FootyChatter.com

EPL Premier League Drama Jurrien Timber celebrates scoring Arsenal's second goal Justin Setterfield/Getty Images Arsenal have cleared another major hurdle in their bid for the Premier League title. Mikel Arteta’s side restored their five-point advantage at the top of the table with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Chelsea, which once again relied on their prowess at dead balls, with both of their goals coming from corners. Advertisement Chelsea looked impressive for long spells and had a goal disallowed for offside in stoppage time, but were ultimately undone by Pedro Neto’s second-half red card — yet another moment of indiscipline that has cost them dearly this term as they pursue Champions League qualification. We analyse the main talking points. That’s one more down, nine to go for Arsenal. Their 4-1 win over Tottenham was impressive, but Chelsea was always going to be viewed as a more stern test, and Mikel Arteta’s side found a way to build on the momentum created at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Maintaining their five-point advantage after Manchester City have won games will be a major aspect of this title race. Arteta will be particularly pleased with the result, considering that the match itself seemed to have a different rhythm from most Arsenal matches. This was much more end-to-end, with both teams creating opportunities to hit the other on the break but not fully capitalising. From an Arsenal perspective, the openings they created for Viktor Gyokeres in behind the Chelsea back line were encouraging, even if he did not score. These were the types of situations he thrived on with Sporting CP in Portugal, so if they are working on ways to find him more quickly, that could help in the coming weeks. The return of Kai Havertz for the final 15 minutes will also be a major boost as Arsenal have six more games to play this month. Despite securing the win, Arteta will be mindful of individual errors that could have been costly yet again for Arsenal. Martin Zubimendi, William Saliba and Declan Rice all had strange moments on the ball that gave Chelsea more encouragement, but were lucky none came to anything. Just like against Spurs, Arsenal would have been eternally grateful for David Raya’s concentration and agility in the second half. His reaction to Alejandro Garnacho’s cross, just like his catch from Joao Pedro earlier in the half, didn’t seem possible inside the stadium, but these are moments Arsenal need their goalkeeper for. Art de Roche Advertisement In the wake of Wesley Fofana’s red card against Burnley, Liam Rosenior could still just about credibly cling to the idea that Chelsea’s indiscipline problem was easing under him. No more. Pedro Neto set fire to that particular theory at the Emirates Stadium, lunging rashly in on Gabriel Martinelli by the touchline only three minutes after picking up his first yellow card from referee Darren England for dissent. The initial decision was beyond stupid, the execution of the tackle was dire and Neto then compounded his own personal farce by continuing to argue with the air of a wrongly convicted man long after he had been sent from the field. Chelsea have now racked up seven red cards in the Premier League this season, three more than any other team in the division, and nine in all competitions. It is inexcusable, utterly avoidable, and it is killing their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League — a failure that would hit many of these players directly in the pocket, given the incentivised nature of their contracts. Most galling of all for the travelling Chelsea supporters on this occasion was that Neto’s dismissal scuppered any chance of a fightback in a game in which their team had already proven themselves capable of responding, and Arsenal were anxious. But such moments are instructive as well as decisive. Arsenal are a serious team, and Chelsea are not. Liam Twomey Corners were always going to have a say today. Arsenal’s strength from corners has been well documented in recent seasons, but Chelsea caused problems for Mikel Arteta’s side with them earlier this season, as their opener in November’s 1-1 draw coming from one. Going ahead from corners has been a theme of Arsenal’s season, with their nine opening goals from corners the most of any Premier League team in a single season since Southampton in 1995-96. The routine of going to the back post to head back across goal may seem unusual, but it has been profitable for Arsenal over the last few seasons. Before today, the most recent example was the unlikely combination of Leandro Trossard heading across to Gabriel Jesus away to Inter in January. Gabriel’s header across to William Saliba was his fourth league assist of the season, and his third from a corner, while Saliba became Arsenal’s 16th scorer of the season, with his effort going in off Mamadou Sarr. From a Chelsea perspective, targeting the near post worked at Stamford Bridge, so Arsenal would not have been surprised by them doing the same at the Emirates. Indeed, Chelsea predominantly use that tactic from corners (as do most of the Premier League — over 70 per cent of corners taken this season have been inswingers). Advertisement That may be why Declan Rice made first contact on the initial corner before Piero Hincapie did the same with the one that found its way beyond David Raya. That wasn’t a one-off, either. Another brilliant Reece James delivery early in the second period also caused issues for Arsenal, with a Joao Pedro header forcing a save from Raya. Arsenal, perhaps unsurprisingly, had the final word, though. Declan Rice’s inswinger for Jurrien Timber was his seventh league assist of the season, and felt eerily similar to Ben White’s opener in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg. That evening, Chelsea’s defenders were preoccupied with having a hold of Arsenal’s attackers instead of looking for the flight of the ball. They had the same issue with Rice’s corner as Timber was the one in control to put Arsenal back ahead. Art de Roche Before the late unravelling, this was a vast improvement on Chelsea’s last visit to Arsenal, a 1-0 defeat in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at the start of last month. On that occasion, Liam Rosenior set his side up to contain, deploying a five-man defence, an odd approach given that his side needed to overturn a 3-2 first-leg deficit. Rosenior was keen to stress that he had been hampered with injuries last time out. “If you look at the team sheets they are very different to the one from today, ” he told Sky Sports. Among the four changes from that game were starts for Cole Palmer and Reece James, two of their standout performers today. Chelsea reverted back to their usual 4-2-3-1, but this was just a crude base formation, with the team rotating positions into different shapes. Palmer started on the left for the first time this season, something Chelsea experimented with at the Club World Cup, and his unfamiliar positioning caused confusion among the Arsenal ranks. Advertisement Palmer found plenty of pockets of space against a usually watertight Arsenal midfield, prompting Gabriel and William Saliba to effectively take turns stepping out and man-marking the roaming playmaker between them. This was Arsenal’s lowest share of possession (42 per cent) in a home match this season, as they struggled to suffocate Chelsea in the way they do most opponents, with Rosenior’s side bravely building up from the back. Ultimately, they were undone by Arsenal’s set-piece brilliant and their own familiar ill-discipline, but this was an otherwise positive outing. Conor O’Neill It took all of eight minutes for Robert Sanchez to start feeling the heat from the jeering masses of home supporters at the Emirates Stadium. By then he had almost given away one almost certain goal, presenting the ball to the onrushing Viktor Gyokeres with a loose touch before smothering the Swede’s attempted shot, then scrambling to clear the ball away from Eberechi Eze following up. There were also several classic Sanchez moments: waiting a beat too long to bait the press, then selecting a pass that seemed designed to sow as much anxiety in his team-mates as possible. This has always been part of the Sanchez experience and, you suspect, always will be. Early in the first half, it did not feel like an overstatement to conclude that Chelsea’s entire game plan depended on his ability to tune it all out, take a breath and see the blue shirts clearly through the fog of Arsenal pressure. As the game progressed, he more regularly did so, but in the key moment of the game in the 66th minute, he disappeared into himself, getting caught under a trademark Declan Rice in-swinger and failing to react quickly enough to Jurrien Timber’s header. His furious protests to Darren England were undone by replays showing he had meekly allowed himself to be blocked off by team-mate Andrey Santos. Advertisement Sanchez has his good days for Chelsea, and he made a good save from Eberechi Eze late on, but with too many of these, and when they happen, it is hard not to conclude that they need a better goalkeeper to be a proper team. Liam Twomey The Arsenal manager highlighted his side’s excellence at attacking set pieces as a crucial factor in their win. “They were very important, ” he told Sky Sports. “Chelsea are the second best (in terms of their record) with one less goal, look at the talent they have. We have lost points to long throws, lately we haven’t scored from many set pieces. Today we did it, to have these options is great. “They can be a nightmare to defend against. On tactics boards we can resolve any situation, but when it’s live and they are so aggressive, pushy, effective, difficult to handle, it’s very tough. ” The Chelsea head coach admitted his side’s discipline was a concern after yet another red card. “Frustrated with the end result, ” he told the BBC. “There were  lot of good things in our game but we were undone by two set pieces like we were against Burnley last week. “I have respect for the previous manager Enzo (Maresca). I don’t speak about what happened before but it is starting to happen with me. That’s something I felt we had addressed. We went 10 games without a red card, but it’s now two in two games and that’s a problem we need to solve. ” Wednesday, March 4: Brighton & Hove Albion (Away), Premier League, 7: 30pm UK, 2: 30pm ET Wednesday, March 4: Aston Villa (Away), Premier League, 7: 30pm UK, 2: 30pm ET Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle