Goals: None.
Man of the Match/Goat of the Game: There was no one player who stood out above the rest, no one who was particularly poor. It was just a solid team effort.
Referee Rating: Michael Oliver 8. I thought the refereeing was good and he was quite right to send David Luiz off.
Manager Rating: Wenger 8. The decision to start Sanchez on the bench was the right one and the team responded with a good showing. The team was a little less aggressive in the second half and seldom threatened, but that was probably due to Chelsea’s changes.
Arsenal performance: Given the debacle at Liverpool, this was a determined and good performance. Arsenal were slow to start, but after about fifteen minutes they dominated play for most of the first half. In the second half they looked less adventurous and were a little shaky after Hazard came on. However, they finished strongly and can feel that they came close to winning and were generally the better team.
Conclusion: This strong display will boost their confidence and keep them in touch with the leaders. There are now games against weaker sides and it will be important to get back to winning ways.
Player Ratings:
Cech 7: He made the big save off Pedro’s breakaway, Chelsea’s best chance to score. For the rest of the time he had relatively easy saves to make and he looked confident dealing with balls in the area.
Mustafi 7: For most of the game he looked good and he managed to recover when he’d been beaten. Unfortunately, his headed goal was disallowed for offside. He was caught out by Pedro on the breakaway.
Koscielny 8: He had an excellent day and broke up a number of Chelsea moves and intercepted shots and passes. He managed to get back and disrupt Pedro’s breakaway.
Monreal 7: Made one key intervention and was solid throughout the match.
Ramsey 7: Terrific work rate. He looked very effective in the first half and was unlucky to see his shot hit the upright.
Xhaka 7: Like Ramsey, he had very good match. His distribution was excellent for the most part. Had a shot that just missed the goal.
Bellerin 8: He was particularly effective in the first half attacking the Chelsea goal. His first cross reached Welbeck, who headed over. The second found Lacazette, whose shot was saved. He one more in the first half and only one in the second, both of which were not delivered on target. Defensively, he was quite assertive against Alonso, who had delivered a concussion to Hector last year.
Kolasinac 7: He had one shot and he attacked fairly often in the first half of the match. Was yellow carded. Drew the red card on Luiz and was luckily not injured by the studs up challenge.
Iwobi 6: He had some good moments here and there and sometimes showed his skill, but he wasn’t consistent enough.
Lacazette 7: He had two looks on goal, the first off Bellerin’s cross, which he did well just to get it on target, where it was saved. The second chance will keep him awake tonight, it being the ricochet from Ramsey’s shot off the post. It came too quickly at an awkward height and on his left side, but he wasn’t able to steer it into the open net.
Welbeck 7: He had the first good chance of the game, but Bellerin’s cross was a little high and he headed it wide. He gave the Chelsea defence a headache, but his day ended early when he appeared to injure his groin.
Substitutes:
Sanchez 7: He made a couple of lovely runs, but ended up drawing a number of fouls.
Giroud 5: He wasn’t able to make a big impression on the match.
Elneny 7: Added some defensive stability to the team at the end. Wenger appeared to have him shadow Eden Hazard.