The clash was coming. After Arsenal lost 8-2 to Manchester United, they have been on somewhat of a revival. Having lost only once since then, to Tottenham, all eyes were on the match against Chelsea in the Premier League to see if they could build on it. Coming into the match, Arsenal had some good news as Drogba was suspended (after being sent off in Chelsea’s 1-0 loss to QPR). Terry had been involved in a row and Thomas Vermaelen was back, albeit on the bench. One worrying point for Arsenal was the fact that it hadn’t won on the road all season long. iSporter Sahil Bhalla reports.
No one though can stop Robin van Persie. Arsenal’s go to man for everything this season. He scored a hat trick to inspire Arsenal to a comeback 5-3 win over Chelsea at the bridge. I say comeback because Arsenal had to come back twice after being down to win the match. The other two scorers for Arsenal were Andre Santo and Theo Walcott. This was Chelsea’s second straight league defeat.
Robin van Persie now leads the league with 10 goals. He scored in the first half and then took advantage of a second half-slip by Chelsea’s John Terry to make it 4-3 and he completed Arsenal’s day with his third goal in stoppage time. He now has 33 goals in 37 games for Arsenal in the 2011 calendar year.
Frank Lampard opened the scoring for Chelsea before van Persie cancelled it out in the 36th minute. In the dying minutes of the first half, John Terry scored a scrappy goal from a corner kick to give Chelsea the lead going into the half. It was a completely offensive first half as none of the defensives had any clue of what they were doing at the Bridge.
The second half though saw a completely changed Arsenal side. Even though the defensive wasn’t much better, the attack was flowing with much more ferocity. Arguably the best goal of the match came from Theo Walcott with the score tied at 2-2, he picked himself up after slipping and muscled his way past three Chelsea players before driver the ball past Peter Czech at the near post. The final score at the Bridge was Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal.
Chelsea have conceded five goals at home for the first time in 22 years and along with their loss to QPR the previous week, they have suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time since they lost three out of four matches at the same point last season. This has prompted the worst run of form for them in almost 15 years.
This season though is completely different. Chelsea, are always playing catch-up under Villas-Boas thanks to the near-perfect form of Manchester City.
“Last year, we were exactly in the opposite situation,” Villas-Boas said. “I think, to be fair, it was not on this date that things changed –it was late November. “But the nature of the Premier League is exactly this; games that are so open like this between top teams and a Premier League that can dramatically change. “Last year was the case on the wrong side for us and we have to continue to believe that this year, it will be on the good side for us.”
Wenger conceded that despite the brilliant win, his north London outfit made many mistakes. He insists though that he will not change the team’s attacking style of play in order to let in fewer goals.
“It is [torturous], because we gave them too much room, too far in the midfield, exposed on long balls over the top, so you can only hope you do not pay too much for it. And it was a big test mentally because conceding before half-time can be deadly, but the way we responded was very pleasant.”
People always complain Let’s praise the strikers and the attacking style in the league. If you don’t score goals, people ask why you don’t score goals. If you score goals, they criticize the defenders.”
“It was the first big win together. In their heads there was uncertainty about where they can win a big game,” Arsene Wenger said.
All in all, it was a tremendous spirit-lifting win for Arsenal. Hopefully they can take their form into the coming weeks and make their way back into the top 4. As for Chelsea, It’s been another disastrous day in the office. Something needs to change and soon.
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