EPL Review: Chelsea vs. Arsenal
Arsenal had lost their last five games against Chelsea while their last victory came way back in November 2008.
This season, Chelsea beat Arsenal in their first Barclays Premier League clash and were the favourites to win this one as well. However, the Gunners were looking to capitalise on the poor form of Chelsea which saw them dropping to fourth place and bagging
only six points in last eight games.
Arsenal played their last match against Manchester United, which they lost by one goal. This raised many questions regarding the capabilities of Gunners and their http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Captain-c8314 Cesc Fabregas said before the start of the match that the players were afraid of losing
against big teams. Therefore, the victory in the match against Chelsea was very important for Gunners in order to re-establish their credentials as title contenders.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has already lost his faith in his new signing, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrei-Arshavin-c5771.
At the back, Sebastien Squillaci was replaced by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Johan-Djourou-c18779 in order to provide better protection on set pieces.
On the other hand, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti was looking more defensive in his team selection. Jose Bosingwa was left on the bench and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Frank-Lampard-c14097 started the game for Chelsea
despite the concerns regarding his injury. John Mikel Obi and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Essien-c25294 were also present in the midfield to provide cover to the centre-halves.
Chelsea started dominating the match in the beginning but there was no real threat posed to Arsenal. On the contrary, Arsenal took some time to launch in the game. Plenty of goal-scoring opportunities were wasted because of extra passes or touches. The first
real threat came from Samir Nasri’s chip which Chelsea goalkeeper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Petr-Cech-c29837 saved brilliantly.
The first goal came in the 43rd minute for Arsenal giving them the much-deserved lead at the end of first half. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alex-Song-c4804 had a quick exchange of passes and the ball came in the box. Ferreira charged in and tripped Cesc Fabregas
in the box but Song did not wait and put the loose ball into the far corner of the goal.
Carlo Ancelotti was playing more of a defensive game in first half but he made a quick change at the start of second half by bringing the Brazilian playmaker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ramires-c30523 in place of Mikel Obi.
However, Arsenal found two more goals in quick succession to increase pressure on Chelsea. Van Persie was closed down by Essien but the resulting challenge put the ball in front of Walcott who had broken free from his defender. Cech charged to stop the English
forward from scoring but Walcott selflessly played the ball to his captain, Cesc Fabregas. The Spaniard had the whole goal in front of him and he made no mistake in firing the ball home.
The second goal also involved these two men and came just after two minutes. Walcott stole the ball and played Fabregas who gave the ball back to the Englishman, who made no mistake in picking out the left corner of the goal.
Chelsea were two goal down but pulled one back in the 57th minute. It was Didier Drogba’s free-kick and Branislav Ivanovic’s header sent it straight into the goal.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 played a better game in the last 30 minutes of the match but it was already too late as Arsenal defended well. In the end, Chelsea lost the match and stayed on the fourth place in the league table. Arsenal on the other hand, have reclaimed the second
spot and are two points behind leaders Manchester United.
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