A London derby between two consistent teams.
Arsenal won 3-0 at the Emirates.
Their fifth Premier League win in a row.
All of Arsenal’s goals came from short-passing moves inside the box.
Giroud produced a great finish in 45+1 to send Arsenal in 1-0 up.
West Ham tried to stay in the game and did so until the last 11+ minutes, when Ramsey made it 2-0 and Cazorla set up Flamini for a tap-in.
West Ham’s consistency is different: the Hammers have only won one of their last eleven.
A Gooner friend at the game said, “West Ham weren’t awful. But they ran out of puff. Giroud scored at the right time, that settled them down, Song was good for the first 20, then rubbish. Theo had two chances, totally fluffed the second one because he had time to think. Adrian had a good game. I think 3-0 flattered us a bit. It was more of a 2-0 kind of game.”
Arsenal are now just one point behind Manchester City, who were beaten by a late goal at Burnley.
Kompany headed a cross out and George Boyd slammed a low shot just inside the post.
The lumbering Dzeko reacted far too late to block that shot, making only a token effort that seemed symptomatic of City’s malaise: they know Pellegrini won’t be there next season.
Can Arsenal go to Monaco produce a miracle result?
Can they win 3-0? We’ll find out on Tuesday night.
The club that should be Top 8 in Europe look Top 16 at this moment
The team news from Stamford Bridge pleased me.
Southampton’s Italian, Pelle, was dropped at last.
He’d gone 11 without a goal and every time I’ve seen Pelle he hasn’t been able to hit an Adebarndoor.
Long & Mane proved to be spiky warriors who gave the league leaders plenty to think about.
Eden Hazard created the attack which brought an early goal by moving across to the right before Ivanovic crossed to give Diego Costa a simple header from three yards.
One nil in 11 minutes.
Southampton hit back immediately, forcing Courtois to make a superb save from Mane’s left-foot shot after a sweet attack on the left.
Then Mane played a one-two with Wanyama, and was brought down in the box by Matic, whose long leg played Mane’s knee before his boot got anywhere near the ball.
PENALTY!
Tadic placed his spot-kick down the middle and it went in off the boot of Courtois.
1-1 in 18 minutes.
Southampton had chances before half-time in a really fascinating contest.
But the second half was one-way traffic as Chelsea bossed it.
Oscar moved so far forward that he disappeared but almost won it at the death, popping up with several late efforts saved by Fraser Forster. Costa also hit the post and had a good shot saved.
My kind of game: very good defending by Southampton, clever use of wide areas, loads of focus & determination. And intelligence!
Ronald Koeman said he was proud of his team. And so he should be.
As I said the other day, the Big Four is the T op Four.
Very hard for Liverpool to catch up now
Arsenal v Man United is on May 16 and that’s Match 37.
I reckon the Top Four will be sorted by then.