The Blues were far below average at home as they fell to London rivals Arsenal for a second straight league encounter.
During the Premier League game between Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy yells.
During the Premier League game between Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy yells.
Graham Potter’s Chelsea continued a recent downward trend, falling far short of their best in an uninspired and disjointed performance against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
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Potter’s humiliating 4-1 loss to his previous team Brighton was bad, but losing to a team who finished below the Blues last season at his new home ground was worse. Chelsea only managed to get one incredibly feeble and weak attempt on goal, and they hardly appeared to be moving or striking with much movement.
In the meantime, Potter’s team was in sharp contrast to the sleek Gunners, who dismantled Chelsea and controlled the game from beginning to end. Three years were given to Mikel Arteta to assemble his team, and now Emirates supporters are beginning to reap the benefits.
Since Arteta’s transfer from Manchester City, Potter is Chelsea’s third manager. Since Mourinho’s first tenure in the mid-2000s, no manager has reached the 150-game milestone that Arteta did yesterday.
Here is how the national media responded to the game as Chelsea lost ground on the top four and Arsenal regained the league lead.
“Chelsea manager Graham Potter experienced successive losses for the first time since being hired in September, as his team was defeated by Arsenal at Stamford Bridge,” writes Sam Smith. The Blues struggled in the 1-0 loss, much as they did in last weekend’s 4-1 humiliation at the hands of Potter’s old team, Brighton. Express Sport examines the manager’s requirements in an effort to get the results back on track.
“Raheem Sterling’s £50 million summer transfer from Manchester City came with high expectations, but the English forward has struggled to adjust to life at Stamford Bridge.
“Only three goals have been scored by Sterling in the Premier League this year, and he had trouble participating in the game against Arsenal. The 27-year-old was virtually ignored by the Gunners.
“The fact that Potter has not decided on a position for Sterling has not helped the former Liverpool player’s cause. He has found himself at wing-back and in all three positions across the forward line. Appearing to play on the right against Arsenal, Sterling was challenged by Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel.”
Writes Jonathan Liew “With the ball on the halfway line, Thiago Silva halted. His teammates were pointing and yelling at him to do something with it from beside him. The cheery words of encouragement coming from Chelsea supporters up in the stands had essentially amalgamated into one incomprehensible noise, which we could try to translate as “faacckkinggettrrrrid.” As a result, Chelsea decided to pump a high ball up to the 5′ 7″ Raheem Sterling in the final minute of injury time as they rallied for a last-second equalizer.
“As it turned out, Sterling was offside, and shortly after that, Michael Oliver mercifully ended the match.
And technically speaking, Chelsea lost this game during the ineffective and indecisive hour and a half that came before stoppage time. It was nevertheless as good as any as a symbol of their shortcomings and inefficiency in this area. The good news is that Chelsea appears to be a creative squad. The issue is that no one is sharing their thoughts with others, which is a concern.
“The outcome is similar to one of those Christmas parlor games when someone starts doodling on paper, folds it over, and passes it on to someone else, who adds a little bit, and so on, until everyone laughs and has a sherry at the conclusion.
After a lively attack in which several wet players ran in different directions, everyone would look up to see that Chelsea had somehow managed to end up with four left-wingers, no one in the center, Raheem Sterling on his backside, and the ball flying alarmingly fast back toward their own goal.”
Matt Law explains: “Chelsea suffered their second loss under Potter and their second consecutive Premier League setback. The seventh-placed Blues must already be worried about the struggle they will face to finish in the top four with Arsenal dreaming of a title assault.
“The Chelsea supporters’ jeers after the final whistle were justified, but Potter was playing without Kepa Arrizabalaga, Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, and N’Golo Kante in goal.
Without Kante in their lineup, a string of Chelsea managers have been unable to maintain any consistency, and Potter is up against a similar obstacle.