Chelsea was a real test for the Gunners. The Blues had five shots on target, and of course one of them went in 77 seconds into the game. We don't have much experience at coming from behind, so it was great to see us do it today. Both managers set up their teams to spring surprises and create overloads. Defenders took advanced positions almost all game. In the end, Arsenal's defensive stability was the difference. All three goals were very good. They hit the post once, and we had one ruled out (correctly) for offside. Martinez and Raya were called into action quite a bit, and there were some top class saves for both. On balance, I think we deserved the win. The xG was heavily in our favor, but I don't believe you can say we were exactly comfortable.
Konsa was fine. Our midfield was better than theirs but didn't dominate the way I hoped. It was a really good day at the office, though. It's a worrying sign that Gyokeres got on late again but was a total nonfactor, losing the ball a couple times when he shouldn't have. Tzolis seems to have bounced back from his schooling from Matty Cash last week, but picked up a dumb yellow card, which I believe makes it two already. Arteta made the same subs he did last week, except that Eze didn't get on the pitch. He's going to have to rotate against teams that aren't as strong as Chelsea, or we'll burn out his first choice players.
Well, we and City are perfect so far, which is an early indication that these are the teams to beat if anyone else has hopes of winning the title.
Arsenal academy graduate Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored the goal of the season so far to steal a point at home for the Toffees against Man U. It was only the second he'd scored in his career. Everton grabbed him very late in the window for $6M. He's earned it already.
The first half of that game was pretty bad, but it sprang into life early into the second half, after which it became a great watch.
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