FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE – Saturday’s visit of Arsenal should have been the turning point of the Mauricio Pochettino era at Chelsea.
The Blues looked fit and fresh from the get-go, forcing the Gunners into errors inside 60 seconds. They were on top by the time a VAR check led to a 15th-minute penalty.
Cole Palmer coolly slotted home that spot kick to put the hosts ahead and they changed their gameplan – let Arsenal have the ball and frustrate themselves.
It was a fruitful tactic in the first half. Declan Rice found himself carrying most of his side’s attacks with Jorginho and captain Martin Odegaard showing little desire to make the magic happen themselves.
Further ahead of him, Gabriel Jesus was proving to be energetically wasteful, namesake Gabriel Martinelli was unable to make the most of the ever-decreasing space in behind Malo Gusto, and Bukayo Saka was essentially being hit over the head with a lead pipe by Marc Cucurella.
The second half started even better than the first for Chelsea. Mykhailo Mudryk – electric once again and now finding form in England – overhit a weak-footed cross, but it fortunately found David Raya several feet off his line and crept in under the bar.
From there, the hallmarks of a testing-yet-comfortable 2-0 win were evident. Arsenal made half-chances but never clear ones, the clock began to tick down at seemingly twice the previous pace and Chelsea themselves had grown in confidence both on and off the ball. It should have been a quiet and uneventful ending.
Until it wasn’t. Until Robert Sanchez picked out Rice with a pass from the back and he was unable to roll the ball into the net from 30 yards. Until that changed the mood.
All of a sudden, a young Chelsea side were facing a title-challenging Arsenal that had their tails up at a Stamford Bridge that had collectively gulped and choked.
Saka only once broke free from Cucurella all evening, but that was all he needed to carve out a golden opportunity, crossing for Leandro Trossard to finish and rescue a 2-2 draw.
It’s a cruel lesson for Chelsea but one they will take in stride – it’s not as if they had thrown away such a cushion to relegation fodder. They were better than a genuine title contender for 75 minutes and they didn’t just stumble into that performance.
But this Arsenal are not the team of recent years. They have now scored four late goals against three of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ already this season and are making a habit of these late shows.
Arsenal remain London’s top dogs for the time being and will likely battle Tottenham Hotspur for that accolade this season. For Chelsea, at least they have proof Pochettino‘s methods are working and are worth persisting with.
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