SUNDAY KICKBACK: “A game that was riddled with mistakes!” | Arsenal 2 - Chelsea 1
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Well, if you were listening to our radio commentary on Off the Ball of Arsenal versus Chelsea, well, I suppose it's a case of, Keith, we watch it so you don't have to. Because it certainly wasn't a good one to watch, was it? Finished 2-1 to Arsenal. All they'll care about is the three points.
Yeah, that's all that really matters to the Gunners at the end of it. But yeah, I echo what you're saying, Steve. I don't think it was a beautiful game when you think of the amount of talent that both teams have in the final tour. They thought it was scrappy, it was misplaced. There was a lot of misplaced passing, turning over of possession. A game with... not an awful lot of quality, truth be told, but three set pieces, three goals. From an Arsenal point of view, I've seen this season that Arsenal can be pretty and they can play through the tours and it can be sexy football, they can open teams up. Can they bite down on the gum shield and just win a derby when it's all a little bit horrible and a little bit scrappy and it's not quite clicking?
Can you win that game of football? And Arsenal have done that. So I know people would say Arsenal weren't great, there's errors all over the place. I totally get that, but
What were the key moments in the Arsenal vs. Chelsea match?
That's a London derby and that's the second London derby and they're bouncing. They've won both. So three points is what Arsenal want. Three points is what they've got. Although I understand the performance wasn't great. Happy to just sweep it under the carpet and move on.
Yeah, and they've responded to that poor run of seven games where they dropped the 11 points. They got 11 from the 21, but they've responded with back-to-back London derby wins, most notably last week a 4-1 pasting of their North London rivals Tottenham. So there might have been some nerves going into the Tottenham game, and again today because City had won last night against Leeds United, and they've responded well, and I'm sure Mikel Arteta will be feeling pretty happy about that.
Yeah, look, people would say that Arsenal maybe showed that they were under pressure in terms of how they played. Again, it wasn't beautiful. It didn't really click in the final third. But with that amount of pressure, you could feel it. You could feel the Arsenal fans a little bit tetchy. And when it went 1-1 with the Hincapia OG, you're thinking, oh my God, it's going to be one of them games where Arsenal are slightly shaded, but you just can't score the goals and the goals return will be highlighted again. Victor Jokeres didn't really get involved in the game too much, although he ran the channels and he did try. I don't remember him really working Sanchez in the Chelsea goal. I don't remember Saka really poking his head above the periphery and showing us what a player he is.
I think it was just one of those scrappy games where you're thinking, look lads, you're going to have to dig this out somehow. Thankfully Arsenal did that. Sometimes the tactics part goes out the window you're not too bothered about. You know, everything that's going on, it's just, is it going to have to find a way? And Arsenal found a way. So, again, I don't think you need to overanalyse that. If this was game after game after game, Arsenal were, you know, really poor in terms of their football and ability, then maybe you'd have to look into it. But Arsenal have been really, really good in terms of the goals they're scoring, in terms of their input off the ball. So, yeah, just another way to win a game of football.
Yeah, getting that five-point gap reopened at the top over Manchester City, psychologically how important is that going to be for Arsenal?
I think it's important I don't think it's the be all and end all I honestly still think City will poke their head above at some point in this race they will go ahead of Arsenal I don't think Arsenal will be perfect between here and now I don't expect Manchester City to be perfect and with the Champions League coming into play and the EFL Cup final with Manchester City and Arsenal mentally that could have a big burden on what goes on in the
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