Premier League Full Time Report: Chelsea vs. Arsenal – Part 3
The goal came despite Arsenal pressing onto Chelsea with all their might, there was clearly something missing and most people were convinced that the missing factor was that of Cesc Fabregas.
Just before the end of the half, there was another scare for Arsenal. Essien while winning the ball of Abou Diaby seemed to have landed studs up on the players’ ankle and as a result Diaby was left on the floor rolling around, grabbing his ankle in sheer
pain. Most people thought it was the end of the match for the player but after some work by the physios, the player was up and running, only to hear the sound of the whistle being blown to signal the end of the first-half.
Arsene Wenger clearly had a word or two with his men, telling them how this match was as big as it was going to get for the team, since if they didn't win the game they would have been left on the fourth spot in the league standings.
That little pep talk seemed to have done wonders to the team, who came back from the break looking to dominate possession. Arsenal were now looking to be the side who were more in control of the game, but still seemed to lack the final product in front of
the goal. Chamakh, who has proven that he can play with any team, seemed to have a weird sense of fear in the back of his eyes as he wasn't displaying the skills and the ball retention that everyone has started to expect of him. On the other hand, Arshavin
was having a very unstable game - he was either brilliant or was just mediocre through different patches in the game.
One player, who was still looking to go all out, was Nasri. On the sixtieth minute, the midfielder created some space for himself, before firing a dangerous ball across the six-yard box. However there was no Arsenal player present to tap that ball into the
back of the net.
On the counter to that attack by Arsenal, Chelsea looked to go two nil up. Anelka was charging the Arsenal centre back, who tried to play a pass back to the keeper, but Anelka intercepted and then went on to round the keeper, then with just the net to put
the ball into, the striker somehow managed to hit the side netting. On a closer look, it was discovered that despite having been beaten by Anelka, Fabianski had done just enough to send the keeper wide and narrow down the angle for him. That being said, the
French forward should have still done better and scored from there.
The match then turned back into Arsenal's favour from then on. Arsenal were back to dominating the midfield but just couldn't seem to find the finishing product and that was mostly thanks to Chelsea's pressing and brilliant defensive display.
(Continued in part 4)
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