Arteta speaks!
Right then, I’m off. Here’s the match report again. Bye!
Frank Lampard is quite disappointed. He says Tammy Abraham is still being assessed. Also:
Disappointed. Cos the situation of the game. Deserved to go 1-0 up, not just the sending off but the general play anyway, the way we were playing. Of course we created enough in the second half, it’s the same story for us that we don’t finish our chances, and we make errors to give them two goals on the break. It probably shows us where we’re at. We work hard but basic errors when you should control a game can end up losing you points.
We stayed in the mode of dealing with them with 11, when really with 10 we could have been a bit more aggressive. I didn’t mind that, cos at half-time it gave us a chance to reboot, recharge and go it again. Even though we’re disappointed with the result and the goals [we conceded] you still look at the chances we created in the second half and actually also in the first, and say we should be scoring more goals. You let teams stay in the game it becomes really tough, and both the goals I didn’t like. If we’re going to get to where we want to be, and we’re in the process, we’ve got to stop that stuff, cos we can’t get there like that.
It’s not the slip from Ngolo, that can happen, it’s the fact they get away at the edge of our box. That’s a moment sleeping. People should know their jobs. And then the last goal, so easy. It’s a goal you see every day over the park, a right back who moves it slowly onto his left foot and rolls it into the far corner. That can’t happen.
Mikel Arteta is quite pleased:
I don’t know [if we’ve turned a corner], time will tell, but at least I saw a reaction. What I demand always is never give up. It doesn’t matter the circumstances. We do what we have to do and play with the spirit we played today. I’m so proud of the team, how they reacted and how they stepped up when a teammate made a mistake, someone got sent off. It’s a good point in the end, considering the circumstances of the game.
I said to the team, I want to see how you behave in this stadium. Come here, away to a big team, we’re hoping to stay in the Champions League race until the end, and you have to come here and you have to win. The way they did it was brilliant. [Well, they didn’t quite do it, but OK]
On Hector Bellerin’s goalscoring comeback:
I asked Hector if he was ready go play today, and his first answer was, ‘Boss, I’m ready.’ So let’s go. These things happen. If you want to play, you enjoy your profession, these good moments come.
Arsenal’s discovery of a backbone has caused some surprise:
Am I dreaming 😴
— Don Hutchison (@donhutch4) January 21, 2020
Arsenal away from home against a big side,down to 10 men,behind twice!
Carry no passengers,showed loads of character and bollox. Also played really well and didn’t lose! Brilliant performance. 👏🏼
Only four times since 2006, across Europe’s top five leagues, has a team scored with their only two shots of a game. That’s four of about 26,500 matches.
This is the 6th time in the top five leagues since 2006 that a team has had just two shots and scored two goals. Sevilla did it twice! Two of those six teams benefited from an own goal. https://t.co/k5tkjR1yVu
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 21, 2020
Here’s Jacob Steinberg’s match report from Stamford Bridge:
Two inconsistent sides, two baffled managers. For Frank Lampard, this result was tough to take. Chelsea played against 10 men for more than an hour, took the lead twice and ended up dropping more points at home. They lacked creativity again and paid for their carelessness when the electrifying Gabriel Martinelli dented their push for Champions League qualification with a stunning equaliser.
While Lampard seethed, Mikel Arteta celebrated Martinelli’s fearlessness and considered the defensive frailties that left Arsenal with a mountain to climb. For all the talk of progress, Arteta will know he must be ruthless with players like Shkodran Mustafi, whose catastrophic error led to David Luiz’s red card against his old side. Yet there was resolve from Arsenal when it mattered. They fell behind again when César Azpilicueta restored Chelsea’s lead. It did not last. Chelsea are too soft and Kepa Arrizabalaga’s form in goal is of grave concern. The Spaniard was the villain when he somehow let Héctor Bellerín’s shot squirm past him.
Much more here:
Arsenal were very good in the second half, and that will be a massively morale-boosting result for them, for all that it relied on a two moments when Chelsea players either slipped or snoozed.
Arsenal had the joint fewest shots of any team in a single Premier League game this season (2).
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 21, 2020
Chelsea had 19 shots to Arsenal’s two. That’s got to be sore.
Tammy Abraham is being helped off the pitch by two members of Chelsea’s medical staff.
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Final score: Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal
90+5 mins: It’s all over! The corner is cleared, and the referee blows his whistle to end a wild London derby.
90+4 mins: TV is watching David Luiz watching on TV, as the game enters its final moments. Chelsea have another corner, their 16th.
90+3 mins: Chelsea eventually get it back, and now they’ve got themselves a corner. They play it short to Hudson-Odoi, which they’ve done a lot from the left side, and he crosses straight out of play, not for the first time.
90+2 mins: Arsenal have the ball, and are happy to keep it by the left corner flag.
90+1 mins: We’re into stoppage time, and there’ll be about four minutes of it.
90 mins: One final substitution, as Willock comes on for Martinelli.
89 mins: What a chance for Chelsea! Hudson-Odoi sends in a low cross from the right, but Batshuayi turns it wide from the near post! Xhaka, throwing out a leg, might have got the slightest touch on it to put the striker off.
88 mins: Frank Lampard is going to give someone an absolute rollicking when he goes back over this goal in training tomorrow. Bellerin is given the ball, wide on the right-hand corner of the penalty area. Emerson and Abraham are in front of him, but neither of them makes even a vague attempt to stay with him when he jinks inside, and his left-footed shot curls into the far corner!
GOAL! Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal (Bellerin, 87 mins)
Arsenal take their second shot of the game!
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85 mins: Abraham was offside, but the officials decided he wasn’t interfering with play (although he absolutely got in the way of Mustafi when the defender could otherwise pretty easily have cleared the cross).
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal (Azpilicueta, 84 mins)
Abraham wins a corner, and then looks to injure an ankle on an advertising hoarding. As he limps back into the penalty area the corner is played short, Hudson-Odoi sends the ball in low and it’s tapped in by Azpilicueta!
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83 mins: Arsenal’s attacking intent in this half has been commendable. Still, though, they’ve only had one shot.
81 mins: After Chelsea bring on another striker, Arsenal counter by adding a centre-half, as Holding replaces Pepe.
80 mins: Save! The ball is chipped into the penalty area, where Barkley runs beyond the defence and flicks a backwards header towards the near post, but Leno dives to his right to palm it away!
79 mins: Bellerin slides in to take the ball from Willian, at the expense of a corner. That’s the Brazilian’s final action, Batshuayi replacing him.
77 mins: Emerson sends the free kick into the area, and Abraham heads it towards goal from 15 yards, but Leno makes an easy save.
76 mins: Guendouzi gets a yellow card for tugging Mount’s shirt and then kicking him in the knee from behind. There were at least two bookable offences there.
76 mins: Chelsea haven’t really created a clear chance from open play since the 15th minute.
74 mins: Torreira with a fifth-minute-of-stoppage-time clearance, from Willian’s cross. Chelsea get it straight back.
72 mins: Lacazette is played in by Pepe, turns and slams the ball past Kepa, but Chelsea are saved by the fact that he was three yards offside.
70 mins: Chelsea bring Mason Mount on for Kante.
68 mins: Kante tries to bulldoze his way through Arsenal’s penalty area, both Torreira and Xhaka going down as he does so and staying down, apparently for the pure love of timewasting.
66 mins: That was Arsenal’s first shot of any description. Chelsea have had 11. The home side bring Ross Barkley on for Kovacic.
65 mins: Mustafi gets the assist, with that clearing header.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal (Martinelli, 63 mins)
And Arsenal run up the other end and score! Martinelli picks it up outside his penalty area and heads for the halfway line. Kante is the last man back and is about to cut out the ball when he slips, allowing Martinelli to just keep on running, all the way into the penalty area, and slide past Kepa!
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63 mins: Chelsea win a corner, which Chelsea head away.
60 mins: BT Sport show the number of passes each team has made in the final third. Chelsea lead 107-27.
59 mins: Christensen is booked, for mistiming a challenge on Lacazette as Arsenal look to break.
58 mins: Kante is basically playing as a striker at the moment, alongside Abraham.
55 mins: Arsenal make their first change, bringing Guendouzi on for Ozil.
53 mins: At present, this game is a high-tempo mess. “There’s only one thing Arteta can do now: station himself behind the Arsenal goal and direct his stare at any Chelsea players who come anywhere near Mustafi,” writes Charles Antaki. “That, or simply replace Mustafi with a competent footballer.”
51 mins: A minute of chaos in the Arsenal penalty area, featuring a couple of handball appeals and a succession of Chelsea players being about to shoot but not in fact shooting.
49 mins: Kepa passes to Jorginho, who is being very rapidly closed down by Torreira but just about gets the ball away.
46 mins: Emerson’s cross from the left bounces across the area without anyone getting anything on it, and when it comes back in Kante tries to jink his way into a shooting position, then gives up and just shoots anyway, straight into Mustafi.
46 mins: Peeeeeeep!
The players are back out, and Tammy Abraham is about to kick off. “I dunno,” writes David Flynn, “we’ve all seen Luiz this season, that was about as close to winning the ball as he’s gotten in a long time.”
Key match stat dept: Chelsea have had nine shots, three on target. Arsenal have had no shots. None. Not one.
It's the first time Arsenal haven't had a shot in the first half of a Premier League game since May 2015 v Man Utd.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 21, 2020
“David Luiz’s calculation was ‘definitely conceding a goal’ v ‘probably conceding a goal’,” says Graeme Thorn. “Obviously he thought that Bernd Leno had a better chance of saving the penalty than he ultimately did. It’s exactly the same calculation that Luis Suarez did so infamously against Ghana - concede a goal or have a chance of not conceding a goal. As it happens, the penalty was missed, so it paid off for Uruguay.”
Similar offences, but while Suarez’s handball was in its way inspired - as his team would have had no time to recover from falling behind at that stage of the game, so it was worth doing anything to keep the ball out of the net - David Luiz’s foul was just stupid, as Arsenal would be more likely to get something out of the game at 0-1 but 11 v 11 with more than an hour to play than they would at 0-0 but 10 v 11, and certainly a lot more likely than at 0-1 and 10 v 11.
“Did the referee judge that there was absolutely no way Luiz was trying to get to the ball during that challenge?” asks David Flynn. “The rules clearly say that if a peno is given and there was an attempt to get the ball then it should be a yellow.” There was no attempt to play the ball, or at least not before David Luiz wrestled Abraham to the floor. VAR checked it, and agreed.
Half time: Chelsea 1-0 Arsenal
45+3 mins: That’s all for now. Chelsea lead by a man and a goal, and Hudson-Odoi has been excellent.
45+2 mins: Pepe kicks the ball into Emerson’s arm, from all of two feet away, and then gets really angry when there’s no free-kick.
45+1 mins: Into stoppage time we roll, and there’ll be about two minutes of it.
45 mins: Kovacic heads wide from Hudson-Odoi’s cross. Chelsea really haven’t impressed since the penalty.
43 mins: An excellent attempted tackle from Xhaka on Hudson-Odoi, which involves literally lying down in front of him. It doesn’t work.
41 mins: Nothing much comes from the corner, but Arsenal continue to hog possession.
38 mins: A good spell for Arsenal, who cap it with a corner. “Interested in your thoughts on this,” writes Lee Madden. “Although there was a mistake by Mustafi, surely the more critical error is from David Luiz. He could have tried to get goalside of Abraham, not jumped in from behind, gone back to the goal line or just let him score. Surely any of those options were better than tackling Abraham from behind? His error was far worse than Mustafi’s.”
It’s like Steve Cook’s handball for Bournemouth at the weekend: there is an instinctive streak of idiocy that some players can’t control. In this instance, if David Luiz doesn’t bring down Abraham Chelsea take the lead; if he does bring down Abraham Chelsea have a fantastic chance to take the lead and get to play the remainder of the match against 10 men. Obviously letting Abraham score is better for his team, but his idiot instinct took over.
32 mins: Save! Hudson-Odoi hits a vicious shot with the outside of his right boot, which Leno beats away.
31 mins: The home fans are in full voice now: “He’s one of our own, he’s one of our own, David Luiz, he’s one of our own!” they cry.
30 mins: Tactical update: Xhaka has dropped into the defence, and Ozil has shifted back into the heart of midfield.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Arsenal (Jorginho, 28 mins)
Leno does well to stand up and force Jorginho, whose penalty-taking technique seems to rely on convincing goalkeepers to fall over using his Jedi mind-powers, to find a corner, which is precisely what he does!
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27 mins: This is horrific self-destruction. Mustafi hopelessly fluffs a pass back to Leno, Abraham nips in, rounds the keeper and is brought down from behind by David Luiz, leaving the referee with no option but to point to the spot and wave red!
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Chelsea have a penalty, and David Luiz is off!
26 mins: They’re not booing now!
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25 mins: Arsenal engage in another prolonged spell of largely aimless passing. Worth doing just to stem the Chelsea tide, methinks. David Luiz is being booed by a good portion of the crowd, and all this defensive passing is giving everyone many chances to vent their fury.
23 mins: Another left-wing Chelsea corner is played short and then worked back to the original taker, and again the cross when it comes is overhit and floats straight out of play, this time missing the bar by quite a distance.
21 mins: Another thing Chelsea win is the first yellow card, which is shown to Emerson for a foul in several stages on Pepe.
19 mins: Chelsea have been the better team by a distance, and seem to have the run of the right flank, where Martinelli and Saka aren’t quite cutting the mustard.
16 mins: Chelsea hit the bar! Hudson-Odoi, having moved to the left to take a corner, gets the ball back. His right-footed cross worries Leno, but clips the top of the bar on its way out of play.
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15 mins: What a chance for Chelsea! Hudson-Odoi is again involved, beating Martinelli on the right and sending in a deep cross which Rudiger heads back into the mixer, leaving Abraham with a free header from six yards! He heads too close to Leno, who catches.
13 mins: Arsenal settle down, taking the pace out of the game by engaging in some harmless defensive interplay.
10 mins: Nearly! It’s an excellent delivery, which Rudiger looks like he’s going to head in and then doesn’t touch, which perhaps explains why Christensen is so astonished to see it reach him that it bounces off his face and out for a goal-kick.
9 mins: Hudson-Odoi is the source of all things good for Chelsea in these early exchanges. Now he links with Abraham, leading to another corner.
8 mins: The Arsenal physio is gamely pretending to be doing something to Mustafi while the defender lets the pain subside.
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7 mins: An excellent move from Chelsea ends with Kovacic’s shot thundering into a particularly sensitive part of Mustafi’s anatomy. “I’m missing Unai Emery,” says Charles Antaki. “You knew where you were with him; confused play; misplaced running about; absent defenders; general vapidity and underachievement. With Arteta one just can’t be sure, and the team might even play very well (though tonight something tells me we might be revisiting old certainties).”
5 mins: Nothing comes of Chelsea’s corner and Arsenal run up the other end and win one of their own, and then another, neither of which come to anything.
3 mins: Another Saka error, this time in defence. He misjudges a long ball to Hudson-Odoi, who is thus able to bring it down (with a fabulous first touch) and smack in a corner that deflects off David Luiz for a corner.
2 mins: Arsenal attack down the left, a move that ends with Saka either crossing terribly or shooting abysmally, it’s hard to tell.
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1 min: Peeeeeep! We’re off!
Elsewhere, Watford and Southampton are a goal up at Aston Villa and Crystal Palace respectively, while Everton lead Newcastle 1-0 and Bournemouth are winning a match, 2-0 at home to Brighton. The last two teams they led at any stage were Arsenal and Chelsea.
The players have left the tunnel!
The players are in the tunnel!
“The photo of Hudson-Odoi’s shirt is clearly not from tonight’s game as next to it sits Tomori’s shirt who isn’t in the squad. This is fake news and I demand an enquiry,” rages Geoff Seeley. Curious. Either he was in the initial matchday squad, or he likes to go John Terry and wear full matchday kit under his civvies.
For completists, this is the away dressing-room at Stamford Bridge, which if not exactly no-frills is certainly reduced-frills. Interesting fact: Arsenal have a 100% record when wearing their home kit in away games this season (they’ve only done it once):
On the plus side, Chelsea have employed an absolutely elite towel-roller. That is some faultless towel-rolling right there.
I get the idea of painting encouraging words and phrases on the dressing-room wall, but I do think that “sacrifice together” sounds a little more satanist than is ideal.
Mikel Arteta on Arsenal’s form:
I think performance-wise we’ve been better than results-wise, because late goals in the last two games cost us four points and it could have been a different situation. Today’s game is a different situation. We come in with a clear idea to try to win the game, and we will do that.
And on Hector Bellerin’s return - he has only started three league games this season, the last on 5 December:
He’s been training for the last few days and he’s looking sharp and good, and I wanted to give opportunities for everybody. So let’s see how he does.
Frank Lampard on losing to Newcastle:
The lads were down afterwards. I couldn’t complain about the effort, we had a long go at it, and it was a bit of sign of some of our season, particularly in home games, where we create a lot, we get in good areas and we don’t have that finishing touch, and then you get sucker-punched. But it’s important we see today as the game it is. It’s different - it’s Arsenal, a London derby, a big game for us, so that one now is in the back of our minds and we look forwards.
And on a lack of goals:
It’s something to work on. In terms of our home form we’re creating a lot and not converting a lot. So that’s something we’re working on a lot, so the players can get up the pitch and get into good areas, and then we need more killer instinct, or more composure or whatever it is. I hope to see it tonight, against a team that maybe will come out against us.
And on bringing Kovacic in for Mount:
Mason’s played a lot, Kovacic has played a lot of big games for us this season. I think midfield it games like this is crucial. Can we control that area and get a grip of it, and then get our wingers into the game? We’ll see.
This is a killer stat, as far as Arsenal’s hopes are concerned:
Arsenal haven't won away at one of the Big Six since January 2015
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) January 21, 2020
Since then they have won none, drawn nine and lost 15.
LDLDLDDDLLLLLDLLLLDLLDLD
In those 24 games, they have scored 26 goals and conceded 54.
They have kept just one clean sheet
Two changes for Chelsea, for whom Reece James and Mason Mount drop out, the latter taking a place on the bench, while Emerson Palmieri and Mateo Kovacic come in. Arsenal make one change, Hector Bellerin coming into the side, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles dropping out.
Our 11 for Chelsea v Arsenal! 👊#CHEARS pic.twitter.com/NCIpjktAC9
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 21, 2020
🚨 One change from the weekend...
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 21, 2020
➡️ @HectorBellerin
⬅️ @Ains_7#CHEARS
The teams!
The names of the people playing in this game of association football are as follows:
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Emerson Palmieri, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi, Abraham, Willian. Subs: Alonso, Barkley, Pedro, Caballero, Zouma, Mount, Batshuayi.
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Mustafi, Luiz, Saka, Torreira, Xhaka, Pepe, Ozil, Martinelli, Lacazette. Subs: Ceballos, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Martinez, Willock, Guendouzi, Nketiah.
Referee: Stuart Attwell.
There are five other games happening this evening, all of which fall under Nick Ames’ purview here:
Hello world!
Only Liverpool have won more away points than Chelsea, but at home they’re really not up to much, having won 17 points - the same as Brighton, Sheffield United, Wolves and, indeed, Arsenal, and only three more than relegation-threatened Watford and Aston Villa. The question is whether Arsenal, who won their first away game of the Premier League season back in August and have repeated the feat just once since, are the team to expose this, particularly with goal-conjuring predator Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang suspended.
In other news, Arsenal are the division’s top drawers, 47.8% of their matches so far having ended in stalemate, but there has only been one goalless Gunners game in all competitions (compared with six 2-2s). Chelsea meanwhile really don’t do draws at all: only one in the league since August, and even the draws they have had (in all competitions this season: 2-2, 1-1, 2-2, 4-4, 2-2 and 1-1) have been quite fun.
Plus, expectation! “It’s very, very important for us to win this game,” says Mikel Arteta. “We need to win.” On which subject, here’s some pre-match reading from the Arsenal camp:
And here’s some pre-match reading from the Chelsea camp:
Overall and to conclude, I’m expecting an entertaining night with at the very minimum two goals. Over to you, footballers!
Kick-off: 8.15pm GMT.
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