Arsenal 1-4 Chelsea: How About That!

How about that for a revenge! Great response and reaction from Chelsea. Arsenal won at Stamford Bridge in Nov 08. They beat us 2-1. I’ve been waiting so long for the return leg. I’ve been waiting for the payback time. I wanted Chelsea to beat Arsenal at the Emigrants. Today, Chelsea paid them back. And they paid them back in double.

I’m so happy today. It’s always a great feeling to knock the goners. Today, we didn’t just knock them off, we just simply thrashed them. I heard that Arsenal were on an unbeaten run. 21 matches unbeaten and thrashed at home 4-1. If we were a bit better up front, we would have scored seven or eight.

A spot in the next champions league is confirmed while Arsenal are forced to play some meaningful qualifying rounds next season. By the way, the only thing that was difference between Wednesday night and today was the referee.

And yes, the score line t00. But heck, Arsenal were more threatening that Barca were in 180 minutes of football, home and away. You know what, Abidal got himself sent off against Villareal as they were held to a 3-3 draw with a 90th minute equaliser from Llorente.

Back to this match, as always we took time to wake up. As a result, the first 15 minutes were nervy. Once we settled in, there was going to be only one result. The first goal was a beautiful header by Alex. Drogba’s delivery from the free kick was probably the best thing he did all day. The way Alex headed it in was pure technique.

Arsenal know how well Alex can head because it was him who headed them out of the champions league a few seasons back. The second goal was mindblowing. That was Nicolas Anelka’s best Chelsea goal ever.

To score such a goal, against Arsenal, at Emigrants, after the champions league semi final, is just simply magnificent. That was the Anelka I have known and seen in Bolton.

The third goal was a good attacking move made better by Ashley Cole’s superb run. Toure putted that in for an own goal but if he had not, Drogba was right there to finish it. It was at this time Bendtner was in. He had his pants on.

Essien and Bosingwa together let Bendtner rise above all to score a good header. The fourth goal was again a nice attacking move. Lampard sent a little through pass as Malouda broke the offside trap.

I was disappointed to see him not finish it but luckily it had to be him to make it 4-1. There was a hint of offside when Malouda finally scored but that’s fine, I still remember that van Persie goal.

There were at least four clear cut chances that must have been finished with ease. There was even this one-on-one for Lampard that was wrongly called offside. Chelsea were getting stronger and stronger as the match progressed. Arsenal did what they always do. Passing around to an extent they lose the focus and objective.

Chelsea defended very very well to restrict them with the opportunities to shoot. Later in the second half Arsenal started delivering crosses into the box and Bosingwa was very uncomfortable with them. Just when I was thinking that Bosingwa could be our leaking weak link, Guus brought on Ivanovic for Bosingwa. Brilliant substitution.

One great positive out of this match was Petr Cech’s goalkeeping. He was just too good today. He was very confident. He commanded his area with authority.

He made a few brilliant saves too. Especially, his save of the close range shot from Silvestre was absolutely world class. I only hope that his rare blip in form is over and he is back to being his usual best.

Statistics-wise this was a very even match. Chelsea had 51 percent possession. Arsenal had 20 shots of which six were on target. Chelsea had 18 shots of which five were on target. Arsenal outfouled Chelsea by 19 to 14.

The column which mattered showed clearly that it was not an even match. 1-4. Now we’ve got just two more matches to go. Finishing second is a difficult task now. Chelsea have Blackburn (home) and Sunderland (away) while Liverpool have West Brom (away) and Tottenham (home).

Chelsea must win both and Liverpool must win neither. Highly possible but probability could be low. Anyway, I’m ecstatic that we beat Arsenal at Emigrants.

I’m reminded of one typical Arsenal fan’s words after their defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup semi finals—“Come to the Emirates—the home of football. We’ll teach you a lesson.” All right, thanks a lot!

P.S: I’m away on holiday for the next one week so please help yourselves in the comments section. Cheers!