Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea: The Debrief

Arsenal go for a romp against their London rivals

There are few things sweeter than beating Chelsea, one of those is an absolute demolition of them.

Arsenal delivered that with a sublime second half Tuesday night, with some incredible performances. It also left Chelsea looking just defeated with the cherry on top being the 67th-minute sub to go to five at the back for damage limitation, only to concede a few minutes later.

What a night, and one that had more meaning too than just beating a rival but also ensured that Manchester City and Liverpool would face maximum pressure to try and keep pace. The title isn’t in Arsenal’s hands but they are doing everything in their power to make it tight.

Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea: The Graphics

Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea: The Debrief

5 - Goals for Arsenal, this is the 6th time Arsenal have had 5 or more goals this season in the Premier League

27 - Shots by Arsenal, this is the second-highest shot total Arsenal have had in the Premier League this season

3.0 - Expected goals for Arsenal, this is the third time this season that Arsenal have had a non-penalty xG of 3 or more in the Premier League.

10 - Shots on target for Arsenal, the second-highest Arsenal have had in the Premier League this season

4 - Big Chances (all in the second half)

3.8 - Post-shot xG in this match

Arsenal’s attacking numbers in this match were very good. Chelsea came into this match looking vulnerable on this front with below average xG against, below average shots allowed and giving up too many chances in transition.

Arsenal took full advantage of this. The signs were there in the first half with Arsenal creating several nearly moments, a lot of volume and some good saves from Djordje Petrovic. The damn finally broke in the second half and Arsenal went on a romp.

Arsenal seemed to have little problem getting into good positions and did a good job of making this possession hurt, something that had been a bit of problem over the last couple of matches played.

Arsenal also did really well to win the ball high and use that to create chances to attack at speed. The Odegaard, Havertz, and Rice combo is just a menace for any team that wants to try and build up from the back.

And struggle Chelsea did to build out. Chelsea had just 25 final third entries in the first 70 minutes of the match and then padded their total with 18 in the final period and the game over. Overall this left Arsenal with a strong defensive performance, even if Chelsea sitll did produce some moments of danger.

7 - Shots for Chelsea

2 - Big chances, the first on the corner Benoît Badiashile gets the slightest of touches and then Nicolas Jackson late on, one on one with David Raya.

1 - Shot on target

Thomas Partey shakes off the rust to show what could have been

44 - Pass Attempts (5th among Arsenal players)

86.4% - Pass completion percentage with 100.7% Pass Efficiency (actual completions compared to expected completions)

8 - Final 3rd Entry Passes completed, led Arsenal. He also added one final third entry via carrying the ball.

2 - Progressive Passes

41% - The percentage of his passes that went forward

2.70 - Fields Gained with ball progression, 10th among Arsenal players. With 162 yards passing and 135 yards carrying.

2 - Times dispossessed, the most on Arsenal

2 - Key passes for 0.13 xA

3 - Shots for 0.11 xG

1 - Tackle

2 - Fouls

3 - Interceptions

4 - Ball Recoveries

My initial reaction to this match wasn’t that high on what Thomas Partey did in this match. I thought that Arsenal were a bit too open on the transition chances and that the team lacked some of Arsenal’s trademark control. I will readily admit that I struggle with trying to not let the off-field allegations color my view on the player and I have liked that for most of this season, I have had to not deal with the moral questions that come with that. I strive to separate the two but it isn’t always possible and I want to be up front with where I come from on this.

I rewatched the match last night with extra care to watch him and I think my initial view was skewed by a couple of moments (memory is funny that way) where the space between him and the front line was too big and he was cheating backward, and when he was forced to make recovery runs he just didn’t have the speed to catch up. These happened just a couple of times and ended up not hurting Arsenal at all here.

Looking at the Wyscout data this morning Chelsea created 0 counterattacks in this match, in my data I have them credited with 2 shots from direct attacking moves. So it does look like my initial fears were overblown and probably tied with the scoreline still being tight for most of the match.

Overall I think you saw the good things that Partey brings to the game. He had several moments where he sped up play excellently (he had 8 quick passes completed, which was second only to Martin Ødegaard) and the nice diagonal balls out to the right-wing moving Arsenal up the field. There were also some of the not-great parts of his game where he could be a bit loose with the ball and it looks like the repeat injuries have sapped some of the top-end speed from his game.

The metrics don’t love Partey’s game but it might be under-counting (or we are overrating them based on actual outcomes and what players after did) some of the medium-value passes that he made in this match.

He did provide a solid base to let both Rice and Odegaard push forward more and while that isn’t directly counted I think did add value to Arsenal’s performance in this match.

What I think we did see in this game was that with a player like this in the team (Jorginho has done this as well but in a different way) Arsenal have a bit more of last year’s style that has been suppressed this season. It is probably good that Arsenal will be able to have this option in the team again for the final matches of the season, even if it leaves us asking what if.

Odegaard is sublime

67 - Pass Attempts, led Arsenal

85.1% - Pass completion percentage on 109.9% Pass Efficiency

17 - Progressive Passes, led all players

11 - Box Entry Passes completed, led all players

426 - Progressive Pass Distance, led Arsenal

8 - Key Passes, led all players

1.42 - xA, led all players

2 - Assists

2 - Shots, for 0.09 xG

3 - Dribbles Completed, led all players

3 - Times fouled

245 - Progressive Carry Distance, led Arsenal

6 - Progressive Carries

6.10 - Fields Gained with ball progression, led Aresenal

10 - Touches within 25 yards of goal

1 - Time Dispossessed

2 - Tackles

1 - Interception

5 - Ball Recoveries

Just an amazing performance that will make for an excellent highlight reel and some great memories.

Kai Havertz haunts his old team

2 - Goals

4 - Shots

4 - On Target

1.01 - xG

16 - Progressive Passes Received

10 - Final Third Entry Pass Received

6 - Pass in the box Received

10 - Touches in the box

4 - Aerial Duel Won, of 8 total contested

2 - Key Passes

0.09 - xA

This was probably the platonic ideal of what you want from Kai Havertz playing striker for your team. He abused the Chelsea backline making constant diagonal runs behind mixed with picking his spots to drop between the lines to play quick layoffs to the midfielders.

He had 4 shots including two excellent finishes, but somehow it still sort of left you a bit frustrated with some of the decision-making in the box but at least it was more decisive here even if it wasn’t always optimal. Getting this shot volume, while still keeping the average quality high is exactly what you want from the player as well.

The bonus on top of this was that he gave us a celebration against his old team as well.