The Gunners failed yet again in the quest to break this losing run they had against champions Chelsea. A fluke Drogba goal in the first half and a thunderous free kick by Alex made the battle of the managers now standing at 3-0 in Ancelotti favour.
I think we play well, much better than the performance at the Emirates earlier this year but despite having more of the possession failed to break down the Chelsea defense. It was not that we did not create chances, but e paid a heavy price for not being more clinical in front of goal.
Koscielny and Chamakh both had good chances with to score but did not look like they believe they can do it. Koscielny, in particular missed from 2 yards out. When you play a team like Chelsea, ultimately you will suffer. Drogba's goal came from a good build play between Ramirez and Ashley Cole with the Drogba finishing the move from the tigtest of angle. Looking back at the replay, I am sure he did not mean it but with his luck against Arsenal, the ball did went it.
As I said earlier in the post, we played well in the game but I felt that the believe was not there. We were very nervous and our passes were not sharp. We controlled most of the second half but could hardly find a way through. The only chance of note in the second half was Chamakh header of a Rosicky cross. In defense, individual mistakes cost us dear. Squillaci had his moment of desperation when Anelka robbed him of the ball but went on to miss his chance.
The second Chelsea goal also a result of a individual mistake, with Nasri giving the ball away to Anelka. Koscielny had no choice but to bring him down. Alex's free kick was well struck but I thought Fabianski could have save it. The goalkeeper play well in this game but it is situations like this which a world class keeper would have meant all the difference.
All in all, we came into this match with nothing much to lose so we can just take our lessons and move on from it. We are now 7 points behind the Blues but as we showed last year, we can come back into the race quite easily.
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