Chelsea did not let the experts wait when they continued to show off their pale play on the field of their city rival Arsenal. The biggest “achievement” of Lampard’s teachers and students in the London derby was an honorable goal after being 3-0 down.
Final result Arsenal vs Chelsea (3-1)
Score: Odegaard (18′, 31′); Gabriel Jesus (34′) – Madueke (65)
Arsenal’s decline in form at the end of the season is nothing new. After only 4 rounds, they could no longer stand on their feet, the “Gunners” lost the top spot in the Premier League 2022/23 that they had to fight for for 9 months.
In particular, the humiliating 1-4 defeat at Etihad was Arsenal’s “surrender” in the battle for the throne with Man City, the team that won the Premier League title in the last 4/5 seasons. Coach Mikel Arteta personally acknowledged the team’s comprehensive weakness against the opponent.
However, Arsenal is not allowed to surrender or give up even when everything is officially over. In the late match of the 34th round, Arsenal will clash with neighbor Chelsea. True derbies (between teams in the same city) are always unpredictable anywhere but it may be a long time before the correlation between Arsenal vs Chelsea is so different.
Arsenal may be bad at this point but Chelsea have been poor since the beginning of the 2022/23 season until now. The Blues are not only disappointing professionally, but also undervalued in spirit and motivation at the end of the season. After sacking Potter and appointing manager Lampard, Chelsea have lost all five games in all competitions.
Before Arsenal, the former English midfielder adjusted two positions in the starting list compared to the last match (losing to Brentford at home). Accordingly, striker Aubameyang was given the opportunity to face his old club and was arranged to combine with Madueke (one of the rookies brought in in January 2023) and Sterling in attack. The formation was also adjusted from 3-4-2-1 to 4-3-3 to suit a central defender (Chalobah) who was reduced next to Gallagher.
As for Arsenal, coach Artetan made 3 changes spread across 3 lines after losing to Man City. Midfielder in 2000, Jakub Kiwior had his first start for the “Gunners” since joining the team earlier this year from the Spezia club (Italian league) and replacing Rob Holding in defence. Jorginho took Partey’s main kick in the midfield, and in attack Trossard “knocked” Martinelli out of the squad.
It’s no surprise that Arsenal pre-empted their neighbors with a rushing attack right after the opening whistle and Chelsea could do nothing but stretch themselves to fend off. However, the home team hardly created any real dangerous situations on Kepa goal until … opened the scoring.
In the 18th minute, the ball was opened to the left for Xhaka and the Swiss midfielder crossed the ball like a real full-back, so captain Odegaard just needed to swing his left foot close to the 16m50 line to bring home the goal. home team. Having the advantage in hand, Arsenal is quite leisurely playing and gently controlling the game.
On the opposite side, a weary Chelsea became more and more weak after conceding a goal. The Blues’ only chance in the first half came from Ben Chilwell’s individual effort on the left flank, overtaking Saka to face Ramsdale but failing to beat the keeper.
Before the neighboring team had hit the bottom both in terms of achievement and spirit, the fact that Arsenal scored more goals was almost an inevitable consequence. In the 31st minute, the same scenario as the first was repeated: Xhaka crossed the ball from the left and Odegaard continued to finish with the first touch in Kepa’s helplessness.
Not stopping here, Arsenal scored a third goal not long after from Jesus’ close-range finish. It’s not clear if it’s because they won so easily that the “Gunners” team became … bored quickly, they played slowly, not aggressively, but even so, the resistance of the away team was extremely weak. chilli.
Early in the second half, Arsenal almost had a fourth goal if Thiago Silva did not appear on the line to successfully block Magalhaes’ header in a corner situation. In the 52nd minute, it was Kepa’s turn to show his talent after Xhaka’s kick. Chelsea almost did not have any improvement in all aspects after the break as if Frank Lampard had completely lost his hand.
But in football without surprise, what would be interesting? In the 65th minute, Kovacic threw a long ball into the Arsenal penalty area and Madueke was present to receive the ball when Zinchenko lost focus and hit the ground to defeat Ramsdale. However, that is all that Chelsea can do in this match to salvage a little bit of honor and pride of a giant that has fallen dramatically.
With Arsenal, the safety distance helps them remain relaxed even when conceded and coach Arteta is completely right when thinking about convalescing to continue to compete for the title. There was no drama in the last minutes and Arteta’s teachers and students won the final 3-1 to temporarily return to the top of the 2022/23 Premier League table with two points more than Man City, but played two more matches.
Arteta’s teachers and students have 78 points, twice as much as Chelsea – the team has lost six matches in a row for the first time since 1993. Arsenal are also unbeaten in London derbies for the first time (won 10, drew 2) in a season, since the season. 2004-2005. In the next round, they will come as guests at the third team Newcastle.
Lampard’s consecutive losing streak in the Premier League has reached 10 matches. The disastrous spells at Everton and Chelsea made the former England international the first manager to lose 10 consecutive games in the top flight in 35 years. Chelsea is still ranked 12th with 39 points, equal to Bournemouth – their opponent in the next round.
ARSENAL VS CHELSEA TEAM
ARSENAL XI (4-3-3): Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, Jakub Kiwior, Gabriel Magalhaes (Holding 85′), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Tierney 74′); Martin Odegaard, Jorginho (Partey 85′), Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka (Nelson 74′), Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard (Martinelli 59′).
CHELSEA XI (4-3-3): Kepa Arrizabalaga; Cesar Azpilicueta, Wesley Fofana (Chalobah 86′), Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell; N’Golo Kante, Enzo Fernandez (Mudryk 71′), Mateo Kovacic; Noni Madueke (Ziyech 79′), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Havertz 46′), Raheem Sterling (Gallagher 71′).