Chelsea show progress vs. Arsenal but teething issues remain

LONDON — The historic victory that Mauricio Pochettino needs to revive his career at Chelsea still eludes him. Arsenal showed great resilience as they battled to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but Pochettino must have regretted that his side wasted a golden opportunity to secure the kind of result that could have been a important element of its evolution. .

Arteta spoke enthusiastically this week about how Pochettino taught him so much during their years playing together at Paris Saint-Germain, and for a long time at Stamford Bridge it seemed like something approaching a lesson in management from the Argentinian.

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Pochettino surprised his counterpart by launching Cole Palmer as a false nine. Out of possession, Palmer and Conor Gallagher relentlessly led Chelsea’s press, forcing the visitors into uncharacteristic errors that had Arteta fuming on the touchline.

Arteta isn’t exactly a shrinking violet in the dugout, but his anger is usually reserved for match officials rather than his own players, and so it was noticeable early on how frustrated he had become with a combination of the rapid departure of Chelsea and his own team. negligent behavior.

“What didn’t work was the start of the game,” Arteta said. “We didn’t play with enough determination and clarity. We just moved the ball around without intending to threaten them. That’s a really dangerous thing to do against teams like Chelsea. Then we didn’t play with enough determination and clarity. We didn’t win enough duels, and in tight areas. When we got them, they escaped and attacked the open spaces and those are really dangerous things to do.”

The Blues capitalized on their 2-0 lead even if the two goals were fortuitous. William Saliba was adjudged to have headed Mykhailo Mudryk over despite the ball hitting him from close range. Arteta carried his protests until the final whistle – after which he was booked by referee Chris Kavanagh – but Palmer scored the resulting penalty with consummate ease before Mudryk made an impact again on the match three minutes after halftime.

The Ukrainian winger appeared to attempt a cross from the left flank which rounded David Raya and landed in the net. Afterward, Mudryk claimed that goalkeeping coach Tony Jimenez told him to try to exploit Raya’s position off his line from such angles, but it seemed like a lucky moment nonetheless.

Whatever the truth, Mudryk now has his first home goal and a moment that can help his individual development, facing the team that also tried to buy him from Shakhtar Donetsk in January.

This narrative led to some schadenfreude among the home supporters, but it was the Gunners who had the last laugh here. Chelsea had done an excellent job of nullifying Martin Odegaard collectively and Bukayo Saka individually, the latter superbly managed by Marc Cucurella in what must surely go down as one of his best games for the club. But all that was undermined by an error from Blues goalkeeper Robert Sánchez, who gifted the ball to Rice, who still had plenty to do but finished smartly into the empty net to spark a comeback.

Reflecting their dullness all afternoon, Rice’s goal was Arsenal’s first shot on target, in the 77th minute. Saka finally broke free from Cucurella to cross for substitute Leandro Trossard to equalize, leaving Pochettino to reflect on an incomplete team performance.

“We were very competitive but we are disappointed because in the end we lost two points,” Pochettino said. “Until the 77th minute, when we conceded the first goal. We didn’t concede too many chances.

“I think 90% of goals are because an opponent makes a mistake. We can only criticize [the players] a little bit to better read the tempo, the timing. We can take risks because that’s our philosophy but make better decisions,” added Pochettino.

Arsenal found a way to overtake Manchester City before the international break with a revamped midfield with Jorginho and Rice anchoring a midfield in a system close to 4-2-3-1, trying to sacrifice some degree of creativity for stability, but it was not convincing. for this purpose here. Oleksandr Zinchenko was taken off at half-time after a torrid 45 minutes against Raheem Sterling while Odegaard was unable to influence the game and found himself substituted as Arsenal chased the game on.

Arteta may still be looking to maximize his options and it was notable that Kai Havertz was not only overlooked early on but also left on the bench for all but the final 12 minutes with Emile Smith Rowe favored in the middle from the field as Arteta searched for an answer. .

These are teething problems which will be masked by the fightback in the second half. “I really enjoyed going into the locker room [at full-time] and it’s really calm, after drawing 2-2 against Chelsea and coming back from 2-0 down, because I know they wanted more,” Arteta said.

For Pochettino, it extended a promising unbeaten run, but victory declared indicating they are on the right track must wait. After Brentford next weekend and Blackburn in the Carabao Cup, Chelsea face Tottenham, City, Newcastle, Brighton and Manchester United. The good news for Chelsea is that they won’t have to wait long for another chance.