End of empire feel about Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea were restricted to 32,249 – and Arsenal fans sang “just like the old days. There’s nobody here.”
The Bridge brings out bizarre, unexpected results in Chelsea v Arsenal games – remember the Winterburn, Bergkamp, Edu, van Persie [twice] and more recently Smith Rowe winners and at times this had a five-a-side-feel about it.
Holding came into a back three, as Arteta matched up his opponents. Elneny was in for second start of the season and Nketiah got a start in place of Lacazette. Saka and Tavares were wing backs. Odegaard was behind Nketiah.
For Chelsea Malang Sarr was in. Kovacic was out and Kante and Loftus Cheek shook the midfield all about and Lukaku got a rare start. Defeats to Real Madrid and Brentford and a sapping FA Cup semi meant Chelsea came into this in a less than perfect position.
But they mounted early attacks. Alonso had a good chance from a corner, but Xhaka deflected it wide and from the resultant cross, Gabriel headed off the line from an inswinger. Then Loftus Cheek set up Lukaku but bereft of confidence, he dragged it wide.
On 13, Christensen shinned a ball back to Mendy, but it was far too short and gave Nketiah a run at the Chelsea goal. He ran across Sarr and drove it across the advancing goalkeeper into the corner of the net. A goal of great confidence – given his lack of first team playing time.
Arsenal switched to a back four at the end of the first quarter.
But four minutes later, Loftus Cheek intercepted a pass and Werner cut inside the edge of the Arsenal area, Xhaka turned his back, Ramsdale was wrong footed and didn’t get down fast enough. Arsenal defenders thought he should have saved it.
Saka wriggled through the Chelsea defence on the right and found Nketiah who snatched at it and the shot was blocked.
But minutes later, Xhaka got Holding out of a jam in his own area wriggled through, via a nutmeg to find Odegaard who found Saka who passed to Smith Rowe who passed the ball into the corner of the net from 18 yards out into Mendy’s net. It was his 11th of the season.
But on 32, in this ‘anything you can do we can do better’ feel, Alonso found Mount who looked like he fouled Ben White but crossed to Azpilicueta who half volleyed it in first time. Tavares should have been tracking but let him go. Thomas the Tuchel Engine looked pleased.
Arsenal pushed for a lead before half-time. Odegaard set up Smith Rowe brilliantly and Croydon man beat two defenders with quick feet but shot past the post.
Silva came on for Christensen at half time.
On 57, Tavares with space on the left found Nketiah who took it on the turn in the Chelsea area. The ball bounced between Silva and Sarr and the striker Chelsea rejected at 16, was lethal with a split second-chance, toe-poking it into the net before Mendy could get set.
Havaerz came on for Lukaku, who looked lost and heading back to Italy.
Arsenal looked less secure at corners than usual, and James’ cross ricocheted off Ramsdale, but Alonso’s shot was blocked.
Arsenal had chances on the break in the last quarter. Saka nearly knocked it into Martinelli’s path, but Mendy gathered. Soon after the England international slipped in the Chelsea area missing a good chance.
Cedric found himself in a good position, cutting in from the right but sent a weird ball out wide on the left to Tavares who shot wildly wide.
Cedric had another chance to cross, and this time Saka got ahead of Azpilicueta and in a melee of hand grabbing, Saka fell to the ground and got the benefit of the doubt and the penalty.
An added bonus in injury time – a chance for the England international to exorcise the demons of the Euros final, which he did with aplomb.
After the game, he said: “We wanted to give fans something to believe in us. Losing three games was really bad for us. Azpilicueta was holding me I had to go down.
Smith Rowe said: “It is a big result. We wanted to bounce back. The fans were amazing. It was a bit special. It gives us confidence and shows we can bounce back.”
Mikel Arteta said: “The way they started was tactically very demanding. They constantly change their shape. We needed personnel to be flexible. It was a great day after a bad two weeks.
“We had to stay in the game. Their shape gave us a lot of spaces We knew they played a few days ago.
“I love the spirit of the players. As a group they are growing. The result will help and give confidence for the games ahead.”
Thomas the Tuchel said: “We gave away three own goals. We give these goals away. We missed Rudiger. In the second half we were nowhere good enough. They changed their tactics three times.”
He said there were Individual mistakes for the goals but wasn’t interested in talking about individuals given the overall team performance.
Premier League: Chelsea 2 Arsenal 4
Chelsea: 16Mendy, 24James, 4Christensen (Substituted for Thiago Silva at 45’minutes), 31Sarr (Booked at 65mins), 28Azpilicueta (Booked at 90mins), 12Loftus-Cheek, 7Kanté, 3Alonso Substituted for Ziyech at 81’minutes), 19Mount (Booked at 84mins), 9Lukaku (Substituted for Havertz at 60’minutes), 11Werner
Arsenal: 32Ramsdale, 4White, 16Holding, 6Gabriel (Booked at 90mins), 20Tavares, 25Elneny, 34Xhaka, 7Saka (Substituted for Lacazette at 90+5’minutes), 8Ødegaard, 10Smith Rowe (Substituted for Cédric Soares at 75’minutes),30Nketiah (Substituted for Martinelli at 70’minutes)