An Arsenal defeat is nothing new, but this time, there were encouraging signs

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's second goal in as many games put Arsenal ahead and the Gunners deserved it more than Chelsea. They had dominated at Emirates Stadium better than the visitors. Lucas Torreira, Mesut Ozil and Ainsley Maitland-Niles seem to have been emboldened by the arrival of Mikel Arteta. But with Arsenal, in recent times, there always lied a possibility of trouble brewing up.

A mistake by Bernd Leno allowed Jorginho with just 7 minutes left of normal time. Willian received the ball and launched Abraha into a counterattack – passes were exchanged before sliding the ball through Leno's legs and into the net from six yards at the fag end of the match. The Blues bagged full points and this victory is only Chelsea's third in their past 8 Premier League matches, but a much-needed relief for Frank Lampard.

The Gunners are now stuck in the bottom half of the points table, having slumped to 12th place. Arteta has a job in his hand – a major rebuilding for which the fans have been waiting since Arsene Wenger left Emirates. On a positive note, one can say that under Arteta, the Gunners did sho signs of encouragement against Chelsea.

Former Arsenal striker Wright said after the match, “When you look at the two games there’s a definite improvement in Arsenal. You just think what they could have done had they gone with the appointment after the Leicester game at the international break”.

“It’s one and two touch all the way and it’s really quick. Fantastic zip, the fans should be happy with what they’re seeing at the moment but give Chelsea credit for what they’ve done.”

According to Marton Keown, “Very compact. Very solid. I like the shape. They’ve had three different managers by the way. Different ideas, different voices. It’s the front players when they go to engage I think they do that really well. Everyone is engaging really very well.  Chelsea, with their system of three at the back, seems confused and Arsenal were really well organized hunting in packs. Everyone attuned to the system. I thought they did it really well”.

After a brief period of lean-patch, it would take time for Arsenal to get back on track, but the kind of compactness and solidity displayed by the Gunners against Chelsea, one can say, the good days are not far. Things will change and needs to accept that the first step would be to become a good side at first rather than the best.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer on CSdesk on 30/12/2019 An Arsenal defeat is nothing new, but this time, there were encouraging signs

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Faisal Caesar