Chelsea vs. Arsenal: Juan Mata Shows Arsenal They Should Still Have Bought Him

On a sunny day at Stamford Bridge where both the Chelsea and Arsenal defenses decided to take a little time off, a lot off chances were missed, and both fans and neutrals were presented with a very intriguing game, one thing stood out.

Arsenal really should have bought Juan Mata.

Truth be told, Mata hasn't set the league or Europe alight while in a Blues shirt so far. In fact, statistically he and Gervinho are basically equal in both goals and assists.

But wouldn't it be nice to have those statistics added to the Arsenal team?

Mata did provide a goal and assist in today's game and showed match-changing capabilities that Arsenal could definitely still use. His impact is more than just goals and assists, though. During his time at Valencia he had a number of seasons where he reached double-digits in both departments.

He has been a key component of the more possession-based type of play that Andre Villas-Boas is trying to implement, and would, of course, easily slot into Arsenal's system.

Simple fact is, if you add Mata to the current—and improving—Arsenal squad, things could be a lot better. It cannot be said that Mata would definitely have changed Arsenal's early fortunes, but today's performance is evidence of his ability. 

Of course, there is the issue of rotating players to keep them happy, but Arsene Wenger would surely be able to manage that task. Only Theo Walcott and Gervinho would be standing in Mata's way, and Mata could even fill in at Aaron Ramsey's position behind the forward.

Both Walcott and Gervinho proved their worth today with a goal for the former and and an assist for the latter, while Aaron Ramsey was an absolute delight in the middle highlighted by his Xavi-esque pass to Gervinho to set up the first Arsenal goal.

While Mata disappeared a little in the second half—as did the rest of the Chelsea attack—he was a thorn in Arsenal's side throughout and had his team defended better, he could have been the man of the match.

His assist was the result of both his technique and vision as he easily skipped pass the Arsenal left back Andre Santos, and his goal may have had a little luck involved, but he still had to take the shot.

That being said the result was indeed a massive one for the Gunners and one must say that it was down to the attacking prowess that Arsenal showed today.

Big teams could still use big players though, and Mata would have made this game a lot easier for the Gunners.