OK, I'll admit it: I was expecting a Blues win. But in what was an entertaining, well-played contest, a draw was a fair result, and a decent one for the Gunners. Our team selection seemed a bit weird, but the first half performance justified it. Xhaka's defensive abilities still make me cringe, and he misplaced some passes again, but that was a cracking first half strike that Courtois parried. Ramsey stayed home more often, which was good; and when he did advance, he nearly made it count. There should have been goals for both sides in the first 45, but luck was with the defenses.
The second half was more sedate but still showed two teams who didn't want to waste time or shy away from a crunching tackle. Oliver was rather lenient but still had to hand out cards, including the red to Sideshow Bob that came too late to affect proceedings. Mustafi's header into their net was rightly ruled offside; there were few credible penalty shouts. Arsenal didn't really threaten after the break, although we had our moments.
Iwobi played well, I thought, but ran out of gas in the second half and it was good to replace him. Everyone did his job. This was not a game for Ozil or Walcott; toughness and discipline were required, and a willingness to defend as well as attack. Alexis was lively but well tended by Chelsea. They knew he was the guy who could hurt them. We didn't handle Hazard as well--the guy nearly broke us down a couple times. The third potential supersub, Giroud, got no service.
For me, Monreal and Kolasinac were our players of the game. Kos was excellent too. Mustafi frequently steps up when he shouldn't, trying to get an offside or interception, and it almost killed us again today. Cech was superb. Ramxhaka were quite good against an explosive opponent. Bellerin had a fantastic duel with Alonso and for me he was the winner. Welbeck and Lacazette were good; it's a damned shame about Welbeck's injury, which looks like a three month absence for a groin pull (just a guess). Elneny did what was needed, even taking a yellow at an appropriate time.
Three points would have been wonderful, but one is welcome, frankly. We played the champions to a draw, after having won silverware off them the last two times we met. Midweek opponents Doncaster should afford us the opportunity to throw the likes of Nelson, Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Jack, the Jeff, Akpom, and maybe even Debuchy and still advance at the Emirates. West Brom, BATE Borisov, and Brighton follow in rapid succession, all on the road, which takes us to the international break. It's not unreasonable to expect us to run the table against those teams, while giving some starters a couple nights off and some young guys some valuable experience.
Feeling pretty good right now. You?
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