Mikel Arteta’s side closed the year on a high with a convincing 3-1 victory over Chelsea. This win was their first in the Premier League since the start of November.
Arsenal is still placed 14th on the table and just six points off the relegation zone but this win will certainly give them the belief in the upcoming crucial fixtures on the other side of the new year.
Emile Smith Rowe, who was given his first Premier League start in over a year was instrumental in side’s success. Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Sako and Alexandre Lacazette scored netted for Arsenal.
Despite losing some of his main players due to injury and illness, Arteta got his tactics right from the word go. Unlike in the past games where The Gunners lacked creativity, there was pace and movement from the forwards and they kept on threatening Chelsea’s defence.
Martinelli’s return made a huge difference. The Brazilian forward was also impressive against Manchester City in the league cup midweek.
The Gunners also had some luck running for them, particularly when Saka’s cross floated over Edouard Mendy to make it 3-0 and Leno made a spectacular penalty save to deny Jorginhio.
But many will say they earned their good fortune with the way they approached the game, and this is exactly how they should approach the rest of the season.
Arteta was delighted with the win and said it was a great team performance as youth provided the much-needed energy on the field while the senior pros stood up whenever needed.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he could feel the energy on the team bus before the match. “I said to them we have to take this opportunity now,” he said. “It’s a really important win for us.
Frank Lampard, Chelsea’s manager was not happy with the performance of the side and in the post-match conference and said, “Didn’t do enough in the first half, better second half but we had too much to do at that point. All the basics were wrong.”
