English Premier League - Player ratings for Arsenal versus Chelsea (Part 3)
For Chelsea, perhaps their best player on the night was their goalkeeper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Petr-Cech-c29837. This fact in itself describes the crisis that has matured at the London club over the past month, but it also tells a whole new story. Despite
the fact that Arsenal sealed off the match in the middle stages of the second half, they were kept in touching distance of the home side in the first half, thanks to a brilliant save by Petr Cech. It was the Czech national team goalkeeper’s acrobatic ability,
which allowed him to tip over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Samir-Nasri-c32360’s ambitious chip shot.
Not only that, Cech also deserves considerable praise due to his overall influence on the Chelsea defence. Admittedly, Chelsea did concede three goals on the night, but two of those goals came through personal mistakes by Florent
Malouda and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Essien-c25294. On his part, Cech was impressive, as he kept Chelsea in the game yet again in the second half, as he denied Arsenal their fourth goal of the match by latching onto Samir Nasri’s delicate nudge. Petr was also quite competent when
it came to dealing with crosses from outside the Chelsea box by the likes of Sagna and Nasri from either side of the pitch.
In Chelsea’s defence, Ivanovic and John Terry were both mediocre on the night. Ivanovic was especially lacklustre in defence as he allowed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robin-van-Persie-c31380 to get the best of him on most occasions. Carlo Ancelotti started the Serbian
defender as a centre back and Ivanovic was uncomfortable while dealing with balls from Fabregas and Song. It is a well-known fact that Ivanovic prefers to play in the right back spot and this match only gave more credibility to that belief.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Terry-c18895 partnered Ivanovic in central defence and the ex-English national team captain was quite woeful in the match. Apart from a few characteristic interceptions, Terry was quite erroneous in his judgement on numerous occasions.
Most noticeably in the second half as he allowed Robin Van Persie to hold him off, an incident that allowed Arsenal to build towards their second goal of the match. At other times, the Chelsea captain was slack in his ball control as he lost possession way
too easily in his team’s own half on the field.
At the right back spot, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paulo-Ferreira-c29445 started the match for the Blues and the Portuguese national put in a horrible shift for the English champions. In the past, Paulo has been criticized for his lack of pace, but this became
evident in the first half of the match as he was completely outpaced by Samir Nasri. Nasri’s surge was a sign of things to come for Chelsea, as Ferreira was bossed around by the Frenchman for most time of the match.
A lot was expected of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Theo-Walcott-c34873 on the back foot and was preoccupied with the
winger’s pace for the majority of the match. Cole has been Chelsea’s most consistent performer over the past two years; it was his performances at the left back position that allowed Chelsea to capture the English Premier League title in the 2009-2010 season.
Against Arsenal, Cole was lethargic and hesitant in defence and virtually absent in attack.
On the left wing, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Florent-Malouda-c13838 took up his usual berth but Chelsea’s fans would’ve been wishing that the real Malouda showed up for the match rather than the man who was just a mere shadow of his former self. Malouda’s biggest
mistake in the match led to Arsenal’s third goal of the encounter as he lost the ball in front of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786’s back four to Theo Walcott. The winger then went onto score for Arsenal with a goal that practically sealed off the result.
On the creative front, Malouda was kept silent thanks to the pressing approach that was adopted by Arsene Wenger’s side. The Frenchman was not allowed to express himself on the ball as Arsene pressurized Chelsea whenever the champions
had the ball. It was Malouda’s muted display that forced Carlo Ancelotti’s hand in the second half, as Gael Kakuta was introduced into the match in place of the French winger.
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