Some might say it was refreshing to see Chelsea lining up in a 4-2-3-1 instead of the usual 3-4-3 formation. But any goodwill from that would disappear as soon as we saw Chelsea at their best, even as they weighed down the usual pre-season rust.
Arsenal were the better team on the pitch from the start and continued to dominate throughout the first half. With sharper passing, better movement on and off the ball and the Blues unable to figure out how to fill the gaps in a back-four, the Gunners easily found the scores through Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard in the 15th and 36th minutes, respectively.
Again with the 3-4-3 in the second half, Chelsea were much better. Playing with a familiar tactic helped the team as much as Arsenal were not as eager to score as they were in the first half, with the Blues dominating possession but not doing enough to create chances against their opponents tonight.
And while Arsenal had done little in the second half, a strong enough push from the Gunners was enough to give them a third goal on the night. Bukayo Saka scored on the rebound after two consecutive saves from Mendy.
That, unfortunately, was not all for us. From a cross by Cédric, Sambi Lokonga scored Arsenal’s fourth with a virtually free header in the last minute of the game.
- First half XI (4-2-3-1): Mendy | James, Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Emerson | Gallagher, Jorginho (c) | Mount, Sterling, Havertz | Werner
- We return to the 3-4-3 from the start of the first half, with Malang Sarr, Thiago and César Azpilicueta at the back, and Reece James and Marcos Alonso on the wings. Christian Pulisic, Mateo Kovacic, Michy Batshuayi, Hakim Ziyech, Ethan Ampadu, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kalidou Koulibaly were the substitutes in the second half.
- Timo Werner always does his best, but some days he is not good enough for us
- Trevoh Chalobah was having a warm day on the pitch before leaving the pitch due to injury. I hope all goes well with him!
- Conor Gallagher was (deservedly) the subject of much praise in our first pre-season game, but his brilliance faded against Charlotte and again against Arsenal today. Hope wasn’t completely lost, but it was still pretty hard to take
- Hello Kalidou!
- Up next: Udinese at the Estadio Friuli in Udine, Italy in their final pre-season game
- KTBFFH!