Kevin Whitcher
The final warm up game of the season, and let’s be honest here, only Jose Mourinho treats this as a trophy… at least if he wins it anyway. Significantly though, a well below strength Arsenal matched a stronger Chelsea line-up over 90 minutes and even won the lottery of a penalty shoot-out with Petr Cech (the man who has never saved a spot kick for Arsenal) in goal. More of that later (although not much later, as I am ever so slightly knackered after getting the first issue of The Gooner this season to the printers after four hours’ sleep last night).
So, no Koscielny (presumably not played to get the defenders who will play the opening two fixtures more game time together), no Mustafi, no Ramsey, no Sanchez, no Ozil. Chelsea were without the injured Eden Hazard and opted to start Alvaro Morata on the bench. Aside from that they were at full strength. And friendly or not, Antonio Conte does not like losing matches.
The time of the kick off had been brought forward by 30 minutes because of a theoretical clash with the England Ladies playing in the European Championship finals. You have to hand it to the FA… ever the optimists. Anyway, I think some people were not aware of the revised start time, as there were a fair few empty seats at the start of the match, with latecomers presumably unaware of the change.
Although Arsenal did not perform particularly well, they did fashion three pretty decent chances before the interval, Lacazette coming closest hitting the post. Overall, it felt a pretty even affair, although Wenger’s team had to adapt to a back three (the starting trio were the same as the FA Cup Final) featuring two nominal left backs and young Rob Holding when Mertesacker was subbed due to a head injury. And I admit, I was uncertain of the solidity of Nacho Monreal in the middle of the three, but they coped. Kolasinac did plenty of shouting and looks like the leader figure the defence have been lacking. Based on yesterday’s display, I’d like to see him remain as one of the three at the back, even though he looks equally adept wide.
It can take a while to buy food and drink during the interval at Wembley, and many were not in their seats when Chelsea scored soon after the re-start. Arsenal looked half asleep, Holding allowing Victor Moses to steal in and convert. In one sense, it was the best thing that could have happened, as Wenger’s team suddenly started to show a bit more in the way of threat going forward. It was a long wait before parity was restored. Giroud and Walcott replaced Lacazette and Iwobi, but frustration slowly grew as the Gunners misplaced passes and it looked as if the game might peter out. Then Pedro got a red card, although I have yet to read any accounts of the game nor seen any video of it to have an opinion of whether or not it was deserved.
No matter, Chelsea were down to ten men, just as they were last May in the cup final, although then, they were a goal down rather than one up. Not for long. From the resulting free-kick, Kolasinac climbed highest to meet Xhaka’s ball into the box and steered a beauty of a header past Courtois before diving into the Arsenal fans to celebrate. Loved it. By far the team’s best player on the pitch, although a mention is also due for the Ox who also played very well.
We reached full time and the penalty shoot-out, with the new ABBA system. I hope Bjorn, Benny and the girls are getting some copyright royalties for this. Anyhow, I like the system. The theory is that the team taking the second penalty is not always playing catch up, and I can see the logic. Mind you, if they are mirroring the tie-break system in tennis, why not go the whole hog and state that one of the teams has to score five and win by two clear goals. Then again, we might still be at Wembley now…
Gary Cahill got Chelsea off to a good start with an excellent penalty, before Theo did about the first thing properly all afternoon by leveling the scores with an equally good spot kick. Then the ABBA system kicked in and Monreal put Arsenal ahead. A surprise followed as Courtois took Chelsea’s second spot kick. I doubt this would have happened in a shoot out of greater significance, and I suspect the reason was that he used to take pens against Cech in training at Chelsea, so fancied his chances. Cech didn’t save his effort. No need. It was high, and not very handsome. Advantage Arsenal, which became a double advantage when Alonso tamely pulled his side's next penalty wide. The Gunners had the next two penalties and secured the trophy when the Ox and Girould converted.
A beautiful sunny day, a trophy to wave around with slightly more credibility than the Emirates Cup, and another win (albeit on penalties) against the Chavs. What's not to like?
Of course, going forward there is much to discuss. Not least who will play in defence in the immediate matches, what will happen with the players with a year left on their deals and whether or not Gunnersaurus is going to provide the wrong kind of cameo on My Outdoor TV as Stan gets his shotgun out.
We’ll have plenty more of substance to discuss after the game next Friday evening…
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