Full time: Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea (Alexis, Walcott, Ozil)
A terrific win for Arsenal, who overwhelmed an admittedly poor Chelsea with some lovely football in the first half. Mesut Ozil was wonderful, Alex Iwobi and Alexis were excellent too, and Mustafi and Koscielny looked solid at the back. It’s a very, very happy anniversary for Arsene Wenger – not just the result but the way it was achieved. Thanks for your company; goodnight.
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90 min There will be three minutes of added time.
89 min Arsenal’s last league win over Chelsea was that hilarious 5-3 at Stamford Bridge in 2011.
86 min Luiz will definitely be the Bonucci in Conte’s back three. That long through pass to Batshuayi was so good.
85 min Pedro, on the left corner of the box, endangers the denizens of Holloway Road with an abysmal shot.
84 min David Luiz breaks up an Arsenal attack and plays a magnificent left-footed pass to put Batshuayi through on goal. He runs into the box before drilling it low towards goal; Cech spreads himself to deflect it for a corner. He should probably have scored.
83 min Costa is booked for dissent.
82 min Azpilicueta’s long-range shot is comfortably saved by Cech. It might have been going wide anyway. If so, Chelsea still haven’t had a shot on target in this game.
80 min Gibbs clears Alonso’s cross brilliantly under extreme pressure at the far post.
78 min Arsene Wenger makes his final change, with Olivier Giroud replacing the Duracell bunny named Alexis.
76 min “Conte is class,” says William Hargreaves. “A fantastic signing. Agreed he will need time. Maybe he’s been signed with a move towards a longer-term vision in mind? I think that frequently we don’t acknowledge the undoubted intelligence and skill within the plethora of talented managers in the PL. We’re all ‘Einsteins’, I suppose Mou would say.”
I hope so. The short-termism in football - and the media are as guilty as anyone here - is pathetic and damaging.
75 min Costa looks weary as he moves down the right. He has been Chelsea’s best player by a mile and can hold his head up high before he sticks it on an Arsenal defender in frustration.
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73 min Costa robs Kosicelny on the halfway line, with Pedro picking up the loose ball and scooting towards goal. He’s quick but Bellerin is even quicker and makes a superb interception.
71 min Chelsea move the last two deckchairs on the Titanic: Willian and Hazard are replaced by Pedro and Michy Batshuayi.
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70 min Arsenal bring on Kieran Gibbs for the excellent Iwobi.
69 min Courtois makes an excellent save with his right foot to deny Walcott, who beat Alonso after receiving Iwobi’s nice pass.
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67 min Ivanovic, 30 yards from goal, mistakes himself for Peter Lorimer. Goal kick to Arsenal.
64 min Cahill, who has had a spectacular stinker, dithers again and hits a clearance against Walcott. It bounces across the idea and Cahill has to hoof it desperately out for a throw-in on the other side of the pitch. Chelsea have been awful.
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63 min Antonio Conte is a fantastic manager, who has had instant success in the past. It’s not going to happen here. There’s a lot of work to do with this team, and he shouldn’t be judged or questioned until at least the middle of next season.
61 min Costa can’t get enough purchase on a header from Azpilicueta’s cross and it drifts harmlessly across the box. Chelsea haven’t had a shot on target.
60 min “That’s the thing with Ozil,” says Matt Dony. “He’s not ostentatiously skilful, he’s not a showboater, he’s not one of those dressing room ‘characters’. But he can do ridiculous things with a football. His highlights reel is a thing to behold. On form, he is an absolute pleasure to watch.”
He’s a sometimes inefficient genius. There has never been a player quite like him, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s nickname, ‘The Ghost’, is perfect. Crap first touch though.
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58 min Arsenal are having a laugh, entirely at Chelsea’s expense. An incisive angled through pass from Ozil is too fast for Walcott to control and it runs through to Courtois.
56 min Arsenal showboat repeatedly during a promising attack: Ozil’s turn, then Sanchez’s scoop, then Iwobi’s dummy. It didn’t lead a goal or anything like that, but it looked nice. And a fourth goal is coming very soon.
55 min Chelsea make their first substitution: Alonso replaces Fabregas, whose performance was soundtracked by Brian Eno. That means Chelsea have switched to a 3-4-3 formation.
53 min That should have been 4-0. Iwobi, Ozil and especially Xhaka played nice passes to free Walcott on the right of the box. He had Sanchez in the middle but hopelessly overhit a lofted cross in his direction.
50 min Chelsea have had plenty of the ball since half-time, though they have produced the square root of naff all with it.
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47 min “Arsenal are, in the vernacular of the modern youth, feeling themselves, and Chelsea don’t seem too happy about it,” says JR. “I sense a simmering anger emanating from them. Luiz has already looked like he was on the hunt a couple times. I figure he and Matic are the most likely red cards. I would say Costa was most likely but we all know he’s immune to appropriate punishment.”
Feeling themselves?
46 min Peep peep! Arsenal begin the second half, swaggering from right to left.
Time, time, time to understand the monster
The moral of the first month of the Premier League’s inaugural Superboss Season is surely that even great managers need time. Who knew?
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“Even Conte’s hair looks cheesed off - it’s lost its bounce and wave,” says Charles Antaki “I wouldn’t be surprised if it refuses to come out for the second half.”
That’d be a neat variation on the half-time hairdryer
“Rob, watch that Ozil goal again,” says Sam Hankins. “He absolutely, deliberately bounced that ball off the pitch. Every move was intentional. Ozil is...is...Homeric!”
You might be right. After growing up watching players like Brian Kilcline and Gary Coatsworth, I just assumed it was luck. There are few players who could pull off such a thing but he is one of them. I remember one astonishingly clever piece of skill to earn a penalty against Bayern in 2013-14. A penalty he then missed meekly, but let’s not dwell on that.
Half-time reading
Half time: Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea
After three and a half years without a league goal against Chelsea, Arsenal scored three in a half. Arsenal were as excellent as Chelsea were inept. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45+1 min Fabregas’s free-kick from the left is punched meekly by Cech, and Hazard lashes a volley into the side-netting from a tight angle.
45 min What’s the Italian for ‘shambles’?
44 min David Luiz takes out his frustration on Alexis’s left leg, and is lucky not to be booked.
42 min “Well done Arsène for some nifty work in finding someone who looks exactly like Theo Walcott but who tracks back, tackles, wins balls, make timely decisions and scores,” says Charles Antaki. “I suppose the real Theo is bound and gagged somewhere deep in an Emirates broom-cupboard.”
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea (Ozil 40)
Mesut Ozil settles the match before half-time. Ozil turned Kante exquisitely in his own half and loafed forward on a two-on-two break. He played it through to Sanchez on the right of the box, and he returned it with a chipped cross beyond the far post. Ozil watched it carefully onto his left foot, mishit his sidefoot volley completely - and saw it bounce over Courtois and in off the far post.
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38 min Costa has been superb for Chelsea, one of the who looks affronted by the score and determined to do something about it. This is a fascinating game, because if Chelsea get one then the Arsenal team will become the Squeaky Bum Collective, yet if Arsenal score next they could administer serious pasting.
37 min Chelsea have given the ball away so often in their own half tonight, and Ivanovic does it again to start an Arsenal attack. Eventually, after neat footwork from Iwobi, Cazorla overhits his pass down the left to Monreal.
35 min “Says a lot about Ivanovic and Cahil when you make Luiz look solid,” sniffs Salman Majid.
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34 min “You know how there’s an argument to be made that the most exciting Messi was Messi-with-the-long-hair - not because it was the best Messi, but because potential is always more tantalizing than the realization?” says Phil Podolsky. “Now taking this vague dictum and applying it to Cesc, adjusting for magnitude of talent, is almost too sad. A tired mercenary who’s still good at football, not something you’d invoke the word ‘frisson’ over. Whereas in 2005...”
He hasn’t been bad today. He’s been anonymous, which is worse in many ways.
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33 min “Evening Rob,” says Andy Bradshaw. “I’m agog, agog I tell you, to see how Arsenal cock this up. I’m going for Costa ripping someone’s arm off & then using it to hit the winner in injury time after Walcott misses an open goal three times.”
In one sitting?
32 min Xhaka replaces Coquelin, who looks pretty sad as he hobbles down the tunnel.
30 min Sanchez tries to flip the free-kick over the wall, Koeman-style. Matic jumps and heads it behind for a corner, from which nothing happens. Coquelin is struggling after that thunderous block tackle with Kante and I think he’ll need to come off.
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28 min Coquelin makes an excellent block tackle on the edge of the box as Kante tries to shoot. Arsenal break superbly and Ivanovic trips Iwobi in the D after a lovely one-two with Alexis. Ivanovic is booked.
25 min Bellerin’s stinging low shot is deflected behind by the stretching Cahill. One corner begets another but nothing comes of it, not even for those who waited.
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24 min Chelsea have stirred. Hazard, who is especially busy, had a 16-yard shot blocked by Koscielny after good play from Costa and Willian.
22 min “It’s interesting the lack of hype around Iwobi... for my money, he is one of the most exciting young talents in years in England,” says Andrew Hurley. “A near perfect technique, stature and a rare awareness for someone of his age. Arsenal have a real gem here...”
I’ve only seen him in a few games but I agree. The big thing, as you say, is his awareness. That usually only comes with experience.
21 min Chelsea’s first chance. Hazard combines neatly with Costa before releasing Willian on the right of the box. He has time to take a touch before driving a crisp low shot just wide of the far post.
19 min Sanchez shuffles away from Ivanovic on the edge of the box before dragging a weak shot well wide of the far post.
18 min Chelsea have only two problems: they look terrible with the ball, and even worse without it.
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That was glorious football. Iwobi and Ozil played a one-two-three just outside the box before Iwobi an angled through pass to Bellerin, who ran off the lazy Hazard and into the box. He fizzed it first time across the area to give Walcott a simple finish from eight yards. That was clean, quick and incisive, though Hazard was negligent in letting Bellerin go.
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GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea (Walcott 14)
This is a sensational team goal!
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (Alexis 11)
Arsenal take the lead after a bad mistake from Gary Cahill. He dithered on the ball just inside his own half before shaping to pass it back to the keeper. As he did so Sanchez robbed him and ran clear before chipping the ball gently and sweetly over Courtois. That was a beautiful finish. Unlike the goal against Swansea, there was no suggestion of a foul there. Cahill just had a brainfade.
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10 min Fabregas is penalised, though not booked, for a late tackle on Coquelin.
9 min Walcott zooms i to the area, where Cahill makes a good sliding tackle. Bellerin, backing up the play, rakes a shot that is defected behind for a corner. Nothing comes of it but this has been a fine start from Arsenal.
6 min Chelsea, in the parlance of our time, have parked the bus. They are defending deep and in numbers before springing on the counter-attack. There’s already a sense of inevitability about Arsenal having 81 per cent of the possession and losing 2-0.
4 min Cazorla’s swooshing 25-yarder is beaten away by the plunging Courtois, a comfortable save really. Chelsea break and Costa lumbers to the edge of the area before Koscielny trips him. Chelsea have a free-kick on the right edge of the area, but Willian overhits it. Costa’s every touch is being booed with gusto.
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3 min As Darren Fletcher points out on BT Sport, these teams are both eight points behind City going into the game. That’s a lot against a team managed by Pep Guardiola. Wenger out! Conte out! Everyone out!
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2 min “How Ivanovic keeps getting into the team after more than a year of bad games is beyond me,” says Salman Majid. “He’s slow, has the worst cross and can no longer defend properly.”
You should see his pass-completion stats though.
1 min Peep peep! Chelsea, in blue, kick off from right to left. Arsenal are in red and white.
Nineteen years ago this weekend...
An email! From William Hargreaves!
“Who’s to say it will only be ‘one last title under Wenger’, he says, looking around with a ‘well, what?’ look on his face?”
Do you want me to break that face?
Team news
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Cazorla, Coquelin; Walcott, Ozil, Iwobi; Alexis.
Substitutes: Ospina, Holding, Gibbs, Xhaka, Lucas, Giroud, Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1) Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, David Luiz, Azpilicueta; Kante; Willian, Fabregas, Matic, Hazard; Diego Costa.
Substitutes: Begovic, Pedro, Batshuayi, Chalobah, Oscar, Moses, Alonso.
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Preamble
Hello. Throughout Arsene Wenger’s time as manager, Arsenal v Chelsea has been a reliable mismatch. For the first eight years, Arsenal always beat Chelsea; for the last 12, since Wayne Bridge Night at Highbury, Chelsea have been specialists in Arsenal.
Even last season, when Chelsea were fifty shades of shambles, Arsenal lost home and away to them. They haven’t scored a single league goal against Chelsea in the last three seasons. But, as Johan Cruyff didn’t say, in every negative there is a positive. If Arsenal beat Chelsea today, it will empower them significantly and leave them with one fewer demon to exorcise if they are to win one last title under Wenger.
The mutual loathing of these sides is driven largely by their distinct identities. This season, however, they have plenty in common: five games, 10 points, plenty of late goals and a reality check at home to Liverpool. We aren’t much the wiser as to whether they are serious title challengers; today’s match should give us a few more clues. Or Chelsea might just beat Arsenal on autopilot again.
Kick off is at 5.30pm.
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