Chelsea took on Arsenal with the Blues looking to bounce back from a disappointing 4-1 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion last time out in the league. Lacklustre with their passing and completely toothless in attack, however, the home side found themselves on the back foot right from kick-off and rode their luck on multiple occasions in the first half. CFC’s struggles against the Gunners continued into the second half and poor defending from a corner culminated in Gabriel tapping the ball home to give AFC all three points and propel his side back up to the top of the league. Here are the lessons learnt from the 1-0 loss.
Boring, boring Chelsea
Perhaps aware of the threat that Mikel Arteta’s side would pose on the break, Graham Potter’s approach to the game was notably cautious. Content to allow Arsenal the majority of possession, the visitors promptly asserted control over the proceedings of the game straight from kick-off. 20 minutes into the game and the home side found themselves constantly penned in and unable to progress the ball upfield. Crucially, Arsenal’s high-pressing set-up had awarded them with multiple turnovers in dangerous areas and Chelsea could not even clear their lines effectively. Potter’s counter-attacking set-up was simply not working. On the rare occasions the Englishman’s side succeed in getting the ball out to Raheem Sterling or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, both players’ obvious lack of close control meant that the ball was quickly recycled back into Arsenal hands.
Further compounding matters was the lack of chemistry amongst Chelsea’s forwards. Sterling, Aubameyang and Havertz greatly struggled to string any notable passes together and generally failed to exploit any promising offensive scenarios. There was a moment in the first half when an excellent goal-kick from Edouard Mendy had found Kai Havertz in a pocket of space on the right side of the pitch. Driving the ball into an ideal crossing position, Havertz failed to notice that Aubameyang had managed to peel off his man inside the box and promptly swung in a high arching cross (which he overhit) instead of a low driven one. Considering how little of the ball the west London outfit had, the players’ inability to exploit the rare opportunities they were presented with became all the more infuriating. This was a difficult match to watch and remained largely in line with the recent, lacklustre performances that Potter’s men have turned in against the likes of Manchester United and Brighton. The World Cup break cannot come quickly enough for Graham Potter who must be in desperate need of some respite. Until then, his side have to dust themselves off and go again or risk being utterly blown away by Manchester City in the League Cup.