You played about as well as against City, difference is City were toothless and Chelsea weren’t.
Arsenal 2023/24 - Born to be runner up
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to talk about United's dreadful home defeat at the hands of Big Ange's Tottenham Hotspur. Should this have been the end of Ten Hag? How long does he actually have left? And does Nik finally want ETH out?!
Another big game with zero midfield control. But Rice scored so all is good
Or we defended well vs City and didn’t today. Credit Chelsea as well of course.
Was concerned about the midfields when I seen the lineups. Was always concerned with Chelsea’s legs and energy, thought a Rice / Partey combination would at least compete with it, wondering why Partey wasn’t involved at all today when he was for enough for the bench?
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Quote me in may
Look an average good side to me if that makes any sense. Tough to beat which is a good trait, but without City having a shocker - can't see them getting any closer.
An odd prediction. Who do you propose is going to overtake them, given they're already comfortably top 4, and were comfortably top 4 last season, and they have a young side that is now a year more experienced?
Raya almost gifted City a goal as soon as the match started.
I don’t see a lot of difference between the two matches, you started very slow and didn’t get a foothold in the game in the 1st half, both games you ended 1st half with 0 shot on target, slightly improved in 2nd but still laboured and out of ideas in front of goal, against City it took a massive deflection and today Sanchez gifted you that goal to let you back in the game.
Honestly despite the results, I don’t think you have turned in a truly convincing performance this season.
Good result for Arsenal that. Why is everyone behaving like they’ve just lost 3-0?! They came back to get a point away from home in a derby.
Was very lucky. Chelsea handed them the draw. But I guess to win the league, you need luck and good fortune. Arsenal and Spurs has been having a lot of that this season
I wasn’t talking about the goalkeeping, that’s a different issue, 1 I’m a bit unhappy with at the moment.
With the ball I can see your point, without the ball I thought the difference was night and day.
And then I suppose it’s up to the individual how much you credit Arsenals off the ball work in the City game or Chelsea’s attack tonight.
Yeah we weren't quite at it today but eked out a point. Had a feeling Chelsea would get something here, they're coming into some form and they looked a bit hungrier. We lost the midfield battle, I wonder why Partey didn't even get on the pitch.
He was so gutted to score that goal today 
What was lucky about it? Rice intercepted Sanchez’ poor ball to Gallagher (who seems to have gotten off Scott-free for being completely flat-footed and not moving towards the ball to control it). And our second was just a well-worked goal.
Chelsea’s first goal is penalty that comes from a header hitting Saliba’s hand from half a yard away. And their second was a shanked cross that chipped our keeper.
If either of the teams benefited from good fortune, it was Chelsea.
Forgive me if I've heard this wrong (Andy Jacobs going on about it on Talksport so perhaps that's a big clue) but did Arteta really go on after the game about all the injuries Arsenal have?!!!
Saka having a thigh strain is not the same as what Chelsea, Man. United, Sheffield United and Aston Villa are currently enduring.
Saka having a thigh strain is not the same as what Chelsea, Man. United, Sheffield United and Aston Villa are currently enduring.
They just don't look strong enough in midfield, I think it was 38 percent possession first half, very poor.
Result wise they have gotten some real lucky wins which on another season would turn out into loss. I just don't see them as good as say a city or even the peak Jurgen's pool to dominate. But the thing that is working for them is they are still unbeaten and raking in points. Ultimately that's what counts.
We had 61% possession in the first half and after their goal it ratched upto 80 percent for a good 15 minutes.
At full time we had 57%. I am not sure where you're getting your numbers from. I watched the game and the numbers are available from TheAnalyst via Opta.
Overall in the league, City have 60% average, we are at 58 along with Spurs and Chelsea.
We clearly keep most of the ball, however do nothing with it as Odegaard and Jesus seem horribly out of form, Saka is half injured due to Arteta playing him every single game. But I'll take it, despite being off color we're 2nd, a point behind, which is a big bonus, without a loss.
Not clicking for us when we need it to, unlike last season when we turned up fearlessly pretty much everywhere. A lot to do with the revised shape and focus on defending but the idiotic passes we try sometimes really let Tactic Mik down. Counted at least 5 major chances we gave to Chelsea while trying to transition out, and even Mudyrk's freak goal was from a silly pass from White.
Odegaard had one of his Where's Ozil games.
Odegaard had one of his Where's Ozil games.
I'm yet to see them play well in a league game this season. They beat Bournemouth 4-0 away from home, so I assume that must have been the only game so far.
If you would have told me 3 weeks ago that Arsenal would get 4 points from the City and away at Chelsea, I would’ve happily taken it.
Boringmatch. But credit to Poch. Seems like he’s finally got Chelsea moving in the right direction.
Boringmatch. But credit to Poch. Seems like he’s finally got Chelsea moving in the right direction.
We were terrible this game. Kept losing the ball in open places often without any real pressure. Half the players were off. Saka had one key contribution but otherwise borderline useless along with Odegaard, much like in the Spurs game. Jesus was perhaps even worse. Jorginho didnt do much the whole time he was on, and Zinny had a real stinker. Although to be fair to Zinny, Sterling is in good form I think. I was happy Chelsea took him and Palmer off. Also White had an off day for me, and we haven't even talked about Raya.
That Chelsea penalty was ridiculous. I thought there was supposed to be consideration given for a deflection? If not, then we should bring back the indirect free kick rule, because that should never be a penalty. VAR is messed up because the rules are too complex and left open for interpretation. Mudryk was beyond lucky in this one, he must have invoked the spirit of Lamps or something. A poor header and a poor cross rewarded with goals. But, we created that mess because we were losing possession so easily especially early on.
That Chelsea penalty was ridiculous. I thought there was supposed to be consideration given for a deflection? If not, then we should bring back the indirect free kick rule, because that should never be a penalty. VAR is messed up because the rules are too complex and left open for interpretation. Mudryk was beyond lucky in this one, he must have invoked the spirit of Lamps or something. A poor header and a poor cross rewarded with goals. But, we created that mess because we were losing possession so easily especially early on.
BBC, I was checking the stats often.
You were obviously wrong then as I have provided actual sources and watched the game, as it was Chelsea who had 38.1% of the ball at the end of the first half. Not us. We had 61.9% at the end of the first half, with Chelsea having 38.1% (which you seemed to have got the other way around.) And 57% overall.
https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/10/chelsea-vs-arsenal-stats-premier-league-2023-24/
And having it just behind City in the league. So its obvious we do have control, but we do little with it this year.
I must have misread it and got it the wrong way around, my bad.
Only because Chelsea didn't let you play how you wanted.
Luckily Chelsea were sloppy in front of goal (as usual)
Arsenal are still unbeaten, they'll easily get top 4.
Only ones that aren't guaranteed are Tottenham and maybe Liverpool from the current top 4.
It’s easily done. I respect someone that holds their hands up rather than doubling down out of bloody mindedness.
And it wasn’t our best of games. I’m hopeful that we’ll see some improvement in the coming weeks.
The 4-4-2 with 2 false 9s was certainly very effective.
It is not as much Chelsea preventing us from playing the way we want as we have fallen flat as of late. I would say we have not started the season as well as last year on the offensive side of the game. Some of that has to do with injuries, some by design but i think most of all because some players are off form.
We lost the ball a ton yesterday, and a lot of it we were not even under significant pressure. We are kinda playing in reverse of last year where we were coming fast and furious put of the gates and often fell a little flat towards the middle part of the game. I think Arteta is still playing around with the time management aspect of matchday and he has not found the right balance. We are very often flat and conservative when we start now.
We lost the ball a ton yesterday, and a lot of it we were not even under significant pressure. We are kinda playing in reverse of last year where we were coming fast and furious put of the gates and often fell a little flat towards the middle part of the game. I think Arteta is still playing around with the time management aspect of matchday and he has not found the right balance. We are very often flat and conservative when we start now.
I’ve already given credit to Chelsea’s set up yesterday, but that doesn’t excuse how poor we were, both in possession of the ball and out of possession.
There’s games like Utd at Old Trafford last season we ended up well beaten but I think we played well, this wasn’t 1 of those games.
No worries mate, like I said I agree with you that we have been poor, I also wish we had a proper number 9 as Jesus is not it. Saying that I am pleased despite being not the best somehow we are still unbeaten and 2nd/3rd in the table. I'd taken that at start of the season.
Coincidence?
UK police needs him to go to Spain to charge him? I don't understand.
Partey did not play against Chelsea and has been a sick note most of the season so far.
Partey did not play against Chelsea and has been a sick note most of the season so far.
The handling of Partey by the club and Arsenal's fans stance on him (including some who were probably vocal on related cases) has been pretty scandalous. Let's just leave it at that.
What were we fans supposed to do?
Pack their bags and start supporting Utd like any self respecting human being.
The depth in our squad this season is pretty incredible. We rest Odegaard, Gabriel and Jorginho and still have a comfortable afternoon. Kiwior was quite good, the Rice-Havertz-Smith Rowe midfield was solid. Two subs come on and score. Of course Sheffield were pretty woeful but you can only beat what's in front of you. That first touch from Nketiah on his first goal was 
I’d like to see Trossard get in a run in midfield like he did during the preseason tour. He’s too goo to keep on the bench and he has all the technical qualities you need to succeed there