Chelsea vs Arsenal: Quick observations from an atrocious performance

Chelsea struggled once again to convert chances and a terrible error by Jorginho sealed its fate early in a truly terrible loss to a demoralized and languid Arsenal side. The Blues blew the three points against Arsenal with a terrible performance at Stamford Bridge, further jeopardizing a Premier League top four spot and 2021/22 Champions League qualification.

They seemed to be in command early and at the 10′ mark, Kai Havertz earned what we’ve seen little of this season, a breakaway in on goal alone. The result? He skied the shot over the bar. This was an inexcusable miss by the talented young German and these struggles continue to characterize a Chelsea attack that, at times, seems to be its own worst enemy. The Blues still await and labor for the goal breakout that they have been seeking for seemingly months. When will this breakout happen in 2020/21? Maybe it will not happen at all.

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Happy early Christmas as Chelsea gifts Arsenal a goal and the game

Meanwhile, at the 16′, Jorginho gifted the Gunners a goal. He passed the ball almost into his own net and Arsenal capitalized after a nice Kepa Arrizabalaga save of the miscue. Unfortunately, the Gunners recovered the ball and slotted it in. It was an own goal in all but the statistics for Jorginho. A sorry episode that put Chelsea behind the 8-ball against a demoralized and deflated Arsenal side, but still a side with talent. Emile Smith Rowe converted the Jorginho gaffe and the rest of the game continued along the same lines. Jorginho’s attacking deficiencies are evident in every contest and when he destroys the side’s ability to win a game with poor defense, including a pass almost into his own net, it’s time for the club to consider alternatives in central midfield. Should Tuchel continue his exiling of Tammy Abraham, perhaps a swap deal with West Ham adding Declan Rice might be in order. It’s certainly worth considering.

Had Chelsea possessed the requisite depth it could have/should have (Tuchel’s loss of Mateo Kovacic to injury and his imperative to rest N’Golo Kante) were keenly felt today against a demoralized Gunners side that should have been blown off the pitch by the Blues. Jorginho should have been pulled right off the pitch after that gaffe. In addition, this match was a perfect opportunity for Tuchel to once again insert Mount into the midfield as a No. 6 with Billy Gilmour and use a more assertive front line that should’ve included either Timo Werner or Hakim Ziyech. This was a huge starting line-up mistake by Tuchel and it cost the Blues significantly. Chelsea was simply out-of-sync throughout and couldn’t achieve a breakthrough, never mind a breakout.

Mount again missed a golden opportunity at the 23′ minute on a perfect pass out from Christian Pulisic and once again, Chelsea couldn’t capitalize on a silver-plated opportunity. Pulisic must have been shaking his head in disbelief as Mount’s effort was blocked in front of the net. This loss against a truly languid Arsenal side doesn’t bode well for the electric games ahead. Any performances even remotely resembling this one will spell a deflated Chelsea and its fandom, should it recur in any of the very critical Premier League-qualifying and/or Cup winning games. This was just an awful performance. Yet, much of the responsibility has to be placed on the manager, who declined to utilize his best line-up in light of getting the imperative players ready to play against Leicester this weekend in the FA Cup final.

In the second half, Tuchel brought on Callum Hudson-Odoi. Fine, but rather than pulling Jorginho, he pulled the effective Billy Gilmour, a move that made little sense whatsoever when you needed better attacking performance. The only saving grace was that he dropped Mount back into the midfield, where he should have started the match. At least that was some consolation, but it was too little too late by Tuchel. The Blues were flat and the setback early caused by their own midfielder was inescapable—they gave away the tilt.

What they needed was a shot of Werner’s pace, and maybe Ziyech’s finesse in the starting line-up. A late insertion of the largely forgotten and ignored Olivier Giroud also made no difference in the outcome, though he came close to scoring. If this Chelsea side is the one on the pitch Saturday, the FA Cup will again be at risk as it was lost last season to this Arsenal side. That’s how demoralizing this totally unacceptable and miserable loss was. Hopefully, Tuchel’s team selection will be better on Saturday and help to win the FA Cup rather than destroy any hope for a victory in the first 11 minutes of the tie. If not, there will be the same disappointment Saturday night as last season.

This loss is on the manager.