depth by substitutes making a difference

The goalkeeping is strange. Time will tell regarding Arteta’s decision. Personally I prefer Ramsdale but I just make the following points:-

– I thought Leno was very good and harshly treated by arrival of Ramsdale. Leno was one of the best keepers in the Premiership last season;

– Ramsdale did make a few errors last season ( including at critical times)

Rice is a real leader!!!

IndoGooners

the difference between Leon’s situation and Ramsdale’s situation is when Ramsdale replaces Leno, we see the instant impact, we see how Ramsdale is better than Leno, while when Raya comes, in the last 4 matches he keeps making mistakes,

Der Kaiser

Not sure what Leno ever did wrong or indeed Martinez

Difficult to separate:-

Martinez
Leno
Ramsdale
Raya

All four walk into Chelsea or Man Utd

BLUEBERRY

Leno and Martinez were sold due to clear reasons. For Ramsdale, Arteta probably wants a more calm head. Can’t be sure if Raya is right guy yet tho

Dr. Gooner

Yeah, resilience, etc. but it was also the manager seeing the game. We lost the physical battle in the middle in the 1st half so could not control the game with the ball. Thus we bring on Tomiyasu. Issue fixed. Then we lacked a ball carrier so we bring on ESR instead of Joginho. Issue fixed. Then we needed a focal point and another goal threat, so we bring on Havertz and Trossard, respectively. Issues fixed. Result is an unlikely 2 goal fightback away from home against one of the better defenses in the PL. That’s enviable squad flexibility and… Read more »

Wengerball

What Champions are made of! It really seemed like we were fading but what an impact from all our subs! COYG!!!

RockyRog58

Character ? Won’t be beat ? In the important moments ? Bollocks!!! Didn’t start didn’t compete til 70 ? Slow ponderous tactic ball !!! Arteta don’t be coming out with that mate ! It’s your team for 90 minutes not 20 !! Thank god for Rice and Rayas unemotional keeping didn’t help today did it ? A desire to win from Rice drove that result & well done Leo ! Not a title winning performance against that shower of shit 4/10

Man Manny

Declan Rice carried the team tonight. No other Arsenal player would punish Sanchez the way he did. What a player!

BLUEBERRY

ESR was incredible and needs more time. Odegaard showed today that even he can have a low day. ESR is more important to Arteta than we realise.

Bill Hall

Glad we salvaged a point and are still unbeaten. We were pretty poor though.
Would like to see Tomi start next game instead of Zinny

Alex

Time to start trusting some of the subs. Odegaard and Jorginho bullied throughout. Arteta needs to take note. Raya needs subbing too

Bill Hall

I think we were good for the draw because as bad as we were for much of the game, the players don’t give up and never seem to know when they are beaten. Yes our first goal was lucky but so was their second so it evens it out!

Dr. Gooner

And their first. An off target header happens to fly into the defender’s outstretched arm. I understand why it was given but there’s no way you can prevent that as a defender. You can’t jump with your arms down.

Parteylikeits2001

Who knew shots on target produce goals, ey?

thw14

We should’ve adjusted better to the rain and the deliberately dug up pitch, but Chelsea were shit, made several mistakes that should’ve been punished, and had two of the luckiest goals a home team will ever benefit from in the same game. Good spirit to come back, sometimes you have to draw ugly to win this league.

I don’t know what to make of Raya. Like Mad Jens in an Ospina body.

He’s got no hair but we don’t care...

COYG!!!
Ramsdale must return.

Arteta ball

I hope Raya is an experiment and it should be stopped.

ZenithReptile

Well that was mad. My 2 year old lost his shit when we equalised. Had to do an emergency change while we were both screaming at the tv

Dr. Gooner

LOL. We have a 15 month old, he has a lot to learn about The Arsenal.

Dr. Gooner

Chelsea: Chelsea caught Arsenal out with how aggressive they were in the press. We knew they would mark man to man, but I don’t think we expected the ferocity of it. Pochettino also surprised by playing Palmer as a false 9, a new look for them, which made it difficult for the CBs to know what to expect. Their FBs unexpectedly held up 1 v 1 against Saka and Martinelli, albeit neither of them is 100% Arsenal Arteta’s selection of a lightweight midfield (excepting Rice) played into Chelsea’s hands by tipping the scales in their favor in the duels in… Read more »

CLEGooner

Wait, “Malo Gusto”? Is that real? Like, the guys name is Bad Taste?

Suzi Q

Ramsdale seemingly a better goalkeeper since he’s been on the bench🤔

Suzi Q

Biggest disaster was Chris Kavanagh…mirrored his appalling display at Newcastle. No red, foul at will and no penalty.

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