Arsenal 1 - 2 Chelsea: The Gunners fail to Recover After a Dire First Half

I'm finally back! Firstly, apologies for the lack of articles, and without writing for over a month I might be a bit rusty, so if this article isn't great, tell me in the comments but keep that in mind, cheers.

Arsenal Awful in Defence

Throughout the first 45, the away side were dreadful at the back against Chelsea's attacking quartet, who were supported by two holding midfielders more than competent in their opponent's third. The factors leading to their defensive struggles lied all around the pitch, and both down to Chelsea's quality and the Gunner's lethargic display.

In Chelsea's early phases, as the home team passed out of defense, they were under no pressure as both Giroud and Wilshere were passengers, putting very little effort in to stop their opponent's retention. This allowed Benitez' side to comfortably dictate the tempo of the match which showed in the possession statistic upon half time, as Chelsea enjoyed 65% possession in the first half.

In the centre of the pitch, it was two 2-3s against each other, however since Chelsea dominated possession, their trio was much more threatening. Whilst Coquelin played very well, possibly Arsenal's best player on the day, though definitely in the first half, his partner Diaby was, as someone amusingly put on Twitter, "Abou Diabolical". The large Frenchman lost possession which initiated the Chelsea attack that ended with Ramires winning a penalty, and generally looked poor as Arsenal constantly failed to pick up Chelsea's most creative player; Juan Mata.

Cazorla had little influence out wide

Arsenal's equivalent of the little Spanish midfielder, Santi Cazorla, was wasted on the left flank as Wilshere took up the central position. The fact that their opposition's most threatening player was out wide meant that Chelsea could afford to send forward one of their holding midfielders, in an attempt to overload the poor Arsenal defence, and they were allowed to do so by Wilshere. This resulted in the second goal, as it was Ramires won the penalty which Lampard converted.

In the Gunner's defence, Sagna was often caught out in what was probably the laziest performance I have ever seen from a full-back. His reluctancy to put effort in tracking back from attacking meant that there was a lot of space to be exploited on Chelsea's left which was done so by Oscar and Mata. With the Spanish midfielder often seen in wide positions, he left space in central areas which Lampard or Ramires could drive into, and this created a problem for Arsene Wenger's '2', with one player to deal with out wide whilst against another running at them from deep areas.

Defending was especially woeful for the penalty, as Szczesny was left with no chance when Sagna, again behind the run of play, failed to pick up a completely unmarked Ramires, and not one Arsenal player attempting to close the Brazilian down.

Arsenal Better Following the Break

Wenger picked up his side's performance after a woeful 45 minutes to begin with, and an integral part to their improvement was Cazorla's move inside. The brilliant Walcott goal was produced by a typically brilliant Cazorla pass from a central position, and following that the Spaniard saw the ball in Wilshere's spot more. Abou Diaby also made more attacking support as they were in need of at least two goals, however he was subbed for Arshavin with 15 to go.

As Arsenal Enjoy more of Possession, Chelsea's Trio suffer

Both team's influence in the final 30 minutes

Despite how creative and troublesome Chelsea's trio are in attack, they were a slight hinderence to their team in the second half when Arsenal had more spells of possession. Putting in little effort defensively, Hazard allowed to give Gibbs freedom down the Arsenal left, and he played an important role in their attacks.

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