Welcome back to my Arsenal blogs for another season as we go on another emotional rollercoaster ride for the 2017/18 campaign.
Admittedly the Community Shield is a bit Mickey Mouse, but Premier League champions Chelsea are always a tough nut to crack so to get another one over them at Wembley is a big morale boost and a great result.
Whether a team wins or loses the Community Shield the result shouldn't be over analysed as it is really only a friendly, but we played well considering the players we had missing and for Arsene Wenger to beat Antonio Conte yet again is a great feeling. Although it was only a pre-season friendly, when we lost to Chelsea 3-0 last month some undoubtedly thought we can't compete with the champions despite having beaten them in the FA Cup Final in May. This latest result at least proves again that we can match them, but we need to make sure we do it in the Premier League when it matters a whole lot more.
Arsenal started brightly and came close to opening the scoring after 22 minutes when new signing Alexandre Lacazette's shot hit a post.
Captain Per Mertesacker was forced off with a facial injury 10 minutes later, with summer signing and goal hero Sead Kolasinac coming on in his place.
Arsenal were indebted to Petr Cech shortly after the half hour mark when the goalkeeper produced a great save to keep out Pedro, who was later sent off.
Alex Iwobi showed some great footwork in the box before the break, but was unable to match it with a decent shot as his effort was comfortably saved by Thibaut Courtois in the Chelsea goal.
Arsenal's failure to make the most of their chances was punished within a minute of the restart as Victor Moses, who was dismissed when the sides met in last season's FA Cup Final, slotted home following Gary Cahill's headed assist.
But Wenger's men continued to battle strongly with Mohamed Elneny forcing a decent save out of Courtois with a cross-cum-shot. The Chelsea goalkeeper produced an even better save when he superbly tipped Granit Xhaka's long-range strike wide for a corner.
Chelsea were reduced to 10 men when Pedro was given a straight red card for a clumsy challenge on Elneny 10 minutes from time. Arsenal profited from the resulting free-kick as Xhaka's delivery was headed home by Kolasinac.
With the score tied at 1-1 the game went to penalties and the new shootout system was used for the first time. The new format was designed to prevent the supposed advantage that the team going first are thought to have. After the first penalty the next team then takes two consecutive spot-kicks. The first team then gets two successive penalties and it continues until a winner is found - fortunately in this case it was us! I wasn't actually sure what to make of the new format as I don't feel it really added anything, other than confusion, but rules are rules and we won so all is good! Theo Walcott, Nacho Monreal, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud all scored their penalties to give Arsenal a 4-1 win in the shoot-out, while only Gary Cahill was successful for Chelsea. Alvaro Morata put his penalty wide while Courtois blazed his over the bar.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Chelsea fan John Feeney admitted his side had been beaten by the better team on the day.
"Not the most eventful game, but Chelsea created very few chances and Arsenal deserved the win in the end," said Feeney. "Courtois made a couple of impressive saves which kept us in the game, the one from Xhaka in particular.
"The lack of depth in Chelsea's squad was highlighted and they definitely need three or four signings to put up another title challenge after selling so many."
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Lifting silverware at the start of the season feels good, but we need to make sure this is just the start and we make it count in the Premier League. I have no idea how this season will pan out and if we can mount a serious title challenge this time around or if we are going to end up in another frustrating league campaign again.
Beating Chelsea always feels good and take nothing away from Wenger and the players as we deserved the victory today and I am delighted with the outcome. But let's make sure we maintain the pace until May and, although Lacazette didn't score at Wembley maybe his goals can propel us to great things...who knows, let's wait and see!
The Premier League campaign is just around the corner and I can't wait, especially as I will be watching the game live at the Emirates!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
No comments:
Post a Comment