Arsenal 0 - 0 Chelsea: That was a bit rubbish, wasn't it?

Not for the first time this season, we were in a situation where a game against a tough opponent has become must-win because of a poor result against weaker opposition. Our defeat on Monday night to Wigan meant that we had to win this game to remain in pole position for third place.

The whole game was bereft of any attacking quality. Chelsea showed little ambition going forward and Arsenal lacked any sort of control and cutting edge. This all contribued to a rather drab affair, neither side being able to provide that bit of quality or exert that extra bit of effort to really get the game going.

Our midfield lacked co-ordination with Arteta's absence. Neither Song or Ramsey seemed to know what role they were supposed to be playing and often ended up in each other's space and not linking up well and this effected Rosicky, who couldn't get on the ball as often as he would like and generally had little effect on the game.

Theo Walcott and Alex Chamberlain both disappointed, too. Chelsea's full backs could have been exploited more; Ryan Bertrand is unproven and Bosingwa just isn't that good, but neither winger capitalised on that and rarely tried to get at them.

With the midfield and wide men not playng well, van Persie was inevitably left isolated and forced to feed off scraps. Subsequently, our best opportunities came from set-pieces. Walcott clipped in a great pass but van Persie hit the post when he should have scored, and then Koscielny had a free header that unfortunately hit the bar.

So we weren't playing well and didn't have the luck in front of goal. Chelsea did not look that threatening themselves. All signs pointed to a 0-0 and that's what we got. Whether or not this a good point, well, time will tell.

Still in our hands, but pressure is on
If we win our three remaining games, we'll finish third. However, if Spurs and Newcastle win both their games in hand they will go level on points with us with three games to go.

The pressure is on. Two poor games and five dropped points and suddenly we're not comfortable anymore. What's more, we're not playing well, Arteta and Walcott will miss the final three games and van Persie has forgotten how to score. Hate to be pessimistic, but things don't exactly look rosey right now and I honestly would not be surprised if we finished outside the top four when it's all said and done.

Part of my pessimism comes from the fact that our next game is away to Stoke. It's a game we never do well in, one good win being the only exception, and I don't feel confident of getting a win. We can't rely on Spurs and Newcastle dropping points. We must win these last three games.

Player Ratings

Wojciech Szczesny - 7. Bar one dodgey moment where he came charging off his line and need Kosicleny to save him, he had a solid outing.

Laurent Koscielny - 8. Outstanding performance. How he was not man of the match is beyond me, and he really does deserve to be in the PFA Team of the Year.

Thomas Vermaelen - 7. Very good game. Didn't charge forward as much as he usually does.

Bacary Sagna - 6. Wasn't as solid as usual today. Had a couple of good defensive plays but also some sloppy ones.

Kieran Gibbs - 6. Good game from him.

Alex Song - 5. Second poor game on the bounce. That habit of his of trying to do the complicated things too often was on show, as he seemed to almost always ignore the simple option in favour of playing that killer pass.

Aaron Ramsey - 5. Was dispossesed far too many times and gave the ball away too many times. Touch was also loose and didn't have much of an impact. Unfortunately, it's a performance that isn't too unexpected.

Tomas Rosicky - 6. Had little impact, but wasn't 100%.

Theo Walcott - 5. Not great, and now injured.

Alex Chamberlain - 5. Another average showing. Not ready for consistent first team action.

Robin van Persie - 6. Hit the post, but generally didn't look decisive in front of goal. Lacking in form and looks tired.

-------------------------------

Andre Santos - 6. Did well.

Abou Diaby - 6. Didn't get injured. That's enough.

Gervinho - 6. Looked lively.

5 inches of white goalpost away from a victory

Chelsea barely had a sniff of goal (thanks to Sturridge, Kalou and Torres being crap) However, i'm content with a point.

NOW WE HAVE to watch if spuds and NUFC drop points or not
it was on our own hands
i wanted us to secure 3rd before last matchday
but now MUST BEAT stoke and WBA awy from home without Arteta and Possibly Theo? :study:

Very poor game, Chelsea parked the bus, we had few good chances and as always we wasted them.

I take a point and hope Spurs lose so we all can enjoy the point.

Ramsey wasn't that bad atleast

I think if he regains his confidence he would be a decent DLP

I expected better from RVP

And Ramsey was frustrating.

Nice to see Diaby again, actually kinda miss the big fellow.

I do have a question, next season, with Wilshere and Arteta coming back in, Diaby (hopefully) having his injuries behind him, do we need to buy an extra midfielder? I think not

Ramsey was dispossessed many times from behind
i dont know what would be better now?
drop him and would it have negative impact mentally in his first full season after injury or positive and would it take pressure off him ?

i thinking about playing with 2 midfield vs stoke

Not much to say, I wont say this was a terrible result. But it was a pretty shit performance going forward

We defended really well, our this back 4 is amazing and gibbs was fantastic today. But Koscielny MOTM. Easily.

Our midfield wasnt clicking at all. Rosicky was ill, couldnt play more than 50 mins. Song was garbage. Ramsey was really good in the 2nd half, not that much in the 1st.

Theo was ok, Ox was average, or shit. Rvp was really poor.

our subs were excellent. Diaby brought the missing factor in midfield when he came on. Gervinho was really good and santos was great as well

Not a "bad" result and things still in our hands. need to win away at stoke and then its ours to lose

Should have won it, even though we were average today. Koscielny had a beazer of a game, man of the match today tbf.

We need to win our last 3 games in order to finish 3rd

Finished with the first post.

Blehhh

RvP, y u no score?!

A point is not a bad result.. We were not fluent.. But surely were the better team and deserved to win..
Sczeny.. 7 really solid except for one mistimed advance.. Great game..
Sagna.. 6.. Good game..
Vermelen.. 7 solid in defence..
Kos.. 8.. Motm.. So good that u feel we would have won last game with him..
Gibbs 7.. Great game.. Got into great positions..
Ramsey.. 5.. Better game.. Kept things simple.. Needs to improve workrate and pressing
Song.. 6.. Anonymous in first half.. Had a good 2nd half..
Rosicky.. 6 Only player who looked to provide some penetrance..
Ox.. 5.. Not what u expected.. Experience and maturity makes it for talent..
Walcott.. 5.. Nowhere effective.. Got injured as well.. Big game scores didnt click this time..
Santos.. 6 Great to see him at LW.. More effective than Ox..
Gervinho 6.. Better than Walcott..
Van Persie.. 6.. Got into good positions.. But feels like his magic is lost ?

If we had focused properly against QPR and Wigan today wouldn't have mattered...

Nonetheless it's a decent point which leaves us in control, just about.

Newcastle have horror fixtures after today, Chelsea have other commitments and their league form isn't great at all whilst Spurs are deflated right now.

Let's see if QPR can get something off of Spurs later today. Would be a huge boost.

RealGunner wrote:Not much to say, I wont say this was a terrible result. But it was a pretty shit performance going forward

We defended really well, our this back 4 is amazing and gibbs was fantastic today. But Koscielny MOTM. Easily.

Our midfield wasnt clicking at all. Rosicky was ill, couldnt play more than 50 mins. Song was garbage. Ramsey was really good in the 2nd half, not that much in the 1st.

Theo was ok, Ox was average, or shit. Rvp was really poor.

our subs were excellent. Diaby brought the missing factor in midfield when he came on. Gervinho was really good and santos was great as well

Not a "bad" result and things still in our hands. need to win away at stoke and then its ours to lose

what baffles me about OX is that he played pretty well and was fairly consistent for Southampton when he did play.

why all of a sudden, inconsistency at Arsenal?

REWB wrote:

AnJl wrote:I expected better from RVP

And Ramsey was frustrating.

Nice to see Diaby again, actually kinda miss the big fellow.

I do have a question, next season, with Wilshere and Arteta coming back in, Diaby (hopefully) having his injuries behind him, do we need to buy an extra midfielder? I think not

if we want to CHALLENGE and not just get top 4 we NEED another mid to add creativity, that midfield is simply not enough.

wilshere just missed a whole season, he will need time to regain form. we might even see a ramsey situation from him. diaby always gets injured and we cannot rely on him. the only reliable mids we have are arteta and song and thats not good enough.

Wilshere is out of Euro 2012, why? So he can regain his form and he doesnt have to rush.

Will he do a Ramsey? I am positive he wont. If anything, he must be frustrated out of his wits that he cant do anything.

Diaby's injuries concern me, but the positive side of me says 'He will get better'

Rosicky is fine and doing well.

Ramsey needs a breather and some space to clear his mind. I mean comes back from a horrible injury, pushed right back in as one of the main creative forces, pushed out wide for the sake of the team, is trying hard to impress because he knows people are on his back, his confidence isnt sky high and no one is really helping him out. We forget the kid is what... 20? 21?

Yea, lets sit on his head and blame our life problems on him too right?
Given the time to GROW and build his confidence, we will see a pre injury Ramsey and all of us will be kissing his backside again.

Alot of it depends on how our players come back from injuries. And i think everyone will have to be at our best next season, because if that season doesnt work out, hell is going to be raised at the Emirates.

We certainly lack a top quality attacking midfielder to unlock defences.. Or like in the first half we kept passing backwards and trying for long balls.. The only one who can provide some penetration is Rosicky seems to attack and run at opposition but he lacks that killer pass..
..

That was one crappy ass game.

Koscielny was beasting though, just wish he buried that free header.

REWB wrote:

AnJl wrote:I expected better from RVP

And Ramsey was frustrating.

Nice to see Diaby again, actually kinda miss the big fellow.

I do have a question, next season, with Wilshere and Arteta coming back in, Diaby (hopefully) having his injuries behind him, do we need to buy an extra midfielder? I think not

if we want to CHALLENGE and not just get top 4 we NEED another mid to add creativity, that midfield is simply not enough.

wilshere just missed a whole season, he will need time to regain form. we might even see a ramsey situation from him. diaby always gets injured and we cannot rely on him. the only reliable mids we have are arteta and song and thats not good enough.

I agree, i wish Wenger would bring another creative midfielder because we are a bit predictable when we are moving the ball unfortunately I can't see him signing a midfielder because he loves Diaby and Ramsey and we have Coquelin,Frimpong, Eisfield etc

Our midfield was alot clumsy today. Ramsey and Song both didnt play well today. Rosicky was unwell and thats why he was taken off. Song wasnt at his best today and didnt play what we are used to expect from him. Maybe it was because of Rmasey who seems to lose confidence every match and his performance isnt helping either. He somehow got better in 2nd half specially when he moved up to replace Rosicky.

RVP is getting tired and it shows in his performance. He worked really hard today but also missed some very easy chances. Unfortunately we dont have another good striker so he is forced to play. Park is an option but he Wenger doesnt play him for some reason, not even when we lead by 3-0.

I am very happy with our back four. Both Verminator and Kos was at thier best. Kos was beasting as always. Gibbs is getting better every match and today he did play very well.

DAT DEFENSIVE DISPLAY

This was arguably our finest defensive display from all of our back four especially Bosscielny. RVP's finishing was mediocre, if he was in the zone as usual we would have had the three points.

Not a bad result considering that they had a few chances as well but it's time to grab three straight wins and wrap it up which I think we can do even though Stoke and Norwich are in decent form. It's still in our hands.

Highlights are deceptive. Yes, Song did create a couple of chances but at the same time his overall use of the ball left a lot to be desired; often ignoring the simple passing opportunities in favour of elaborate passes that rarely came off.

It's a similar case with Ramsey. He created a couple of chances too, but gave the ball away so many times; either being dispossesed or sloppy with his passing.

Ok now we can enjoy the 1 point, Spurs lost.