For a while it looked like Chelsea’s miserable start to the season would continue, with Arsenal matching their opponents for the duration of the first half.
But Gabriel’s red card just before the break changed the complexion of the game, giving Chelsea wide men Pedro and Eden Hazard more freedom to attack, while Francis Coquelin’s withdrawal allowed Cesc Fabregas to flourish.
Chelsea still needed a goal from a set piece and a late deflection to get over the line, but they ought to have picked up some positives from the clash.
If you play Diego Costa’s games, you will lose
It’s tough to work out which is more amazing – the fact that referees continue to fall for Diego Costa’s off-the-ball antics, or the fact that opposition players do the same.
No doubt the Spain international should have seen red for raising his arms to Laurent Koscielny in the Arsenal penalty area, but Gabriel’s can have few complaints about his red card.
At times Costa’s antics made him look like a slightly more sophisticated version of a playground snitch, but if it works, it works.
https://twitter.com/KevBeirne/status/645215079512850432
Kurt Zouma has the potential to be the complete defender
There was every reason to think Zouma might become just another of Chelsea’s buy them young, loan them out, sell them at profit types when he arrived from Saint-Etienne.
But since being drip-fed into the first team last season he has shown his class, and the match against Arsenal can be counted among his best performances in Blue.
The goal – his first in the Premier League – seemed momentous, but Chelsea fans will be more impressed by his overall marshalling of Arsenal’s attacking threat.
https://twitter.com/TheAuracl3/status/645221160431550464
Aaron Ramsey has gone off the boil, and then some
Wales fans have long complained that Ramsey has struggled to replicate his Arsenal performances when turning out for his national team.
This season he may be starting to do just that, but not in the way people had hoped.
The former Cardiff man has looked hesitant going forward, often overthinking key decisions, and Arsenal will be desperate for him to return to the form he showed in 2013/14.
Think Wenger isn't getting the best out of the players. Özil, Sánchez, and Ramsey all look so average.
— Λ𝑍𝐺𝑅 (@by_19xx) September 19, 2015
Alexis Sanchez probably needed a rest after the Copa America
He might have shown remarkable consistency last season, looking as sharp in game 60 as in game one, but it’s starting to look as though Alexis Sanchez could use a break.
Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic has struggled in recent weeks against far weaker players, so it seemed a no-brainer to put the Chilean one-on-one with the right-back, but it seems as though last season’s precision is missing.
Arsene Wenger will likely be reluctant to give Sanchez some time out now, with games against Tottenham, Man United and Bayern Munich coming up in the next month or so, but there’s little point relying on the former Barcelona man when he’s not at the level that allows him to really make a difference.
Alexis Sánchez has now had 31 shots this season without scoring, more than any player in the Premier League. pic.twitter.com/S4cEDQZXWb
— Squawka (@Squawka) September 19, 2015
Oscar’s reemergence is great news for Chelsea and the Premier League
Like Sanchez, Oscar is a player who suffered from playing too many games in too short a space of time.
He’s only missed four games for Chelsea, but his ineffectiveness last season means it feels to some as though he’s been absent for a lot longer.
His use of the ball and positional discipline offers the Blues something few of their other players can match, and if he can make a full return to form it ought to bring the best out of the champions’ entire squad.
Not Oscar's best game on the ball today but he is so good at keeping balance in the attack and creating space for Hazard to roam
— Tim Palmer (@timpalmerftbl) September 19, 2015
