Drab draw at the Emirates

Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea

 

Arsenal and Chelsea played out a painfully dour goalless draw last night. As the wind and rain lashed down on the Emirates stadium, the entertainment on the pitch suffered considerably with chances few and far between.

Jose Mourinho had clearly arrived with one intention in mind, to stifle the game and escape back to Stamford Bridge with a draw and maybe steal a win. This was a somewhat surprising approach from the man who once derided Tottenham for “parking the bus” following a home game against Arsenal’s North London rivals.

Given Chelsea’s negative tactics and their attempts to slow the game down when awarded goal kicks and throw ins, the onus was on Arsenal to break them down and get the first goal which would open the game up. Yet the Gunners struggled to get any momentum whatsoever, with their extremely poor passing in the final third letting them down time and time again.

A prime example of this was the constant attempts to get Walcott through on the right flank. Although the Englishman does possess searing pace and clinical finishing ability, he does not have the skill and trickery in his armoury to enable him to escape the clutches of a defender when tightly marked. As a result the best way to exploit his ability is a clipped ball over the top of the opposition defence, enabling Walcott to get a run on the defender. However with the surface extremely wet and slippery yesterday, any balls over the top were simply zipping off the ground and straight out of play. In addition Chelsea were also sitting rather deep, restricting the space in behind for Walcott to make effective runs and therefore nullified any threat posed by the Englishman. Yet despite this, Walcott should have been awarded a penalty in the first half when Willian tripped him in the box, but the totally inept Mike Dean, who had an atrocious game, waved play on.

Given the circumstances it was also surprising that Wenger opted to start with Arteta at the base of his midfield and not the industrious Flamini. Arteta is a fine player and his range of passing can be effective from this deep lying role but yesterday’s game called for a different approach. For a start, the blustery conditions made long range passing extremely unpredictable with several passes floating out of play. But more importantly, the Chelsea midfield of Mikel, Ramires and Lampard had clearly arrived at the Emirates with the intention to leave their mark on their opponents. In fact Mikel should have been sent off in the first half following a horrendous tackle on Arteta. While Mike Dean allowed Arsenal to play the advantage, he should have gone back and dismissed Mikel, but instead did absolutely nothing.  The Gunners needed a fighter, like Flamini, in the middle of the park yesterday. The Frenchman is adored by the Arsenal faithful for his never say die attitude and the fact that he administers the kind of punishment they would love to dish out themselves. Had he been on the pitch yesterday he would have most certainly been booked at some stage, but he would have also put the Chelsea midfield in their place. The fact he wasn’t even introduced from the substitutes’ bench was unbelievable.

Further forward, the likes of Ramsey, Ozil and Giroud were also rather poor. Ramsey gave the ball away far too easily, with one instance in the first half almost resulting in Willian opening the scoring, but the Brazilian’s tame effort was easily saved by Szczesny. Ozil on the other hand is yet to really shine in any of the big games. The German international looks jaded having played almost every game since his arrival at the end of the summer transfer window. His most significant contribution last night was a heated exchange with Ivanovic in the second half following a high footed challenge from the Serbian for which Mike Dean predictably awarded Arsenal a throw in rather than a free kick. Giroud meanwhile was an isolated figure upfront, often flicking the ball on, but with no Arsenal player anywhere near him, possession was easily lost time and time again. However the big Frenchman had the two best chances of the game (Lampard’s volleyed effort which came back off the crossbar aside).

Both chances came with only a few minutes of the game left to play and had Giroud converted just one of them, it could well have proved to be the winner. The first saw Ramsey play a fine pass, finding Giroud in space on the edge of the box, but with the angle narrowing, the Frenchman aimed for Cech’s near post when he should have shot across goal and completely missed the target, his shot even failing to hit the side netting. Giroud’s second big chance of the night came a few minutes later, this time Gibbs’ low ball into the box finding the French striker, who was denied by a combination of Cech and Terry, with the ball sailing over the crossbar. In extremely tight games such as these, when goal scoring opportunities are few and far between, Arsenal need a truly clinical striker to take the scarce opportunities which come their way. Unfortunately, although Giroud does work extremely hard for the team, he is not the world class, ruthless finisher which all teams require if they are to mount a serious title challenge.

In the dying minutes Sagna also saw a tame header cleared off the line but in truth this game had stalemate written all over it from the very first minute. It was a scruffy, turgid affair which neither side deserved to win. Arsenal go into the Christmas period in second place, behind Liverpool only on goal difference and at the start of the season would have been more than happy with that position at this stage of the campaign. However, having started so well, there is a distinct feeling that the momentum of their title challenge is starting to slowly fade away. The Gunners must regroup quickly as the games come thick and fast over Christmas and Wenger’s side cannot afford to fall too far behind. A title challenge is like a marathon and there is a feeling that Arsenal are starting to hit the wall. They must now collectively take a deep breath, grit their teeth and push on once more.