We are in a title challenge. I’ll say it again, we are in a title challenge. I won’t say it with sarcasm, I won’t say it with a “but”, I won’t say we will win the league, but damn it we are fighting for the title with 13 games played. Arsenal defeated Chelsea at the Bridge 1-0 and it was the most dominant 1-0 battering you will ever see this season. We were all over them from the start, just dominating them in their own backyard, Thomas was running the show, Saliba and Gabriel had Auba in their pockets (Auba just had 8 touches in the game), Ben White parenting Mason Mount, just spectacular performances all around from the boys.
THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:
- Zinchenko came back at a perfect time: Zinchenko came back at a perfect time when Tomiyasu took a knock this past Thursday. I would have been fine if Tierney was asked to play instead but seeing Zinchenko back at his best despite the weeks off through injuries was a sight to sore eyes. Arteta came came out with the same XI everywhere else and we didn’t skip a beat. Ø I think and Saka at some parts were below par in spurts but all in all, can’t complain with how Arteta started the match.
- Thomas Partey is our best player: He just is. He was magnificent today, picking the right passes at the right time. Played his part defensively when he needed to. Nothing gets me more excited in sports than he plays his reverse passes. He was just perfect today in all aspects of his game. When Thomas Partey is at his best, I feel fully confident in the team. He gives us a freedom to be aggressive as long as we know he is patrolling things in the midfield. Just a spectacular performance from our best player.
3. Auba cracks me up man: Aubameyang, this clown had the audacity to come out with those Sky Sports adverts and say dumb stuff like it’s “Nothing Personal” and then goes out and puts a performance where our defense held him to 8 touches in 64 minutes.
Honestly, I don’t have ill will towards Auba since he did so much for us when he was here, but you can’t help but laugh at this stuff man. 8 touches all game, did Potter even select the guy today? Just a weird performance from him considering all that was on the line for him.
4. William Saliba, Gabriel, and Ben White are full of heavy pockets: Mason Mount, Auba, Sterling, and Kai Havertz all need to come out of our boy’s pockets now, it’s getting embarrassing. Just dreadful from their attacking players but masterful from our boys at the back. I still am examining if we were that good at the back or if Chelsea were that anemic going forward. They didn’t have a sniff towards Ramsdale. They had the rare counter but they really didn’t generate any real passage of play or cause Ramsdale any trouble. Any type of deep cross they had, the our men sniffed that stuff out easily. Just amazing stuff from the boys and proud of them but they need to let the kids out of their pockets now.
5. Gabriel Jesus will come good: I’m the first to rag on an Arsenal player if he is not performing to acceptable standards but this isn’t one of those cases. He hasn’t scored but I won’t acknowledge that cause he’s perfect and is doing everything else correctly. 🙂 Also since I am in such a good mood, I won’t come for Ø.
6. Arteta-Ball back in full force – There were a few passages of play where the boys were just straight messing with Chelsea, you love to see it.
7. Need to finish the rest of the games off strong before the World Cup: We have Brighton in the EFL Cup, and Wolves next weekend at the Molineux Stadium. It’s never easy going there as we have seen in the past few years but they are fighting relegation which will be an interesting twist from past encounters. I expect Arteta to rotate as much as he can midweek against Brighton and go with our best XI against Wolves. At this point, every game is a must win to keep up with City so let’s hope the boys finish it off strong. It does feel weird to not complain about anything but here we are, straight vibing. You love to see it.
Twitter credits: ArmeriaGunner, iskaholic