English Premier League - Player ratings for Arsenal versus Chelsea (Part 1)
In a match that will long in memory, Arsenal bested the English champions Chelsea at the Emirates stadium, as both the teams competed for the second place spot in the English Premier League last night. Chelsea started the match
with their conventional line up, but they had one surprise inclusion in their starting line up, as Salomon Kalou was given a starting berth instead of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nicolas-Anelka-c27786 on the left hand side of the Chelsea attack.
For Arsenal, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marouane-Chamakh-c24294 was on the bench as he was suffering from a bit of fatigue due to the excessive amount of matches that he has played for Arsenal since he joined the London club in the summer. Chamakh’s place in the
starting line up was taken up by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrei-Arshavin-c5771 from the starting eleven as he played Walcott on the right wing and
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Samir-Nasri-c32360 on the left wing.
At the back, Arsene Wenger went with Johan Djourou and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Laurent-Koscielny-c21742 as Arsenal’s two centre backs. Djourou’s inclusion was an unexpected one but as Wenger revealed in his pre-match notes that the physically imposing defender
was preferred due to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786’s two
central defenders whereas http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ashley-Cole-c6809 started at the left back berth against his former club.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lukasz-Fabianski-c22910 was Arsenal’s goalkeeper on the night and the Polish international had little to do as it took Chelsea well over 55 minutes to get a shot on target. Before that the young goalie had practically nothing to do as
he saw his team mates control possession with incisive movement and hyperactive off the ball movement.
At the right back position for the Gunners, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Florent-Malouda-c13838. The Frenchman nullified the threat generated by his compatriot. Not only
that, Sagna exhibited sufficient offensive ambition as well. The full back got forward at will and linked up brilliantly with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Theo-Walcott-c34873 to sustain pressure and possession for the Gunners. Sagna’s defensive positioning was immaculate as well as he dealt
quite competently with Gael Kakuta, who was introduced in the second half for Chelsea in place of Florent Malouda.
In the centre of Arsenal’s defence, special praise should be showered upon http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Johan-Djourou-c18779 who did remarkably well to deal with the toughness and intelligence of Didier Drogba. The Swiss national team defender left no stone unturned
as he followed Drogba across the field and man marked the Ivorian striker to perfection. Not only that, Djourou was physically imposing on set pieces as well as he dealt with crosses from either side which were directed at John Terry and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Branislav-Ivanovic-c7994
during the free kicks and the corner kicks.
Djourou’s partner in defence, Laurent Koscielny complimented his teammate with good covering as well. At the start of the season, it was thought that Laurent was not as decisive in aerial challenges as some of the other defenders
in the English Premier League are, but this match changed that perception, as the Poland-born French international footballer was accurate in control and also confident in his approach to the game as a whole. He typified the Arsenal effort on the night as
he recovered every loose ball that fell inside the Arsenal penalty area. Koscielny’s no-nonsense approach paid off in the end as Arsenal secured all three points.
Perhaps the weakest link in the Arsenal defence on the night was Gael Clichy. The French fullback, who is usually quite a consistent performer for the Gunners, failed to live up to the expectations as he suffered an injury early
on that limited his enthusiastic approach to the match to a certain extent. It can be argued that if Clichy was up against Nicolas Anelka, his lack of judgement would have cost Arsenal dearly, but the Gunners were helped by the fact that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Salomon-Kalou-c32266 was
average at best for most part of the match.
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