Tactical Archive : Arsenal 3 Chelsea 1

A day that will live long in the memory of the Arsenal fan. The day when the Gunners delivered a tactical masterclass to beat their cross city rivals, Chelsea. It was a near perfect performance. But apart from Ivanovic's header from the usual trusty set piece, Arsenal dominated the game.

POSSESSION

Arsenal - 61%
Chelsea - 39%

SHOTS ( ON TARGET/ OFF TARGET/ BLOCKED)

Arsenal - 6 / 2 / 2
Chelsea - 1 / 7 / 4

PASS ACCURACY

Arsenal - 86%
Chelsea - 79%

OFFSIDES

Arsenal - 5
Chelsea - 7

FOULS

Arsenal - 13
Chelsea - 17

TACKLES

Arsenal - 29
Chelsea - 32


Arsenal 1 Chelsea 0 : Alex Song goal

Ancelotti has obviously taken extreme action into ousting the threat of an inform Nasri, so intense pressure is used. Unfortunately, Essien was draw far out of position on the left side. Fabregas has already seen Song behind him and makes a false run across Mikel which pushes the midfielder even further back, given Song a lot of space in the middle.

Alex Song now has a lot of time and space to make a decision. He has three options :

1. He could play in Fabregas with a first time pass. But chances are Terry would sweep up the ball as he already sees the Spaniard coming alongside him.
2. He could play the ball out to Wilshere and draw out Lampard and take him out of the defence leaving a 4 v 3 situation.
3. Or he could embark on a Messi-esque slamom past the defence and put the ball past Cech.

Wilshere makes a chipped pass to Fabregas which makes Ferreira commit to the challenge. He fouls Fabregas and would have conceded a penalty had Song not hit the ball past Cech already with his weaker left foot. 1-0 to the Arsenal

Arsenal 2 Chelsea 0 : Fabregas goal

Laurent Koscielny's midfield splitting pass finds Van Persie. Chelsea's narrow centre back formation leaves a large gap between the CB and the fullback. Essien gets draw into the battle. Big mistake. Theo Walcott has seen that Essien will make a challenge and has already made the run in behind Cole.

Fabregas reacts fastest and goes forward to give Walcott another option. Just look at the space behind the two centre backs. And Cole is on the back foot. Walcott had one option : To stroke the ball past Cech which would have proved very difficult. But since Cesc ran up to support him, he can now draw Cech from goal and lay the ball to Fabregas who would put the ball into an empty net.

Ivanovic doesn't recover in time. Cech does get drawn out. But Walcott takes up the option made by Fabregas and passes the ball across for the Spaniard to finish into an empty net. 2-0 to Arsenal

Arsenal 3 Chelsea 0 : Walcott goal

This is what makes Busquets, Iniesta, and Xavi the best midfielder in the world. Before Terry passed the ball, the Spanish trio would have already known their next move. They would have already analysed the situation around them and would have made a split second decision. Malouda, with his bad spatial awarness, doesn't know that Walcott is closely behind him, ready to intercept. Cole has already drifted out wide to widen the game and has left a huge space between him and Terry.

Had Cole been deeper, he could have tucked in and followed Walcott's run. Terry is forced to commit and Fabregas just chips the ball over him as the makes a block tackle. Walcott sprints through and makes an awesome finish into the bottom left corner past Cech. 3-0 to Arsenal

Arsenal 3 Chelsea 1 : Ivanovic goal

Simple really. Rifled free kick from Drogba. Koscielny keeps the defenders onside. Fabianski comes out of goal. Ivanovic nods it beyond him. 3-1 to Arsenal

Neutralising the full back threat

Arsenal have been at the mercy from flying wingback, Ashley Cole, in recent games, and Arsene Wenger found a way to omit the threat. He assigned Theo Walcott to track Cole's runs when Sagna was dragged out of position infield. Thus neutralising the threat from Cole.

Man Of The Match

For me, the man of the match is either Alex Song or Cesc Fabregas, the midfield duo were outstanding on the night. Both scored goals, tracked back to defend, broke up attacks, and started some of their own.