Barney Ronay on Alexandre Lacazette
Sarri accuses Chelsea players
No word from Maurizio Sarri. So that’s your lot! A big win for Arsenal; a big worry for Maurizio Sarri, whose Chelsea continue to stutter. It’s going to be some battle for the Champions League places now. Thanks for reading!
Unai Emery speaks! He praises the atmosphere, wanting to win the derby for the fans. This victory will give the team optimism, he says, and Arsenal can be happy. His team need to find a balance home and away, because they are very strong at home. They are going to continue working to find that balance.
Dominic Fifield was our man at the Emirates tonight. Here’s his match report!
That’s only Bernd Leno’s second clean sheet in the Premier League. No coincidence that captain Laurent Koscielny, today’s man of the match, is back in the team after that lengthy injury lay-off. No coincidence that the midfield consists of that hard-working Torreira-Xhaka-Guendouzi axis. You have to wonder how much longer Mesut Ozil will be at the club. But that’s a debate for another day. Arsenal were marvellous this evening, and after a rocky period will be considering the possibility of Champions League football next season, something that seemed well beyond them not so long ago. It’ll be a hell of a battle, though, when you factor Manchester United’s absurd momentum into the equation. Misfiring Chelsea might be worried that they’re heading in the opposite direction. Sarri has a few things to think about.
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FULL TIME: Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea
And that’s that! Arsenal deservedly win this big London derby! They regain fifth spot, above Manchester United on goal difference, having got back on the horse after last week’s defeat at West Ham. Chelsea’s stuttering form continues, though, and now they’re just three points ahead of the Gunners in fourth. A huge win for Unai Emery; a worrying performance for Maurizio Sarri.
90 min +5: Barkley is booked for an Eighties-style lunge on Guendouzi. “Koscielny has been tremendous today,” says Kári Tulinius. “He seems like a really nice guy, so I’m pleased for him that he’s back from injury. As an Arsenal fan I’m also happy, because a fully fit Koscielny is, to borrow a phrase, like a new signing.”
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90 min +4: Chelsea stroke it about. But Arsenal hold their shape. Giroud crosses from the left to nobody. Leno gathers.
90 min +2: Kante is this close to sending Hazard away down the middle. But Maitland-Niles gets a toenail to the pass, diverting it away from danger. What a last-ditch intervention!
90 min +1: That’s given Chelsea a little boost, and Hazard goes scampering down the left. He shuttles the ball further forward for Barkley, who reaches the byline and rolls a ball across the face of goal. Whereupon Giroud fresh-air swipes. It’s not Chelsea’s day.
90 min: There will be six additional minutes.
89 min: It’s all very scrappy, and that suits Arsenal just fine.
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87 min: Alonso goes dancing down the inside-left channel. he beats a couple of challenges before eventually clattering into Koscielny and conceding a foul. An opportunity for Arsenal to manage the clock, as the defender takes his own sweet time to get back up, in the professional style.
85 min: Iwobi tears down the left. He drives at Azpilicueta before rolling a pass inside for Elneny, who hoicks a shot miles over the bar from distance.
84 min: Torreira has put in some shift today, and unsurprisingly goes down with cramp. He gets back up and will be fine to continue, but expect plenty of added time at the end of the 90.
83 min: Space for Alonso down the left. He loops towards the far post, where Hudson-Odoi lurks. But Kolasinac rises highest, and guides the calmest of headers back towards Leno.
81 min: Elneny dinks a pass down the inside-left channel. Kolasinac opts for the spectacular, looking to volley across Kepa and into the top right. Full marks for ambition, and it’s a decent enough effort, too. He catches it well, and it deflects off Rudiger. The resulting corner comes to nothing.
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80 min: Hudson-Odoi comes on for Pedro.
79 min: Pedro and Alonso combine well down the left, and the latter earns a corner off Maitland-Niles. Hazard whips it long. Alonso wafts his hand in Maitland-Niles’ face as they compete for the ball. No foul. Instead, it’s another wasted corner.
77 min: Pedro does enough to win a corner off Sokratis down the left, but he’s not getting the decision. He has the good grace to laugh at his own misfortune. Then Hazard dribbles with purpose down the right, before cutting inside and sending a screamer over the bar in an attempt to find the top left.
76 min: Chelsea are beginning to push Arsenal back again. The home side are struggling to get hold of the ball. But they hold their shape, and the clock ticks on.
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74 min: Barkley fizzes a ball across the face of the Arsenal goal from left to right, but there’s nobody in blue to take advantage.
73 min: Hazard strokes a diagonal pass towards Pedro, just inside the Arsenal box on the right. Pedro takes a fresh-air swipe at the ball. The home support manage a quiet “yay”, but their heart’s not in it. The Emirates is a wee bit deflated in the wake of Bellerin’s injury.
72 min: Pedro comes across to wish Bellerin the best as he’s carted off. The poor lad’s got his leg in a splint, and his arm over his eyes. He gets a warm, sympathetic ovation as he departs down the tunnel. Elneny comes on in his stead.
70 min: Bellerin is down, and sadly it looks serious. There didn’t seem to be any contact as he went down independently, and he immediately grabbed his left leg. He’s currently being loaded onto a stretcher.
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68 min: Changes all round. Arsenal replace Ramsey and Lacazette with Maitland-Niles and Iwobi, while Chelsea swap Willian for Giroud. A strange one that from Sarri; Willian’s looked one of Chelsea’s big dangers this evening.
66 min: Barkley has a dig that catches poor Koscielny in the fruit bowl. Ooyah, oof.
65 min: Chelsea are seriously rocking all of a sudden. Aubameyang sends Bellerin clear down the right. He’s got Lacazette free in the middle, waiting to tap in. But allows Rudiger to deflect the cross out for a corner, which leads to nowt. How is this still 2-0?
64 min: And now Kolasinac bombs down the inside-left channel and into the Chelsea box! He’s only got Kepa to beat, but the angle’s tight so he looks to find Torreira in the middle. However Alonso’s on hand to make a last-ditch clearance!
63 min: First up, Barkley comes on in place of Kovacic. Then Torreira takes the free kick, and floats it to the far post, where Aubameyang only just fails to connect.
62 min: A lovely sweeping move by Arsenal, right to left, featuring Xhaka, Guendouzi and Kolasinac. Eventually Lacazette jigs down the inside left and is clattered by Jorginho. A free kick in a very dangerous position.
61 min: Chelsea are beginning to press Arsenal back. The hosts are struggling to get out of their final third. Willian is seeing an awful lot of the ball on the left; he drops a shoulder to mooch inside before seeing his shot from the edge of the box blocked, and bounce softly towards Leno.
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59 min: Hazard plays the cutest reverse pass down the inside-left channel, releasing Kovacic into the area. Kovacic pulls one back, but Koscielny stoops to cushion the cross down with his chest, and Bellerin belts the dropping ball clear.
57 min: Willian dribbles down the left again. Upon reaching the byline, he’s stopped by Sokratis’ slide. The ball clanks off the Chelsea winger, and the Arsenal defender, fist clenched, celebrates the tackle like another might a goal.
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56 min: His mood’s nearly improved as Willian sashays down the left and pulls back for Pedro, who has romped clear of Guendouzi. But Pedro slashes wildly over the bar from the edge of the box.
55 min: Azpilicueta, out right, slips a diagonal pass into the Arsenal area. But everyone in blue is back on their heels, and it’s an easy interception for Torreira. On the touchline, Sarri continues to fume, waving his arms about and screaming at his players.
53 min: Willian finds a little time and space down the left. His cross is deflected out ... but for a goal kick, slapping into the back of Alonso, who was in the process of undertaking him. Chelsea are beginning to look a little frustrated. “Emery justifies the tactical decision to leave out Ozil when the team hassle, press, tackle and play with high levels of energy like this,” observes William Hargreaves. “Cf. Aubameyang chasing back.”
51 min: And the luck’s been on their side too, of course. There’s Koscielny’s goal, and now Torreira slices horribly on the edge of his own area, only for the ball to evade all nearby blue shirts and drop into the grateful arms of Leno.
50 min: An almighty scramble in the Arsenal box, Willian, Hazard and Jorginho making their presence felt. But they can’t carve out a shooting opportunity, and the ball eventually balloons up into the arms of Leno. Chelsea have had the majority of the possession this evening, but Arsenal continue to look comfortable.
48 min: Hazard probes down the left but there aren’t many options for him. He eventually lays off to Willian, who flicks a pass down the channel, expecting Hazard to be there as well. But even the Belgian maestro can’t be in two places at once.
47 min: Kolasinac goes barrelling down the left wing a couple of times. The first occasion sees him nearly find Ramsey with a cutback, the second has him flagged offside. Both times, he was in acres. Chelsea need to get wise to this.
Here we go again! Chelsea get the second half underway. There have been no half-time changes. The visitors were sent out early by Maurizio Sarri, who may or may not have given his team some trenchant advice during the break.
Half-time reading. As things stand, Arsenal will be back in fifth place, three points behind Chelsea and ahead of Manchester United on goal difference. Whatever happens in the second half, the race for Europe is hotting up.
HALF TIME: Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea
A most satisfactory first half for the Gunners, who have been by far the better team. Chelsea have had their moments, but have never quite got themselves going. They’ll need a big improvement in the second half if they’re to stage a grand comeback.
45 min +1: In the first of two added minutes, Hazard clips the free kick to the near post, where it’s easily dealt with by Koscielny. Within seconds, the ball is all the way back with Kepa.
45 min: Willian takes. Alonso rises on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, and sends a header across Leno and off the bottom of the left-hand post! Arsenal hack clear, only to concede a free kick to the left of the area.
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44 min: Hazard dribbles hard down the left, reaches the byline, and whips a low cross through the six-yard box. Pedro can’t get near it at the far post. But the ball’s recycled and Koscielny is forced to bundle it out for a corner. That set piece, out on the right, leads to another. From which ...
43 min: Chelsea give up possession easily yet again. This time it allows Lacazette to zip with purpose into enemy territory. Chelsea are light at the back, and the striker has options either side. But he’s caught between passing and shooting, and eventually does neither. On the touchline, Maurizio Sarri looks quite some distance beyond irritated.
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41 min: Chelsea look collectively shaken at their plight. They’re struggling to string more than a couple of passes together. The Emirates meanwhile is bouncing.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea (Koscielny 39)
Luiz is booked for sliding in on Ramsey, wide on the right. The resulting free kick is sent to the other flank, where Sokratis crosses with the outside of his boot. The ball dips towards Koscielny, six yards out. Koscielny misses his header, but the ball loops off his right shoulder and into the top right, having taken an absurd arc. A huge stroke of luck, but Arsenal had been pressing and probing again.
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37 min: Kolasinac reaches the byline down the left and hooks back for Aubameyang, who attempts to whip an overhead into the top right from 12 yards. The ball drifts inches wide of the post. What an effort!
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36 min: A brief brouhaha in the Arsenal box, and the ball nearly breaks to Kovacic. But not quite. Arsenal don’t look solid at the back at all, like that’s breaking news.
34 min: Luiz fires a long pass down the middle. Pedro briefly threatens to get in ahead of Kolasinac, but Leno comes to the edge of his box to claim. Route one can be beautiful, as Neves and Jota proved at Molineux earlier today. That pass from Luiz was nearly as pretty ... but not as devastating.
33 min: Lacazette is furious as he takes a quick free kick to send Xhaka into space down the right, only for the ref to blow up because he wants to talk to the transgressor Kovacic. When the game eventually restarts, Arsenal win another free kick out on the left. Kepa easily deals with Xhaka’s set piece, but this is a little better from Arsenal, who have faded somewhat after their blistering start.
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31 min: Alonso dribbles down the left and wins a corner. Willian to take. Leno punches clear with great feeling, sending the ball almost to the halfway line. There was a good shot of the Arsenal corner flag there, by the way; the embroidery of the crest is of the highest quality. Not a stitch dropped.
29 min: Ramsey nicks the ball off Kovacic, who was faffing around 25 yards from goal. Ramsey creams an effort towards the top left, but Kepa’s behind it all the way. “You’re wrong about that door in the Juventus dressing room,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “The only person allowed in there was Gigi Buffon, whose personal Hair Product Storage Area it was. That was before PSG offered him a bigger HPSA, of course, staffed with several of Paree’s best coiffures.”
27 min: To further illustrate Chelsea gaining a foothold in this match, they’ve enjoyed 80 percent of possession in the last five minutes.
25 min: Many apologies for the break in communication. The Commodore VIC-2o I write these things on just threw the mother and father of all hissy fits. I’ve given it a batter with a hammer and here we are again. Happily we’ve not missed a great deal: Lacazette and Jorginho have both flashed speculative shots over the bar, and Chelsea are much more in the game now.
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18 min: Luiz scoops a lovely pass down the inside-left channel to release Pedro into the Arsenal area. Pedro was played onside by Kolasinac, who was miles behind his team-mates. Penny for the thoughts of Tony Adams and Steve Bould. Pedro’s lob sails wide right of the empty net. Lucky Arsenal.
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17 min: Azpilicueta is robbed out on the Chelsea left. That allows Aubameyang to tear towards the Chelsea area with great intent. He twists this way and that, and eventually pokes a shot straight at Kepa, who smothers.
16 min: That was a belter, and no less than Arsenal deserve for their fast start. Chelsea have looked uncharacteristically uncertain.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (Lacazette 14)
The corner from the left leads to another on the right. From that, Bellerin crosses to Lacazette, level with the near post, ten yards out with his back to goal. Lacazette takes touch and spins outside Alonso, then lashes an unstoppable riser into the top right from a tight angle! Kepa was beaten at his near post, but such was the venom behind that strike he had little chance of stopping it!
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13 min: Torreira takes, and curls a stunning in-swinging free kick towards Koscielny. He’s six yards out, and has to score, but his header, sent towards the top left, is too close to Kepa. Kepa still does extremely well to tip the ball over the bar, mind, a fine reflex save. And from the corner ...
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12 min: Lacazette is bowled over by Pedro, out on the Arsenal left. Another free kick for Arsenal in a dangerous position.
10 min: The first period of Chelsea possession in Arsenal territory. Alonso probes down the left. Then the visitors switch it. Azpilicueta whips in a low ball from the right, and Hazard - nipping in ahead of Sokratis, who was playing him onside by sitting yards deep - slams a first-time sidefoot wide right. That’s a great chance, too. Both Aubameyang and Hazard will think they should be on the scoresheet already.
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8 min: To prove the point, Arsenal swing this next one into the mixer in the basic style, and Sokratis rises above Kovacic at the far post. He can’t get his header on target, the ball flashing wide right. But it’s an awful lot better than the nonsense that preceded it.
7 min: Persistent work by Ramsey down the left, and that’s a corner. It’s played short, and nearly wasted, but Arsenal get away with their over-elaboration when Xhaka’s eventual attempt at a cross is deflected out for another go.
6 min: A bright start by the hosts. Chelsea are second to everything right now. The home fans are giving it plenty as a result.
4 min: Xhaka should be booked for a cynical tug on Kante, but the ref is lenient. Then there’s space for Lacazette down the right. He’s only got Aubameyang in the middle, but finds him with a lovely rolled cross. Aubameyang should score, but flicks weakly across the face of goal from six yards, and out for a goal kick. What a chance that was!
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3 min: Xhaka’s delivery is a nonsense, easily cleared by Kepa. Speaking of Chelsea keepers, their old boy Petr Cech, now at Arsenal, announced this week that he’ll be hanging up his gloves at the end of the season. A banner in the away section gave thanks to the big Czech.
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2 min: Luiz is in the thick of it early doors. Now he comes across the front of Torreira, who was making good down the right. An obvious block, a free kick, and a chance for the hosts to load the box.
And we’re off! Arsenal get the party started. We’ve already had two seven-goal thrillers in the Premier League today, 4-3 wins for Wolves and Liverpool against Leicester and Crystal Palace respectively. And within the first 50 seconds, Ramsey has two half-chances to shoot at goal, Luiz then Jorginho taking turns to give up possession cheaply. Don’t bet against a third!
The teams are out! Arsenal are in their iconic red shirts with white sleeves. Chelsea could be running out in a blue version of that, but their old boss from the 1930s, David Calderhead, didn’t like the sound of the idea, which had been mooted by Tom Webster, a cartoonist for the London Evening Standard. So Webster took it to Herbert Chapman instead. Probably all for the best. Chelsea are in plain blue, and their fans now wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ll be off in a second!
BT Sport asks Maurizio Sarri whether he’s happy with the way his goal-shy team is playing, Eden Hazard as a false nine, all that. “I think our system is working. I hope so. This is a difficult game, I prefer to start with this solution, because with this solution we are more solid.”
Then Granit Xhaka is asked whether Arsenal are feeling the pressure, because a loss tonight would seriously harm their hopes of a top-four finish. “We can be out of it, but we play at home. It’s a hard game and Chelsea have good quality. But we play at home with our fans, and it’s important to make a good game today.”
And finally Unai Emery says it’s important that Mesut Ozil is back in the squad. But he doesn’t embellish the point any further.
Here’s Aaron Ramsey in the Arsenal changing room before today’s match. Some high-quality wood panelling at the Emirates, he’ll do well to note. It’s like a five-star spa.
By comparison, this is what will await him at the Juventus Stadium, if he ends up in a marriage with the Old Lady. Just saying. It’s a bit cold, and anyone could burst through that door at any moment, with everything dancing in the breeze. This picture was taken in 2017, to be fair, they might have given it a lick of paint since then, or bought a couple of colourful cushions, maybe even a throw. But all we’re saying is, the grass is always greener.
Arsenal make three changes to the side named at the London Stadium last Saturday. Aaron Ramsey, Hector Bellerin and Lucas Torreira take the places of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Alex Iwobi and Shkodran Mustafi. There’s also a spot for Mesut Ozil on the bench. Chelsea meanwhile have selected the exact same first 11 picked against Newcastle last week.
The teams
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Papastathopoulos, Koscielny, Kolasinac, Torreira, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Ramsey, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Subs: Cech, Elneny, Ozil, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi, Monreal, Mustafi.
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Pedro, Hazard, Willian.
Subs: Barkley, Caballero, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi, Christensen, Emerson Palmieri, Ampadu.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).
Preamble
Has one of the biggest fixtures of the season come at the wrong time for these two clubs? Or exactly the right moment? You could spin it either way, given neither are at the top of their game right now.
Hosts Arsenal are coming off the back of defeat in another London derby, at West Ham last weekend. They were dismal in that one, their fourth defeat in their last eight matches in all competitions. That long winning run during September and October feels an awfully long time ago.
Visitors Chelsea won last Saturday, but not in particularly impressive fashion against struggling Newcastle. Goals have been an issue: just eight in the last eight matches, a run that’s seen them drop points at home to Leicester and Southampton, and lose the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Spurs. No, neither side are at the top of their game right now.
But there’s always hope! Arsenal nearly always score - the blank they drew last weekend was their first in the League since the opening day of the season - while Chelsea can take succour from their 3-2 win over the Gunners at Stamford Bridge in August. Both of these sides can scale the heights on a good day, and circumstances may fuel them, because they’ll need to perform this evening: fourth place is up for grabs and that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer chappie is breathing down their necks. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm GMT.
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