Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Goals from Kurt Zouma and Eden Hazard helped the defending Champions get back to winning ways. We look at five takeaways from the match.
Referee's decisions
After a quiet first half, Costa burst the game into life. The striker elbowed and slapped Koscielny in the face before barging down on him with his chest. He then got in an argument with Gabriel and both the players were booked. Gabriel then accidentally stepped on Costa's foot and Mike Dean was influenced by the Chelsea players to send Gabriel off. The referee's decisions were biased for most part of the game as he showed another red card to Arsenal when he sent off Santi Cazorla after just his second foul of the game. Mike Dean has a history with Arsenal and he suffered the wrath of many Arsenal fans after his decisions today.
Fabregas back to his best?
Fabregas has been blamed for much of Chelsea's poor form ahead of this game. The European tie against M Tel Aviv was a morale booster for the whole Chelsea team and Cesc in particular as he set up a goal and scored one himself in that game. That confidence continued into today's match and he was a constant threat with his passing, and deservedly got the assist for Zouma's opener
Mourinho gets the better of Wenger
Wenger has beaten his Chelsea counter part only once in fifteen attempts including Saturday's game. He is yet to beat Mourinho in the league and maybe that mental block was there for Wenger's team as they failed to capitalise on a Chelsea side that were on a poor run. Arsenal has performed reasonably well against most other top sides in the past two years but they have always found games against Chelsea difficult.
Zouma to give Terry worries
The Chelsea skipper was dropped to the bench after some poor early season display and the man to replace him was Kurt Zouma. Zouma was absolutely outstanding in the game against Arsenal and opened the scoring with a brilliant header. The defender was solid at the back and the highlight was the sliding tackle when he stopped Theo Walcott from getting through on goal. With Zouma in this form, it will be much tougher for Terry to get back into the team.
Arsenal are not Champion material
Arsenal have a lot to complain about in the aftermath of this defeat but they can't just keep on blaming their luck and refereeing decisions over and over. Even before Gabriel was sent off controversially in the first half, Arsenal weren't at their dominating best. They were solid defensively, but going forward they lacked the slick and fast passing which is a trademark of Arsenal teams. They also lacked a leader character who could have saved Gabriel from seeing red during that incident. Such incidents are bound to happen over the season and Arsenal can't just blame their luck whenever they lose.
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| Diego Costa and Gabriel Paulista |
After a quiet first half, Costa burst the game into life. The striker elbowed and slapped Koscielny in the face before barging down on him with his chest. He then got in an argument with Gabriel and both the players were booked. Gabriel then accidentally stepped on Costa's foot and Mike Dean was influenced by the Chelsea players to send Gabriel off. The referee's decisions were biased for most part of the game as he showed another red card to Arsenal when he sent off Santi Cazorla after just his second foul of the game. Mike Dean has a history with Arsenal and he suffered the wrath of many Arsenal fans after his decisions today.
Fabregas back to his best?
Fabregas has been blamed for much of Chelsea's poor form ahead of this game. The European tie against M Tel Aviv was a morale booster for the whole Chelsea team and Cesc in particular as he set up a goal and scored one himself in that game. That confidence continued into today's match and he was a constant threat with his passing, and deservedly got the assist for Zouma's opener
Mourinho gets the better of Wenger
Wenger has beaten his Chelsea counter part only once in fifteen attempts including Saturday's game. He is yet to beat Mourinho in the league and maybe that mental block was there for Wenger's team as they failed to capitalise on a Chelsea side that were on a poor run. Arsenal has performed reasonably well against most other top sides in the past two years but they have always found games against Chelsea difficult.
Zouma to give Terry worries
The Chelsea skipper was dropped to the bench after some poor early season display and the man to replace him was Kurt Zouma. Zouma was absolutely outstanding in the game against Arsenal and opened the scoring with a brilliant header. The defender was solid at the back and the highlight was the sliding tackle when he stopped Theo Walcott from getting through on goal. With Zouma in this form, it will be much tougher for Terry to get back into the team.
Arsenal are not Champion material
Arsenal have a lot to complain about in the aftermath of this defeat but they can't just keep on blaming their luck and refereeing decisions over and over. Even before Gabriel was sent off controversially in the first half, Arsenal weren't at their dominating best. They were solid defensively, but going forward they lacked the slick and fast passing which is a trademark of Arsenal teams. They also lacked a leader character who could have saved Gabriel from seeing red during that incident. Such incidents are bound to happen over the season and Arsenal can't just blame their luck whenever they lose.
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