Arsenal kept their hopes of European qualification alive with a hard-fought victory away to Chelsea on Wednesday night.
Emile Smith Rowe’s first half goal - following a mix-up in the home side’s defence - was enough to secure the victory for the Gunners, who dealt a blow to Chelsea’s hopes of securing a top four spot and subsequent Champions League qualification.
It was a victory that required a strong defensive rearguard from the visitors, who saw off a sustained period of pressure from the Blues to maintain their clean sheet.
Chelsea peppered Arsenal ’s goal with 19 shots - compared to just five from Mikel Arteta’s side - while the hosts also dominated the ball, enjoying 68 percent of possession.
It was a triumph that required the away side’s experienced players to step up, not only in terms of their performance but also of their know-how in terms of slowing the game down and not allowing to Chelsea to build up any sustained momentum.
One such example of this occurred in the 64 th minute, when Hector Bellerin was being introduced as a substitute to replace Bukayo Saka.
As highlighted by a report in football.london, Gunners captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang offered some useful advice to the teenager as he made his way off the pitch.
Aubameyang could be seen shouting across the pitch in Saka’s direction "hey, hey B, time", indicating to the player that he should take his time whilst going off to slow down the game.
Of course, with 26 minutes remaining this illustrated the intention of Arsenal - who were happy to sit back and dig in for over a quarter of the match in order to see out the victory.
Whilst this secured the three points on Wednesday, it potentially highlighted the need to make improvements ahead of next season to be more ambitious in these matches.
