No shots on target vs Chelsea: Is this fan favourite holding Arsenal back?

The game between Arsenal and Chelsea may have finished 0-0, but it didn’t have to. There were big chances for both teams, but they went begging following some less than impressive finishing in what were far from ideal weather conditions at Emirates Stadium. Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud, for one, was guilty of helping the home side drop two points, thus leaving Liverpool top on goal difference heading into the Christmas period.

The 27-year-old will have had better days, having earned a Performance Score of just five points. He didn’t have too many chances, admittedly, as Chelsea went into the game prepared to sit back and defend, which made the ones he did have all the more crucial.

Yet, he wasted them.

One chance he blazed wide of the near post on 79 minutes after being put through on goal by Aaron Ramsey. Another came just six minutes later. Kieran Gibbs put a decent cross into the six-yard area. Giroud got into his favoured near post position and got a shot off, but Petr Cech saved it well and that was that.

Furthermore, the Frenchman also won only three of his ten aerial duels as he struggled to enforce himself in the match. Perhaps what will also be concerning is the fact the forward also completed just 65% of his passes, highlighting that his link-up play was not to it’s high standard.

In aftermath of the game, Arsene Wenger had a few words to say about Giroud’s late chances. Having failed to score them, he now hasn’t netted in four league games since his opportunistic brace versus Southampton. “The three games he played in six days had a big weight in our recent results, but since then we had nine days when we could recover, and I think tonight he was not tired,” Wenger said.

So with fatigue out of the question, it just wasn’t his day in front of goal, then–again. The end result here leaves Wenger winless in 10 meetings with Jose Mourinho and Arsenal without a league win in three games. Hopefully the Gunners and Giroud can get back on track when they go to Upton Park to play West Ham United on Boxing Day. Their title charge depends on it.