Chelsea vs Arsenal: Instant Reaction

It sure was a game that was played, it wasn't pretty tho

Yuck what a crap game. I guess let’s get the thoughts at full time.

Headline: Possession without a purpose

This game started off with Chelsea in control and Arsenal super sloppy. It settled down with Arsenal growing into the game and followed what has become the pretty usual pattern that we have grown to expect from games this week.

What this match what still showed was that they had the ball, but still struggled to create anything of danger from their possession and even their final third possession.

At times it looked like the players had never played together before.

This was supposed to be the game where the hope of the attack clicking comes back with the starting front three from last season starting for the first time. Well it didn’t work today with passes not finding their destination and no dangerous shots happening at all.

They didn’t have their first shot until the 20th minute and managed just three shots in the first half. It was dismal.

The second half was a little better but it still ended up with the team generating only one moment of danger that equalized the game.

This game overall followed so much of what happens after an international break. It felt like people were sloppy and off the wavelength. Both teams ended up looking pretty poor.

If Chelsea didn’t have a penalty this would have been roughly 1 to 1 on xG and a pretty fair reflection of just how crappy the actual game was.

Stock Rising: Staying invincible I guess

It is really hard to have a stock rising in this match. I don’t think anyone really played well. Martinelli seemed like he was the only threat today but even that was something that often ended with him winning a corner rather than doing anything really dangerous.

Jorginho had good passes but still struggled out of possession where it feels like it would be hard to say his stock changed.

So I guess today it is that the team was able to fight back from 2 goals down to earn a point. I was ready to give up hope at the 75-minute mark and the gift from Sanchez gave Arsenal the spark of life they needed.

Before that it just felt so lifeless. I think Arteta was right with his players he took off but I really expected more from the team to where playing that poorly for that long isn’t good enough. Still good to get a point and stay unbeaten. Chelsea are a good team and sometimes these performances happen after an international break.

Stock Falling: Martin Odegaard