Chelsea vs. Arsenal: Winners and Losers from London Derby
Chelsea got back to their winning ways in the Premier League with a 2-0 home victory over Arsenal on Saturday.
A stop-start first half didn't see too many clear chances at either end, and the match was slightly on the tame side until Diego Costa got involved, with Gabriel Paulista being shown a red card near the end of the first half after an altercation with the forward.
Kurt Zouma scored straight after the restart, and Santi Cazorla was sent off in the latter stages of the game before Eden Hazard wrapped things up by firing in a goal deflected off Calum Chambers.
Here are our biggest winners and losers from the match at Stamford Bridge.
Winner: Kurt Zouma
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Even before his goal, Kurt Zouma was a good shout for a winner today. No longer is he trying to force his way into this Chelsea XI; instead, he is a realistic solution for Jose Mourinho to turn to.
Merely making the starting lineup for a game of this magnitude is testament to the confidence the team has in him as well as his ability, but on more than one occasion, he proved that trust was well-founded and worthy of repetition.
Zouma made a huge challenge on the halfway line to prevent a counter-attack during the first half, scored the opening goal of the game with a powerful downward header and looked like a first-choice player given Chelsea's poor defensive start to the season and his unique traits—especially in contrast to the older and slower John Terry and Gary Cahill.
Loser: Gabriel Paulista
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Arsenal centre-back Gabriel Paulista had made a fairly confident and comfortable start to the match, but he was totally undone in a matter of seconds when it came to game mentality rather than technical ability.
The initial fracas involving Diego Costa and Laurent Koscielny should have been over in seconds, but Gabriel's decision to get involved was only ever going one way—especially when he simply wouldn't let the incident go, allowing Costa to goad him into any kind of reaction.
Gabriel's red card wasn't the worst-ever offence in terms of violence or behaviour, but it killed his side's game plan and let Chelsea utterly dominate the second half—when the match was won.
Aside from these three points, Gabriel also allowed a positional rival to come into the team just as he was beginning to get a run of games himself, further hampering his attempts to regularly fit into the Arsenal XI.
Winner: Diego Costa
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This wasn't anywhere close to his finest 90 minutes (or 82, in fact), but Diego Costa had a massive say on the outcome of the match and was brilliant for Chelsea in getting the result.
The Spain international struggled with his touch on the ball at times and couldn't beat defenders one-on-one with any great frequency, but he occupied two at once, laid the ball off for the attacking midfielders and, of course, got the best of Gabriel Paulista in a big way. Make no mistake, Costa didn't care an ounce at the moment of the red card for "one-upmanship"; he was simply trying to provoke his opponent into a reaction.
He got one, Gabriel was punished and Costa's influence was a positive one for his team.
It should be noted that although Costa's shooting and dribbling was far from on point, his movement and work rate created a lot of space for others, helping Chelsea to a long overdue win.
Loser: Theo Walcott
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Still continuing his career-long quest to be considered a starting centre-forward, Theo Walcott showed every poor trait of his game against Chelsea and was totally ineffective as the main man in attack.
Walcott was offside countless times, wasted a decent chance when in on goal and never looked like making the dangerous runs in behind the defence that Arsene Wenger would have hoped he could make—mainly because Chelsea sat deep when the Gunners had possession and his timing was below par.
Whether Olivier Giroud would have been a better bet is open to discussion and impossible to be sure of, but Walcott once again showed he is far from a complete striker of the class a top club requires.
At 26 years of age now, how much longer must this guessing game go on?
Winner: Cesc Fabregas
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Cesc Fabregas produced the delivery for the opening goal of the game and was a clear driving force for Chelsea throughout the match, pushing forward from the centre to set up the likes of Oscar and Eden Hazard in possession and supporting from behind.
Squawka on Twitter noted Zouma's goal was Fabregas' first assist of the season.
Fabregas made a number of interventions in midfield to keep his side on the front foot against the Gunners' counter-attack, and he was quickest to react to a 50-50 that resulted in Santi Cazorla being sent off—which essentially shut down any hopes of an Arsenal comeback late on in the game.
The 28-year-old shone against his former club, and Chelsea will hope this is the spark for a much better run of form and consistency for him.
