Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea: Tame draw breaks open race for third place

What was anticipated to be a high-octane battle between two sides vying for the Champions League spots, turned out to be a wishy-washy affair between two teams who looked like they had somewhere more important to be. Chelsea obviously had more than half an eye on the semi-final second leg at the Camp Nou next week, and Arsenal were licking the wounds from their defeat against Wigan this past Monday; so both teams were cautious as a result.

Team news

And the Chelsea team-sheet was as unfamiliar as the Arsenal one was staple. Roberto Di Matteo made eight changes from the side that pipped Barcelona 1-0 at Stamford Bridge; with Malouda, Romeu and Essien forming a workmanlike but formidable midfield trio to stifle Arsenal’s play. Torres plied his trade upfront along with Sturridge and Kalou to nip in between the lines.

Arsenal had to fill the void left by Arteta’s absence, and Aaron Ramsey duly slotted in alongside Song and Rosicky. With Benayoun ineligible to play against his parent team, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was asked to play wide left as a complement to Theo Walcott with van Persie spearheading the attack.

First half

And the open play from both the teams was pedestrian to say the least. Chelsea had chosen to pack the midfield and play on the counter attack with Kalou and Sturridge using their pace, and Arsenal were finding it hard to up the tempo of their passing to break Chelsea open. There was a litany of mistakes from both sides; misplaced passes, over-hit through balls and inaccurately timed runs being the order of the day.

In spite of the mediocrity on display, there were chances fashioned by both teams. Chelsea had Kalou and Torres with decent opportunities, with the latter being flagged offside incorrectly. In response, Arsenal hit the post when a wonderfully weighted Walcott delivery was diverted by Robin van Persie on to the woodwork.

As the half wore on, neither team looked to wrest the initiative. Chelsea were still stubborn in defence, Arsenal were still tortoise in attack. Chances mostly came from set-pieces; another free-kick lofted in found Koscielny completely unmarked in the middle, and his looping header crashed back off the bar. Arsenal hadn’t played well, yet should have been 2-0 up.

Van Persie missed another presentable opportunity after Song played one of his trademark whizzing balls in his direction. After taking it deftly on his chest, the Dutchman shot straight at Cech whose positioning was perfect. Another chance missed in a game where missed chances seemed par-for-the-course.

Second half

Was just an amplified version of the first; Chelsea went even deeper into their own halves if it was possible, and Arsenal took too long to take the handbrake off. Van Persie was the recipient of most chances this half as well, but he hasn’t been that confident in front of goal in recent weeks, and it showed. After being set clean through by Rosicky, he turned Cech but then dallied before turning him again, letting the ball going out for a corner in the process.

A raking cross-field ball by Ramsey fell invitingly into RvP’s path; but while the ball would have cannoned into the top corner two months ago, it flew horrendously wide into the stands here. Chelsea tried to start counter-attacks, but never mustered a real attack on goal in the second half. The closest they came was when Daniel Sturridge had the ball in front of Szczesny after a failed defensive header from Vermaelen, but Koscielny came leaping in spectacular fashion to kick the ball away.

The match ended with a whimper, as van Persie slashing another shot wide signalled the end of any chance of note from either team. Wenger admitted that Arsenal didn’t move the ball quickly enough, and regretted the fact that the Wigan defeat was still fresh in player minds.

Talking to the official site, he said-

“Going forward we didn’t find our quick passing game and the regret we have today is that we played offensively with a handbrake and not as clean technically as we can do. That is why we didn’t open them up enough. It was a bit similar to what we saw against Wigan and that’s a regret I have today.”

“We didn’t pass the ball quickly enough. Chelsea are experienced enough to force you to play the ball where they want you to play it. We couldn’t open them up enough and our change of pace in the game wasn’t good enough.”

Talking about Theo Walcott, who injured his hamstring in the second half and had to be replaced by Gervinho midway through, Wenger said-

“First we assessed the hamstring, he wanted to go on and stay on the pitch, and I think he should have gone off straight away because the second time it was a real hamstring [injury]. I think now for him it will be tough to come back before the end of the season.”

Chelsea will now jet off to sunny Spain in a bid to dislodge the Catalan supremacy over the Champions League, whereas Arsenal will look anxiously over their shoulders at Newcastle, who are fast closing in. A point wasn’t good enough for either team here, but looking at the calibre of the opposition, both teams will mostly be grudgingly happy with this 0-0. The audiences certainly weren’t.