Arsenal v Chelsea: The good, the bad and the potential

In may ways, Arsenal’s defeat to Chelsea on Sunday was earnd, however, there were also some bright spots that can’t be overlooked.

The worst news coming out of Sunday’s preseason match was the ankle injury to Thomas Partey. There has been no update from London Colney today on the extent of his injury, however, the midfielder will probably miss the start of the regular season for sure. This really sucks because Partey was having an excellent preseason, and was committed to having a stronger season than he had in 2020/2021. We’ll keep our ear to the ground, and hopefully get an update soon.

Other bad news includes Arsenal conceding two, really sloppy goals to their crosstown rivals. Hector Bellerin’s lazy backward pass resulted in a goal, plus an earlier breakdown in defense allowed the Blues to score a textbook counterattack goal as Pablo Mari and Rob Holding were left chasing instead of defending. Definitely, these were the lowlights we saw too many times last season. The Gunners can not afford to give away these easy goals, especially in the Premier League.

What can we say about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang? Again, Auba missed several opportunities to find the back of the net. Does he have an ongoing case of the yips? I think so.

And, the last bit of bad news was the officiating. Referee Andre Mariner and his two helpers have had better days, to say the least. Their worst moment was Joe Willock’s that clearly crossed the goal line. However, without VAR or goal line technology at their disposal, the refs missed the goal and Arsenal’s chance to equalize the score. It was a shabby performance by the referees to say the least.

Now, the good news.

For the first 20-25 minutes of the match, Arsenal played with intent, enthusiasm, pace, and aggression. Offensively, they were working the ball into the penalty box, while defensively their high press was giving Chelsea fits. Even though we didn’t get any goals from their efforts, it was a taste of what Mikel Arteta is trying to do with this squad on the pitch. Now, the key is trying to get this type of play out of them for 90 minutes.

Nuno Tavares had an excellent showing. The young fullback was excellent offensively and showed us why Arteta and Edu wanted him on this squad. Can Tavares play right fullback too? We really need some serious help there. Hector Bellerin’s day has passed, while Calum Chambers is too slow to match the pace and effectiveness of left fullback Kieran Tierney.

Granit Xhaka is back, and scored a terrific header off a corner kick from Pepe. The Swiss international looked in pretty good form, while the Aresnel faithful at the Emirates seemed to welcome him back to their home turf after a summer of drama over a potential move to Roma.

Ben White saw his first Arsenal action while playing the entire second half. White looked composed, made two terrific goal line saves, and seemed to know where to go with the ball at all times. First impressions are important, and for me, our new #4 made a good one.

Also, kudos to Nicolas Pepe and Mo Elneny. Both men put in solid shifts and deserve a pat on there back.

No one really seems to know what the future holds for Eddie Nketiah. The striker has had a very good preseason, yet, Eddie just can’t seem to find his place in this team. This goes without saying as Arsenal continues their search for another top flight striker. Eddie deserves to play, but I doubt it’s at Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta had a few comments following Sunday’s match, “First of all, it was a great atmosphere. The fans were right behind the team and I think with 20 or 25,000, they created a great atmosphere at the stadium. It was a great test for us against the best team in Europe. I think we showed some really positive stuff and some worrying stuff when we gave the ball away in difficult positions, and when we had to do defensive organization, it opened spaces in difficult moments. It worries me because when you give the ball away when you’re in the position we’re in, in one or two passes they can attack your goal. It’s a really difficult situation to resolve. From those situations as well, we created many chances today. We need to know when to take the risk. It’s more about the perception and interpreting the players that we have to use in certain areas more than the actual action. But you know that against these teams, they punish you in the Premier League.” [courtesy of Arsenal.com]

So, now we have one more preseason test to deal with before the Premier League opener on August 13th. The squad will travel to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, and I would expect to see Ben White make his first Arsenal start.

Cheers.

Gunner1953