By Ian Grant
Money won.
£70m of substitutes funded by climate changing oil money turned the game.
Up until the goal midway through the second half, Arsenal were holding their own.
The ‘free kick’ which lead to the goal was dubious and Drogba was offside, if fractionally. Gallas’s trip on Cole was a penalty. And Lampard handled in the area.
The question is: What psychological damage will that do to Arsenal? They’ve been beaten twice by Chelsea in 14 days. There is a danger the difference between the teams after the fluke goal, resulting from Senderos nudging Drogba into the path of the ball and past Lehmann, could become a chasm.
There was a daring question from Richard Keyes on Sky Sports. Do you think that’s the title gone for Arsenal? Jamie Redknapp said; “ Not quite gone yet.”
A draw would have been a moral victory against a Chelsea 16, costing three times more than Arsenal’s.
The result is bad news for the Premiership.
Chelsea will get stronger relative to challengers as the season wears on. In March, April and May, when injuries and suspensions bite hardest, they’ll bring on seasoned international reserves, while Arsenal, unless they buy, will bring on junior internationals like Justin Hoyte and Gael Clichy .
As we saw today, youngsters make mistakes. In the Newcastle game Toure let Shearer get ahead of him in front of goal. In this game again, Senderos let Drogba steal a march on him, for the goal.
Several pundits think Arsenal should buy a forward. Niall Quinn suggests Michael Owen . Andy Gray said Arsenal’s problem was that no-one was in the box when they were in attacking positions. He too says Arsenal need a forward.
There was agreement that Arsenal need to buy in the next ten days to give the club a lift. The last three performances have been a bit flat.
The talk about the ‘fox in the box’ that Francis Jeffers was meant to be has disappeared. But the problem is still there.
The responsibility on Thierry Henry is weighing heavily. He goes deeper – and it is easier to defend against him. He also doesn’t look himself at the moment.
Arsenal had 60% of the possession, but only one shot on target during 77 minutes.
The game cried out for a Baptista bursting forward with energy, rather than the hokey-cokey passing forward around and back-again in front of the Chelsea area which is easy to defend against and eventually breaks down and leads to dangerous counter attacks. Arsenal have trouble defending teams who play deep, like some Champions League teams.
Arsenal played too narrow, moving the ball into congested central areas. Chelsea were more incisive and direct, and had more variety, moving the ball short and long. A favoured option was the long diagonal ball behind Ashley Cole.
Also Chelsea can look to the bench to change tactics significantly. Witness Drogba for Crespo . Arsenal don’t have those options.
Hleb was a revelation though. He has something of the George Eastham about him. Most of Arsenal’s penetrative moves came through him.
Lehmann played well making two brave one on one saves from Robben.
Did Arsenal miss Vieira ? At one point Lampard ran past Gilberto and Fabregas quite easily. He wouldn’t have escaped Vieira’s telescopic legs.
Another moment Gilberto struggled to bring a high ball down, and eventually lost it. Vieira would have mopped it up. That’s one reason why Real wanted him – so he could mop up aerial balls from the opposition goalkeeper and start counter-attacks quickly.
Arsene Wenger saying after the game there are no major concerns, was a concern in itself.
One final point. Hope the people of Boscastle and Birmingham and Florida and Mumbai enjoyed the football Chelsea played. For they are the ones at the moment paying the price of the oil consumption (oil used in Russia has up to ten times the carbon dioxide creating capacity than some other countries) that pays for the Drogbas, Essiens and Wrong-Philipps.