More on the final

Arsenal.com finally put the whole game up on video and I just watched it.  Just as Arseblog's "By the Numbers" feature shows, we were the better team in this game and deserved to win it.  It's true that Chelsea was snakebitten, losing Azpilacueta and Pulisic to hamstring injuries at 1-1, and the second yellow on Kovacic was harsh, but I didn't see Chelsea ever scoring another one after their early flourish.  The penalty was definitely a penalty, and if Christensen got Bellerin's knee in his back (I didn't see it) in the buildup to the second goal, it was because his reckless lunge carried him into Hector.  The defender "won" the ball and passed it directly to Pepe.  The Gunners had more quality opportunities.  I was most impressed with the discipline.  The Blues committed 14 fouls, we committed three.  That says to me that Arteta prepared them to position themselves properly, and also drove it home that we can't afford to give away cheap free kicks around the box.

Everyone played really well.  It's hard to single out anyone other than Auba, who of course won this final and the semi.  Xhaka was a beast, and Ceballos a dervish.  If Lampard thought he was going to boss midfield, he got a rude surprise.  The Chelsea defense always looked shaky; Pepe seemed to terrify them.

I'll have plenty to say about how the future looks, but this game has made the present seem quite shiny.  If you'd have offered me this in December, I'd probably have taken it.  It looked unlikely after our terrible form at Villa Park and at home against Watford, but we beat a big team and it was not a smash-and-grab like Liverpool or an against the run of play situation like the semi.  We just plain beat a good team to win a trophy and set Mikel up for a continuation of his very impressive work in four competitions.  What academy player wants out now?  

Well, a word on Pulisic:  he was their most dangerous player, and I hope he recovers from that nasty hamstring injury quickly.  He's going to be a great player for club and country.  Here's some sympathy for Pedro, too.  He's leaving Chelsea but laid it on the line as a sub and got a dislocated shoulder for it.  Azpilicueta has never been a favorite of mine, so his tears left me unmoved.  The Blues have oodles of money to spend and will be in Champions' League, so they're fine.  We needed this one a lot more than they did, and I'm delighted we seized it.