An afternoon that started brilliantly for Arsenal after Aubameyang gave the Gunners a 1-0 lead in the match later became another day to forget at the Emirates as Chelsea came back roaring with 2 goals in less than 10 minutes to turn the game around.
Arsenal was on the front-foot for most of the first half of the game but kudos to Chelsea’s Frank Lampard who made a substitution very early in the game an audacious move characteristic of his former mentor Jose Mourinho. Emerson was brought off and Jorginho was brought on, and Chelsea switched from a back three to a back four, from then on, the game evened out with the blues going into half time a goal down but with a higher percentage of the possession.
The second half resumed and Lampard made two more changes at and after the hour mark with Lampty and Hudson Odoi coming into the mix, Chelsea were then on the front-foot even though the Gunners showed flashes of what they can do on the counter attack no shot on target and spell of play meant they were constantly defending.
Lampard’s bold move would soon pay-off with when out-of-form Alexander Lacazette who had almost no impact in the game, was on an avoidable yellow card, tackled Hudson Odoi unnecessarily giving away a freekick in a dangerous position. Laca’s error was soon followed by a howler from Bernd Leno who rushed out against the resulting in-swinging freekick but completely missed his punch and the ball fell cheaply unto a Chelsea’s Jorginho for a first-touch tap-in.
One or the biggest talking points of the game is that one may question if Jorginho should have remained on the pitch long enough to score his goal football is football and it was what it was.
Arsenal carelessly left their defence open and were further punished on the break. Poor marking from substitute Mustafi gave Tammy Abraham time on the ball to turn and shoot through the legs of Bernd Leno for Chelsea’s second goal on the 89th minute.
Same old story it turned out to be for the Gunners against their arch rivals. While we can debate whether this afternoon’s defeat was totally avoidable, in terms of the player’s concentration and even question Arteta’s tactical acumen, there are signs that in the not too distant future, Arsenal could once again challenge for laurels.
All that being said, a great victory it was for Chelsea, especially for Lampard who had the audacity of Mourinho to change the game right from the first half. All great managers are willing to change the game whenever it became necessary, 5th minutes or 55 minutes, it shouldn’t matter, if a game needed changing it should be changed.