The Blues managed to take all three points against ten-man Arsenal
in the most anticipated match of the weekend, it was the away side who came away with the victory.
Arsenal lost Per Mertesacker early on after he was shown a straight red for a last-man challenge and Chelsea took advantage of the extra man by going 1-0 up just five minutes later through the man who was the subject of the Mertesacker foul, Diego Costa.
The home side’s best chance of the game came just before the break – an Aaron Ramsey through ball fell to Flamini, who fired over from close range.
In truth, the game was scrappy at times and the Blues were deserved winners in the end, with Arsenal managing just one shot on target the whole game, with main striker Giroud forced off to make way for Gabriel after the red card.
After the result, here are five things we learned from the game.
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Diego Costa is back on form
The striker has had a mixed season but it appears he is finally finding his feet again. He’s now bagged six goals in his last six games and even managed two assists and it looks like now that Mourinho has left and Hiddink is in, he is finally getting the best out of the Spaniard again.
Today, he was the one who secured the three points for Chelsea with the only goal of the game and, up until his substitution in the 69th minute, he was arguably one of the best players on the pitch and looked the most likely to score again.
If he keeps this form up, he should be able to help the Blues push back towards the right end of the table.
2) Is it time to replace Mertesacker with Gabriel?
It’s the question that could be on a lot of Arsenal fans lips right now – is it time for the German to make way for Gabriel? Based on today’s performance, I would say yes it is.
Mertesacker was average for the home side right up until his sending off, which didn’t help his cause. On came Gabriel, who went on to have a solid game at the back for the Gunners and surely prove to Arsene Wenger that he deserves a starting place in the side.
It isn’t just this game that proves Gabriel deserves a first-team spot though – over the course of the full season so far, Gabriel has arguably performed better than Mertesacker when he has featured and the stats prove it – the Brazilian has won more aerial duels (on average), had a better pass success rate, had a better shot success rate, scored more goals, made more tackles (average), more interceptions (average) and had the same amount of blocks(average) as Mertesacker, despite playing less games.
Time to give his spot in defence Arsene.
3) Does there need to be contact for there to be a foul?
Mertesacker was sent off for Arsenal today, despite replays showing there was very little contact between him and Costa.
However, I still believe it was a red card and it shows that maybe there doesn’t have to be much contact to be shown a red. He was the last man and it was certainly a goal-scoring chance.
He was rightly sent off and the red card went on to have a detrimental effect to the game for the remaining 70+ minutes.
4) Alexis Sanchez boost for Arsenal
The Chile international made his return from injury today against Chelsea and provided a massive boost to the side. Now that he is back fit again, he will be a huge asset to the Gunners, as he was before his injury.
He has become one of the club’s key players, providing both goals and assists and in the club’s bid to try and win the Premier League title, it’s a huge relief that he is now back in action and able to help them fight for first place again.
Today he made a decent impact after coming on as a substitute in the 57th minute but he couldn’t be expected to immediately come back fit and firing, as he needs to be eased in.
The good news to be taken from his appearance is that Sanchez is back.
5) Chelsea will most likely avoid relegation
Okay, so it was a bit of a longshot that Chelsea would get relegated anyway but after today’s win over Arsenal, it shows that they are getting back to their best after Mourinho’s time in charge and it seems likely that they’ll be avoiding the drop now.
The Blues aren’t exactly safe – they’re 13th and are still only 7 points off the relegation zone – but they’re finding their feet againh under Hiddink and getting the results they need to get back towards the top end of the table. A win against Arsenal will be a huge boost to them and they are now unbeaten in their last 7 games.
Positive times seem to be back at Stamford Bridge again – it’s unlikely they’ll be near the top of the table come the end of the year but they’ll be happy that they are winning games again, getting the results they need and they can work to improve and be back where they want to be next season.
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