Today was not a good day for the institution of Arsenal F.C. The Gunners were thoroughly beaten by a domineering Chelsea side.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s 1,000th match in charge was ruined by a humiliating 6-0 defeat at rivals Chelsea.
While the Gunners can point to the fact that they had 10 men for 75 minutes – referee Andre Marriner mistakenly dismissed defender Kieran Gibbs for handball instead of midfield man Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – the visitors were still short of energy, ideas and most worryingly of all, desire.
Striker Samuel Eto’o opened the scoring after four minutes with fine curled effort following neat control and Germany international Andre Schurlle doubled the lead soon afterwards from 20 yards.
Wideman Eden Hazard put the Blues three goals ahead with a quarter-of-an-hour on the clock, tucking away a penalty after seeing his original effort handled by Oxlade-Chamberlain who escaped dismissal thanks to Marriner’s error.
Before the break Brazil playmaker Oscar put his side out of sight when he converted a cross from substitute Fernando Torres, who had replaced the injured Eto’o.
Wenger replaced the hapless Oxlade-Chamberlain with midfielder Mathieu Flamini at the interval in a bid to shore things up but Oscar curled home Chelsea’s fifth after 65 minutes.
The Samba star was immediately replaced by winger Mohamed Salah who soon bagged his first goal for the club by springing the offside trap and beating goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who should have done better.
Defeat on his big day was crushing for Wenger, more so because it came at the hands of his old adversary Jose Mourinho in the Chelsea dug-out and virtually ended his side’s title hopes.
Commentary via @FDN