Takeaways from Arsenal's 'deserved' win v. Chelsea
Joe Prince-Wright shares his thoughts pitchside at the Emirates following Arsenal's 2-1 win over Chelsea to maintain their undefeated start to the season.
Video Transcript
Full-time here at the Emirates Stadium, and it finished Arsenal two, Chelsea one.
Some of the analysis and reaction from being here on site, I think Kai Havertz really changed this game for Arsenal.
His positioning in that first half drifted out to the right.
That's how he scored that equalizer at a really important time for the Gunners, and that set the tone for the rest of the game.
Chelsea had chances in the second half in particular, on the counterattack, set pieces, but they just could never find that composure in the final third.
When it came down to it, when it mattered most, they just seemed to rush those chances.
But Arsenal, it was a bit nervous in here.
The fans and the players was a little bit nervy towards the end of the game.
But overall, they deserved to win that match.
But it was a real spectacle.
I think, as I wrote about it, on three things we learned over on Pro Soccer Talk at NBCSports.com, that this rivalry is back.
For a long time now, Arsenal have dominated Chelsea in so many ways.
But today, with Alonso's appointment, the fact that Chelsea have closed that gap to Arsenal, it feels like a considerable amount this summer and will continue to do that, it does feel like Chelsea are back, and this rivalry is gonna be back, for the next few years in the Premier League.
There was a little bit of a wry smile when Alonso and Arteta, the old friends, embraced at the end of this game.
Of course, a great game, great spectacle, but Arsenal did get the deserved win.
In terms of some of the other things I, I like the look of, in t- I, I just think Chelsea did a great job from set pieces.
No Premier League team, so far this season has scored more set-piece goals than them.
And Austin McBeath was out, directing all of, the corners, the free kicks.
Did a really good job of just those small margins, and Chelsea looked a lot more dangerous, going forward, with these, set-piece opportunities.
Then defensively as well, the fact that they left four players up really bamboozled Arsenal a little bit.
That meant they were a threat on the counter.
Arsenal had to leave more players back, and they weren't as big of a threat, from those set-piece situations when Chelsea put four players up.
I think Morgan Rogers, was excellent.
Obviously, he scored here.
A lot of banter when he came off the pitch.
The Arsenal fans singing to him, "You should have signed for a big club."
But took his goal really well.
And I think, again, the fact that the rivalry is back, if you look at him and Declan Rice, England teammates, get on well, but it was pretty feisty at the end as they squared up when Rice caught Rogers there in a bit of a, a nasty, flick off the ball.
So yeah, this rivalry is brewing.
Arsenal one, they've won three straight games, to start the Premier League season.
So, so far so good for the reigning champs.
As for Chelsea, I think they underlined to everyone here they can just tweak a few things defensively, if they can get a bit more composure, in the key moments up front, then I think they're gonna be the main contenders, along with Man City, for the title this season.
For Arsenal, I feel there's still just that bracket under- underneath them, Chelsea, but certainly was a positive performance for Xabi Alonso's side for a lot of this.
And yeah, Arsenal I think will go away thinking, "Okay, we've got another contender here that we have to fight with this season for the title."
That's fine.
They embraced it.
And like I said, Havertz was excellent, degaard was excellent, and overall some really good, intriguing individual displays in terms of positioning on the pitch.
I love that aspect of this game.
And in terms of the atmosphere, the rivalry, how feisty it was here inside the stadium, loved it, and this is a big London derby, and it's great to have it back, in this kind of form.
So head over to Pro Soccer Talk on NBCSports.com for all the latest from here in North London.
Going down to the tunnel area now to speak to the players from both teams, so keep an eye on that.
First big, big game of this Premier League season in terms of a battle between the big boys.
Arsenal came out on top, but Chelsea showed they're improving and they're catching up.
