Chelsea v Arsenal Match Report
By Ben Newdick
GUNNERS RETURN TO TOP SPOT AFTER GABRIEL GOAL SEES OFF LONDON RIVALS
Match Report: Chelsea vs Arsenal – 06/11/22
The Gunners were the much better side on Sunday, as they pipped a depleted Chelsea side to a 1-0 victory on their own patch. Mikel Arteta’s men once again leapfrogged Manchester City at the top of the table in what appears to be becoming a two-horse race, with a fantastic result over their noisy neighbours.
A landmark 150th game in charge for Mikel Arteta was crowned off by an exquisite performance from his side, and most notably a 63rd minute goal from Brazilian centre-back, Gabriel. His second goal of the season saw the Reds march to a third victory in a row at Stamford Bridge and re-gained their two-point advantage over current champions, Manchester City, just before the league takes a break and makes way for the World Cup. Striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang lined up for Chelsea to take on his former club for the first time since leaving North London only nine months ago, on not the greatest of terms.
But it was the Arsenal fans who had the last laugh as they poked home the only goal of the game. However, this was not until the second half, and in truth, the first half was rather unentertaining as neither team looked comfortable on the ball nor threatened the oppositions’ goal.
Ben White pulled a shot wide of the far post from just outside the penalty area on 10 minutes, and Thiago Silva made a fantastic last-ditch challenge on Gabriel Jesus inside the box to deny what was a nailed on goalscoring opportunity for the striker. The Brazilian also failed to hit the target within the opening 30 minutes of the match, when the ball was fizzed across the face of goal, he was unable to nod the ball over the line with the goal gaping from no more than a couple of yards.
In the opposition goal, Aaron Ramsdale was largely untroubled for the entire half, and it took until the 63rd minute for a set-piece to open the scoring, when Bukayo Saka whipped in a dangerous corner for defender, Gabriel to nod over the line from inside the six-yard box to register only his second goal of the season.
By this point, the Blues were staring down the barrel of a consecutive Premier League loss. During the second half, Chelsea boss, Graham Potter, had seen enough and made four changes to his side. Withdrawing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kai Havertz, Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, he introduced Armando Broja, Conor Gallagher, Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic. However, Potter’s magic was unable to spoil the visitors’ party as Arsenal saw out the remainder of the match, consigning their rivals to back-to-back league defeats.
