2023-05-02 22:39:00
Double packers Martin Ödegaard (18th, 31st) and Gabriel Jesus (34th) set the course for the Gunners’ victory with their goals even before the break. As a result, Arsenal missed further top-class chances against the Blues, who had been completely confused in the meantime.
Chelsea’s winter newcomer Noni Madueke (65th) was still working on cosmetic results, the Champions League winner of 2021, who lost the sixth competitive game in a row under interim coach Frank Lampard, was no longer dangerous for Mikel Arteta’s team.
Champions League
Three things that stood out: 600 million and an embarrassment
UPDATE 18/04/2023 AT 10:46 PM
Three things that stood out about Arsenal FC – Chelsea FC.
1.) Spring blues
When the last warm rays of sunshine of the year disappear and the dark, wintry sadness sets in, many people struggle with listlessness and tiredness. The term for seasonal blues: winter blues.
In the case of the London blues, said “symptoms” seem to be making themselves felt as early as spring. The last Chelsea win was on March 11, since then there have been two draws and seven defeats. CFC legend Frank Lampard, who had agreed to take over the tumbling giant on an interim basis after Graham Potter’s dismissal, conceded six of them.
The decision was “easy for him,” said the former midfielder at his presentation. After all, Chelsea is his club. “I’m happy to get this chance. I’m grateful to the people who gave me this opportunity.”
Frank Lampard was served
Fotocredit: Getty Images
Words that Lampard is likely to regret by now. Had he had any idea what his second stint as Chelsea coach would be like, he would have politely declined the offer.
What he was offered by his team against Arsenal, especially in the first half, was simply a refusal to work. Chelsea managed a shot at the opposing goal before the break, but Arsenal’s attacking artists were allowed to play the ball back and forth in the penalty area at times unhindered.
“Super Frankie Lampard,” chanted the Arsenal fans after the 3-0 win. Scorn and ridicule for the Englishman who these days is well on the way to scratching his own monument. Of course, he is not the main culprit for the sporting decline, rather Chelsea’s new club owner Todd Boehly should question himself.
The American made a number of questionable decisions during the season, fired Thomas Tuchel, for example, and pumped millions into newcomers, all of whom have disappointed so far.
2.) Master Odegaard
Martin Ödegaard, the great promise, was threatened not too long ago with disappearing into the much-cited obscurity. Having joined Real Madrid far too early, at the age of 16 and never having had a real chance with Los Blancos, his path (like many other former prodigies) seemed preordained.
But the Norwegian, as has been clear for some time, did not crash. On the contrary, Odegaard is currently one of the most influential midfielders in Europe. He proved that again against Chelsea with an outstanding performance.
FC Arsenal – FC Chelsea
Fotocredit: Getty Images
The 24-year-old first flicked the ball precisely under the bar with his left instep, shortly afterwards he finished a similarly impressive assist from Granit Xhaka to make it 2-0. It was his 13th and 14th goals of the season. “His contribution to the team, his leadership qualities are great,” said coach Arteta afterwards.
Cesc Fabregas is the only central midfielder to have scored more goals in Arsenal dress in one season (15). With four games remaining, Ödegaard could still crack this mark. But the Scandinavian has something more important in mind: the championship.
“We have to fight and keep going,” he said on “Sky” with a view to the title race with ManCity and then sent a small declaration of war to the Citizens: “We believe in it and will fight to the end.”
3.) Aubameyang’s bitter return
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spent four years with Arsenal, scoring 92 goals in 163 competitive games. The Gabonese wore the Gunners captaincy for a while and won the Premier League top scorer alongside Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah (both Liverpool) in 2018.
He has been under contract with city rivals Chelsea since September last year. Boehly and Co. transferred twelve million euros for Aubameyang’s services to FC Barcelona, which the center forward had only joined six months earlier.
Aubameyang has not been able to make a lasting impact at Barcelona or Chelsea since leaving Arsenal. Surprisingly, the 33-year-old was allowed to work at his old place of work right from the start.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Fotocredit: Getty Images
In retrospect, not a particularly successful move. Aubameyang had just nine ball actions (five in play, four on kick-off) in the first half, not to mention any shots on goal.
Lampard had seen enough after 45 minutes, Aubameyang stayed in the dressing room. A particularly bitter evening, another sobering game emblematic of the attacker’s season.
Aubameyang has scored just one goal in 15 league games for Chelsea.
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UPDATE 18/04/2023 AT 12:20 AM
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