Chelsea vs Arsenal - LIVE
The live blogging experiment continued, updating every few minutes
Conclusion: Chelsea were efficient. They remind me of the way they started last season. Arsenal were plagued by a midfield that couldn’t turn the tide often enough to deliver a goal.
In honesty, it didn’t come close to living up to its billing as a match, ending up a tactical, mental battle where each team waited and waited for a mistake to see them through.
On the day, Chelsea get the nod, but only just. 3 points is more than they deserve.
93 min: Drogba takes advantage of a defensive mistake by Senderos and almost scores. Lehmann saves a certain goal. Whistle blows and Chelsea wins the match 1-0 over Arsenal.
89 mins: Cole gives up bad foul on Drogba, yellow card free kick. Lampard plays cross field to waste time. 3 mins added time.
87 mins: Chelsea are sinking further and further back into defense. Flamini gives the hands-open, ‘where are you?’ sign but Hleb was wide open.
84 mins: Flamini comes on for Fabregas . I don't understand the point of the substitution.
83 mins: No Arsenal player can establish a foothold on the match. Henry forces another save but the shot was not hard enough to worry the goal man.
80 mins: Stamford Bridge is celebrating, it looks good for Chelsea. Bergkamp, o Bergkamp, where are you Dennis Bergkamp.
78 mins: Chelsea break and Gallas shoots, forces a Lehmann save. Arsenal are finding progress against a very disciplined Chelsea defense.
75 mins: Makelele sees yellow for a hard foul. The games pace has picked up instantly. Henry forces a difficult save.
74 mins: Drogba Scores! A free kick and an accident of control sees the ball in the net. Drogba didn’t mean to do it, but the ball bounced off his knee across the unexpecting Lehmann. Chelsea 1-0.
73 mins: Wright-Phillips starting to make a small impact. Del Horno has made a series of bad defensive decisions and a cross across the box goes begging.
70 mins: No goal in sight for either team. Even Henry is defending. Just when I say that Cech saves from a free kick headed on.
67 mins: Wright-Phillips sees first bit of space to no end. Del Horno goes down injured, gets up but is limping badly.
63 mins: Duff breaks on a counter from an Essien steal. Counter breaks down but Chelsea maintain possession. Van Persie gets space but cross goes nowhere, Del Horno gives up a corner. 2nd corner played short with no result.
60 mins: Essien gets his first touch.
59 mins: A Robert Pires attack is broken up. Hleb pressing well. Henry loads up from a van Persie combination but the last ball goes begging. Drogba gets a shot one on one with Lehmann but goes way-way high. Essien comes on for Gudjohnsen and Shaun Wright-Phillips is being substituted for Arjan Robben, whose played poorly.
55 mins: Del Horno crosses well, Drogba controls well but Drogba cant get time to shoot as Senderos covers well.
54 mins: Arsenal poke thru midfield and link up play, but nobody could control the ball in the box for a shot on goal. Arsenal again try but Fabregas was crossing to nobody across goal. Henry shoots over the goal.
50 mins: Arsenal on the attack and so is van Persie with an ugly foul on Duff, deserved the yellow. Gallas gets a yellow for his reactions to boot. Duff is ok.
47 mins: This game desperately needs a goal. The caution is second only to handling radiation.
45 mins: Crespo off, Drogba starts the half
Halftime: It’s been a tactical battle throughout. This game could easily end 0-0 unless either side finds a solution to the crowded midfield. Starting again after the half...
Inj: Pires gets a late shot and the whistle blows for the half.
44 mins: Chelsea starting to make some progress. They have been the Arsenal box a few times and are getting corners. Lampard’s delivery goes nowhere but Arsenal fail to clear. Chelsea is very cautious in possession.
41 mins: Robben almost scores from a goal mouth scramble. Lehmann saves, don't know how much he knew about it.
40 mins: Lots of tactical football but not enough space for the talent to emerge. Essien looks like he’ll be introduced at half time.
38 mins: Crespo is offside. The midfield remains clogged and the wings are not delivering crosses, just deflections and the occasional corner. Good switch of play from Chelsea opens a long run of passes, Arsenal eventually clears.
34 mins: Gudjohnsen very unhappy about rough treatment. Aresnal have a 65%-45% advantage in possession.
33 mins: Both teams are starting to rely on the long ball more and more as the midfield is a mine field. It must be said, the defending has been quite good. Neither team deserves a goal despite the fast pace. Arsenal corner fails to get past the first man.
30 mins: Play starts to get a little choppy. Free kick for Chelsea ends in Arsenal counter, broken up by John Terry.
29 mins: Van Persie takes over for Pires and Pires drops back into Ljungberg’s place. Essien is already warming up.
27mins: Ljungberg is also off injured, van Persie is being substituted in. Robben returns to the match.
23 mins: The early pace has settled a bit. Neither team is able to make any stab into the box. Another long ball finally succeeds and Chelsea now begin to link up play of their own. It’s all crosses in the box thought for the Blues, nobody can play the ball in the box with the foot. Robben is down injured.
20 mins: Sun comes out. Both teams remain confident 20 mins into a 50-50 game. Chelsea are starting to probe with the long ball more often.
17 mins: Arsenal are adopting a more defensive approach for this match, that’s clear and its suiting them well as Chelsea are struggling to win the midfield. Pires makes a good central run. A mistake sees Crespo almost go thru.
13 mins: Arsenal starting to link up a little more but an ill timed Henry pass fails and so do does Del Horno, from an Henry cross almost gifts the Gunners a goal. Chelsea right back again with a corner.
10 mins: Lauren deserved a yellow for an ugly foul on A Robben. Henry abandons an obvious offside. The quality of play from both sides is excellent so far.
8 mins: It’s a good fast start to the game. Hleb attacks for the first time. Senderos breaks up a Chelsea attack and Cech does the same to a Fabregas long ball intended for Henry.
5 mins: Ferreira tries a long pass to nowhere. Duff remains industrious early. Arsenal don’t seen intimidated but Chelsea have started better than last week. Streaker enters and removed from pitch.
3 mins: Arsenal settle quickly and fire back with an Henry from beyond the box
2 min: Lampard puts Duff thru right away but its not over yet, Crespo has shot blocked and Duff is again busy. Its off the goal line from Del Horno!
1 min: Pires is playing up front feeding Henry, replacing Bergkamp in his usual role.
Hoping for a great match....
Michael Essien is on the bench for Chelsea. With Essien, 80m pounds or so of talent sits on the bench, a few cracks have appeared in the Chelsea camp as Ricardo Carvalho and J Mourinho fell out in mid week. Drogba is on the bench.
Arsenal sees Hleb making his first start. It's Wenger's 500th match.
About to kickoff....
Chelsea - Arenal lineups:
Chelsea
P Cech
A Del Horno
W Gallas
J Terry
P Ferreira
A Robben
C Makelele
F Lampard
E Gudjohnsen
D Duff
H Crespo
Arsenal
J Lehmann
A Cole
Lauren
K Toure
P Senderos
G Silva
C Fabregas
F Ljungberg
R Pires
A Hleb
T Henry
Conclusion: Chelsea were efficient. They remind me of the way they started last season. Arsenal were plagued by a midfield that couldn’t turn the tide often enough to deliver a goal.
In honesty, it didn’t come close to living up to its billing as a match, ending up a tactical, mental battle where each team waited and waited for a mistake to see them through.
On the day, Chelsea get the nod, but only just. 3 points is more than they deserve.
93 min: Drogba takes advantage of a defensive mistake by Senderos and almost scores. Lehmann saves a certain goal. Whistle blows and Chelsea wins the match 1-0 over Arsenal.
89 mins: Cole gives up bad foul on Drogba, yellow card free kick. Lampard plays cross field to waste time. 3 mins added time.
87 mins: Chelsea are sinking further and further back into defense. Flamini gives the hands-open, ‘where are you?’ sign but Hleb was wide open.
84 mins: Flamini comes on for Fabregas . I don't understand the point of the substitution.
83 mins: No Arsenal player can establish a foothold on the match. Henry forces another save but the shot was not hard enough to worry the goal man.
80 mins: Stamford Bridge is celebrating, it looks good for Chelsea. Bergkamp, o Bergkamp, where are you Dennis Bergkamp.
78 mins: Chelsea break and Gallas shoots, forces a Lehmann save. Arsenal are finding progress against a very disciplined Chelsea defense.
75 mins: Makelele sees yellow for a hard foul. The games pace has picked up instantly. Henry forces a difficult save.
74 mins: Drogba Scores! A free kick and an accident of control sees the ball in the net. Drogba didn’t mean to do it, but the ball bounced off his knee across the unexpecting Lehmann. Chelsea 1-0.
73 mins: Wright-Phillips starting to make a small impact. Del Horno has made a series of bad defensive decisions and a cross across the box goes begging.
70 mins: No goal in sight for either team. Even Henry is defending. Just when I say that Cech saves from a free kick headed on.
67 mins: Wright-Phillips sees first bit of space to no end. Del Horno goes down injured, gets up but is limping badly.
63 mins: Duff breaks on a counter from an Essien steal. Counter breaks down but Chelsea maintain possession. Van Persie gets space but cross goes nowhere, Del Horno gives up a corner. 2nd corner played short with no result.
60 mins: Essien gets his first touch.
59 mins: A Robert Pires attack is broken up. Hleb pressing well. Henry loads up from a van Persie combination but the last ball goes begging. Drogba gets a shot one on one with Lehmann but goes way-way high. Essien comes on for Gudjohnsen and Shaun Wright-Phillips is being substituted for Arjan Robben, whose played poorly.
55 mins: Del Horno crosses well, Drogba controls well but Drogba cant get time to shoot as Senderos covers well.
54 mins: Arsenal poke thru midfield and link up play, but nobody could control the ball in the box for a shot on goal. Arsenal again try but Fabregas was crossing to nobody across goal. Henry shoots over the goal.
50 mins: Arsenal on the attack and so is van Persie with an ugly foul on Duff, deserved the yellow. Gallas gets a yellow for his reactions to boot. Duff is ok.
47 mins: This game desperately needs a goal. The caution is second only to handling radiation.
45 mins: Crespo off, Drogba starts the half
Halftime: It’s been a tactical battle throughout. This game could easily end 0-0 unless either side finds a solution to the crowded midfield. Starting again after the half...
Inj: Pires gets a late shot and the whistle blows for the half.
44 mins: Chelsea starting to make some progress. They have been the Arsenal box a few times and are getting corners. Lampard’s delivery goes nowhere but Arsenal fail to clear. Chelsea is very cautious in possession.
41 mins: Robben almost scores from a goal mouth scramble. Lehmann saves, don't know how much he knew about it.
40 mins: Lots of tactical football but not enough space for the talent to emerge. Essien looks like he’ll be introduced at half time.
38 mins: Crespo is offside. The midfield remains clogged and the wings are not delivering crosses, just deflections and the occasional corner. Good switch of play from Chelsea opens a long run of passes, Arsenal eventually clears.
34 mins: Gudjohnsen very unhappy about rough treatment. Aresnal have a 65%-45% advantage in possession.
33 mins: Both teams are starting to rely on the long ball more and more as the midfield is a mine field. It must be said, the defending has been quite good. Neither team deserves a goal despite the fast pace. Arsenal corner fails to get past the first man.
30 mins: Play starts to get a little choppy. Free kick for Chelsea ends in Arsenal counter, broken up by John Terry.
29 mins: Van Persie takes over for Pires and Pires drops back into Ljungberg’s place. Essien is already warming up.
27mins: Ljungberg is also off injured, van Persie is being substituted in. Robben returns to the match.
23 mins: The early pace has settled a bit. Neither team is able to make any stab into the box. Another long ball finally succeeds and Chelsea now begin to link up play of their own. It’s all crosses in the box thought for the Blues, nobody can play the ball in the box with the foot. Robben is down injured.
20 mins: Sun comes out. Both teams remain confident 20 mins into a 50-50 game. Chelsea are starting to probe with the long ball more often.
17 mins: Arsenal are adopting a more defensive approach for this match, that’s clear and its suiting them well as Chelsea are struggling to win the midfield. Pires makes a good central run. A mistake sees Crespo almost go thru.
13 mins: Arsenal starting to link up a little more but an ill timed Henry pass fails and so do does Del Horno, from an Henry cross almost gifts the Gunners a goal. Chelsea right back again with a corner.
10 mins: Lauren deserved a yellow for an ugly foul on A Robben. Henry abandons an obvious offside. The quality of play from both sides is excellent so far.
8 mins: It’s a good fast start to the game. Hleb attacks for the first time. Senderos breaks up a Chelsea attack and Cech does the same to a Fabregas long ball intended for Henry.
5 mins: Ferreira tries a long pass to nowhere. Duff remains industrious early. Arsenal don’t seen intimidated but Chelsea have started better than last week. Streaker enters and removed from pitch.
3 mins: Arsenal settle quickly and fire back with an Henry from beyond the box
2 min: Lampard puts Duff thru right away but its not over yet, Crespo has shot blocked and Duff is again busy. Its off the goal line from Del Horno!
1 min: Pires is playing up front feeding Henry, replacing Bergkamp in his usual role.
Hoping for a great match....
Michael Essien is on the bench for Chelsea. With Essien, 80m pounds or so of talent sits on the bench, a few cracks have appeared in the Chelsea camp as Ricardo Carvalho and J Mourinho fell out in mid week. Drogba is on the bench.
Arsenal sees Hleb making his first start. It's Wenger's 500th match.
About to kickoff....
Chelsea - Arenal lineups:
Chelsea
P Cech
A Del Horno
W Gallas
J Terry
P Ferreira
A Robben
C Makelele
F Lampard
E Gudjohnsen
D Duff
H Crespo
Arsenal
J Lehmann
A Cole
Lauren
K Toure
P Senderos
G Silva
C Fabregas
F Ljungberg
R Pires
A Hleb
T Henry
by Football Commentator at 8/21/2005 03:00:00 PM
11 Comments:
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Your team lineups are wrong.
Actual team line-ups
Chelsea
Cech
Del Horno
Gallas
Terry
Ferreira
Robben
Makelele
Lampard
Gudjohnsen
Duff
Crespo
Arsenal
Lehmann
Cole
Senderos
Toure
Lauren
Pires
Fabregas
Gilberto Silva
Hleb
Ljungberg
Henry
That is why it says probable... thanks for the updated list...
I really think Didier Drogba should have been playing from the start.
FC I'm not even watching the match anymore because this is just great. Good job FC.
A great win for Chelsea but they were sort of lucky because the goal was Very Very Very Very Very Lucky
thanks!
croatia says hi, cannot see the game here
Thanks Cathal, it wasnt the best match, was it?
yip zero penetration
only 1 siging..not gonna get anywhere near the top
chelsea were not clear winners by any stretch
arsenal looked hapless
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