Arsenal and Chelsea played out a mediocre, drab Premier League fixture in front of the Sky Television camera’s at The Emirates on a weather effected match in North London.
Both sides cancelled each other out in a game of few chances, which saw Arsene Wenger’s Gunners fail to take advantage of their game in hand to replace Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.
The fixture was an evenly contested game at that, with both sides cancelling each other out, in a game that revolved around a midfield battle between in form Aaron Ramsey, and the veteran Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard.
Arsene Wenger cut a frustrated figure on the Emirates touchline, as Arsenal missed several chances, with the result meaning that Wenger has failed to beat Mourinho on ten consecutive occasions.
Chelsea tried to attack, but were limited to chances in the first half, with Willian drove just wide of Szczesny’s far post.
Olivier Giroud then flashed a header wide from a Kieran Gibbs cross, with Petr Cech beaten.
Chelsea’s clear stubbern defence broke Arsenal down, as tempers fraid in ha hotly contested fixture, as the Gunners pressed for that decisive opening, with Mesut Ozil dragging a shot wide of Cech’s goal.
As the rain poured down in appauling conditions, Lampard found Ramires with a superb ball across the wet surface with Ramires cutting inside of Sagna and forcing Szczesny into a straight forward save.
There was a turning point in the half, and a controversial one at that, with a clash between Aaron Ramsey and the Welshman was lucky not to recieve his marching orders, after a rash challenge on Ceser Azpilicueta in a rather tame first half, which saw Eden Hazard curl just wide.
Following the heated decision Chelsea had a chance to take the lead, with Lampard dictating play in the central of midfielder, after linking up well with the Belgian linking up well with Lampard, to combine, as Lampard recieved a chipped past into the area, with Lampard attempting an impressive volley, which crashed off the crossbar, with Szczesny beaten in the process.
Arsenal had a claim for a spot kick, as Theo Walcott raced clear, and was ajudged to have been tripped by Willian, with referee Mike Dean waving away the bemused Walcott, who thought a penalty should have been awarded.
This was a Derby, a game played for high stakes in the Premier League race, and a match slightly compromised by the swirling rain, but it still made poor fare for the viewing hundreds of millions. Still the tackles went in. Ramires was booked for flattening Arteta.
As the game progressed in the second half, Mesut Ozil stung the hands of Cech with a rather fierce drive, and Olivier Giroud saw his shot parried away by Cech, as Terry cleared confidently.
Lampard saw his long range effort well saved by Szczesny, as Fernando Torres also saw his shot saved by the confident Pole in goal for the Gunners.
The game then got slightly heated, as tempers got the better, as Ozil, Gibbs and Ivanovic started a bust up, involving several players from either side.
Willian then saw his tame shot saved well by Szczesny, as Olivier Giroud saw his header go over the bar, then saw his shot blocked by Ivanovic.
Both sides huffed and puffed, and Ozil skipped Ivanovic, but saw his shot go just wide, with Giroud wasting a chance, as the Gunners pressed.
Arsenal were denied in the final few minutes, as Vermaelen headed down, but saw his header cleared acrobatically off the line by Cesar Azpilicueta.
John Terry also saw his header go just wide in the final moments.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on Sky Sports: “It was a tactical match. A match that Arsenal want to win but didn’t want to lose and Chelsea wants to win but doesn’t want to lose. “We had the biggest chance of the game, I’m glad we have goalline technology so nobody could complain when Frank Lampard hit the crossbar. “The goalkeeper was not in the game, we controlled the game defensively. We let Mikel Arteta play the ball from side to side, we were completely under control. It was important not to lose and be five points behind the leaders. “We want to go in another direction in the future. I am building a team for a long period, not just one season. We want creative players who use the ball and kill opponents. But there are some matches where we have to take one step backwards and play with a different philosophy.”
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on BBC: “We had the game under control, if we score a goal we win for sure. We are completely alive, especially if you compare with last season where Chelsea was 11 points at this point. “We have played in the home of three direct opponents and didn’t lose one of these three moments. “Okay we don’t go to Christmas as leaders but we go with evolution because last season the championship was already lost by this point. Now, we are there. “Man Utd and Tottenham are not in this top four but they should be. It is a unique situation, an unbelievable championship because we are all there.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: “We should have won it. They came here to defend and catch us on the break. We were a bit edgy at the start but we took control in the second half and should have won it. “It was a game of very few chances and we couldn’t take ours. If you cannot win the game don’t lose it. “It was 100% a penalty when Theo Walcott was fouled, in my mind there is no doubt. I don’t know why it was not given. “I made no changes as we had a good balance and I felt that we had enough strength to see it through.”
Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta: “You could see that Chelsea only wanted to defend and we wanted to win the game. You know that Chelsea can counter-attack well but we controlled the game. “I haven’t seen the challenge from John Mikel Obi again but my ankle is swollen big time. He broke my shinpad and he was late. The referee had to make the decision and he decided it wasn’t a red card. Theo Walcott is saying that it was also 100% a penalty. We were unlucky tonight. “It is one of the most difficult seasons to win the league and it will be a big challenge.”
By Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1
