Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0




Brothers at war..the painful tackle that almost ended Diaby's season last Sunday

  Funny enough, our second defeat of the season did not rile so much as the first against West Brom eight days earlier. Was it because this latest one was very expected? Quite possible.
Sitting through this game, you had that feeling of inevitable surrender hanging over you all through. As you watched us try to pry open the meanest defence in the league it didn’t look as if we could pull it off and deal Chelsea an unlikely second straight defeat. Well, London Bridge withstood our tepid barrage and struck back decisively and brutally.
Once again, this wasn’t a gut-wrenching loss. Afterall there is no shame in losing 2-0 to the champions in their own backyard. As Wenger rightly suggested, the result from Stanford was never going to determine the outlook of the league come May.
It is early days still, and lots and lots of games to go, but for all our so-called progress this year and good start, we were reminded very firmly where the powerbase of this league lies.
Yes, we pressed them and even shaded the possession. But methinks it was all part of Chelsea’s gameplan to allow us have the ball and shuffle it around the middle and in the wide areas – all the waiting to pounce and hit us on the counter. And how perfectly their strategy worked.
For us, you learn more from defeats if you are a good team and so we live to resurrect our title hopes yet another day. Like I said earlier, there is no shame in losing to Chelsea and yet-another punishing Drogba strike. Not too long ago (pre-Mourinho that is) it was us dishing out the torture to a sleuth of Chelsea coaches and their teams. Gianluca Vialli, Ruud Gullit, Claudio Ranieri and even Scolari all lost regularly to us year after year, with London bragging rights firmly belonging to us.
The tables turned under Mourinho and two wins in about 14 games later, we have failed to live with our London neighbours.
We go into an international break on the back of this defeat but more battle remain to be fought and it is positives from such games that will shape the way we approach those battles as the season unfolds and twists in ways most-revealing.


Below are the ratings.


*Fabianski (6/10) – A very steady and assured performance by our ‘new’ Number One. He commanded his area well and looked to have an air of confidence around him. No gaffes and silly cock-ups this time and it appears Almunia is finally going to be dealing with some real competition when he comes back. Not at fault for any of the goals and actually prevented a thrashing by shooing Anelka away when faced with a one-on-one. Are we finally seeing the real Fabianski? Or is the presence of a fire-spitting, fellow Pole on the bench galvanising him at last? Looks so, so far.
*Sagna(6/10) – Also had a steady game and wasn’t overawed one bit. Stood up to Drogba and his French national team collegues Malouda and Anelka. The fact that Malouda – arguably the most dangerous player in the league – was silenced all through the 90minutes was a great credit to Sagna.
*Koscielny (6/10) – It was good to measure our new boy against the might and pace of Drogba who remains the ultimate test of any defender in the league. Koscielny did well and wasn’t embarrassed on the night. Though he gave away the free kick that produced the second goal, it was still not a bad day at the office for him. Very nearly scored himself in the 3rd minute off a header from a Nasri corner.
* Squillaci(6/10) – Was sometimes troubled by the pace of Anelka, Malouda and Drogba and almost gifted Anelka a free goal in the 60minute when he fell over. But he did well and showed his experience all through.
*Clichy (6/10) – Also acquitted himself well and was never bullied. He even got ahead as is usual about his game and troubled Ivanovic in Chelsea’s right side of defence. Got chance after chance in the first half to lob in several balls into the Chelsea defence but poor finishing yielded nothing.
*Song (6/10) – Was involved in a running battle with his African brothers Essien and John Mikel in what looked like a personal contest amongst all three. Stood his ground and gave as good as he got. It is still a measure of how far he has progressed that he is counted in the same company as the prestigious Chelsea duo. All in all, he gave a worthy account of himself.
*Wilshire (7/10) – I think he was our best player on the night. Took the game to Chelsea and as we all know by now, showed no glint of fear with all the multi-medalled Chelsea stars surrounding him. That he was automatically picked for such a big game is the final seal of approval for our shining Englishman. He was at the heart of all good things we did in the middle and the way the Chelsea players stood off him sometimes, showed the respect they had for him. A gem indeed, this teenager.
*Nasri (6/10) – Also one of our brightest on the night. Kept plugging away in the hope of breaking Chelsea’s stubborn resistance and was very inventive and full of creativity. Did a lot of nice stuff throughout the 90minutes but almost ruined it all with that wayward pass to Anelka, which drew a foul from Koscielny. The rest, as they say, was that Alex thunderbolt.
*Diaby (5/10) – Recovered from the West Brom nightmare to step up his game here and along with Song, fought Chelsea to a standstill in the middle. A horrible-looking Essien stamp on his ankle late in the first half clearly hindered him as the game wore on and expectedly, he fizzled out before being replaced.
*Arshavin (6/10) – Looked to be up for this one, especially in the first half when he drew top class saves from Petr Cech. He never allowed Ivanovic a moment of peace and his trickery eventually forced Chelsea into substituting Ivanovic for Ferreira. He tired though as the game wore on and dropped out of the picture.
*Chamakh (5/10) – A very forgettable game for our new striker. Now he has seen close-up what damage the likes of Drogba can do and it is hoped that it was a valuable lesson learnt. How very different it would have been though for him, if he had buried that easy-looking 1st minute header that caught the entire Chelsea backline flatfooted. It wasn’t to be however and it seemed to affect his confidence as the game wore on.


Substitutes
*Rosicky (6/10) – Came on for the fading Diaby and took control of the midfield with good running and penetrative passes. He may not have the legs anymore but he sure still possesses the vision.
* Emmanuel Thomas (5/10) – The fact that he was preferred ahead of another striker, Carlos Vela in such a big game must be a measure of how much big things Wenger expects from him. Couldn’t deliver on this occasion but surely now with his league debut out of the way, expect to see more of him as the season progresses.