Match date: 26 April 2015

While Chelsea have just about clinched the league title, Arsenal, and Arsene Wenger, are on a very good run and are looking to prove that they can be genuine title contenders next season.

To prove such a point, Wenger made four changes to the starting XI that beat Reading in the FA Cup with Ospina coming in for Szczesny in net, Debuchy and Gibbs replaced by Bellerin and Monreal, respectively, and Giroud in for Welbeck to lead the line.

Mourinho was without a fully fit, recognised striker and so started with a front four of Oscar, Hazard, Ramires, and Willian, with Oscar in the centre forward position. The midfield saw Matic and Fabregas paired together.

Chelsea Sit, Arsenal Look Wide

Away from home and no need to really win the game; these two factors made it easy for Mourinho to set out his side with a defensive approach to the game and frustrate Arsenal when the Gunners were on the attack. The away side are, of course, well drilled to do so in big games and sit back and defend, while waiting to counter quickly. Arsenal took the game to Chelsea fairly well and throughout much of the first half. Below is a good example of Chelsea’s defensive shape, but much of the first half, in particular, saw Chelsea’s shape determined by the movement of Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey, who are highlighted below.

Both Alexis and Ramsey looked to drift inside for much of the first half and this dictated where Willian and Ramires would usually set themselves when Chelsea were defending in their mid to deep block. Ramires was started on the right by Mourinho to help protect Ivanovic from the runs of Alexis Sanchez. In the above, you can see the space that Arsenal began to attack in the wide areas through Bellerin and Monreal. Ramires and Willian would typically follow Alexis and Ramsey (though not particularly well in the above shot) and this allowed Monreal and Bellerin to find themselves in a 1v1 against their respective full backs. Chelsea’s rotation in the line behind Oscar allowed the Arsenal full backs to get even more freedom, especially when Hazard played on the left, which allowed Bellerin to get more space going forward as Azpilicueta would tuck inside as Ramsey came inside. The two full backs got on the ball very high up the field inside the attacking third, near the end line, and were really the only way that Arsenal managed to penetrate Chelsea’s back line.

Unfortunately, Arsenal were wasteful in their attacks out wide. They looked to put crosses into the box, but only completed two of 31 attempted crosses and John Terry consistently beat Olivier Giroud in the air when Arsenal put those crosses in.

Oscar Leads Line, Mourinho Changes

The Brazilian is not a natural striker, but he played the role very well before getting taken out by Ospina (he stayed on, but was less effective following an almost certain concussion). He helped out well defensively, especially with Arsenal playing a 4-2-3-1 meaning that whichever player was at the top of the Chelsea triangle was outnumbered against Cazorla and Coquelin. More importantly, with Chelsea sat deep, Oscar offered a good outlet. He ran the channels very well and the ball over the top from Fabregas that led to Oscar’s collision with Ospina was a perfect example of the Brazilian’s movement unsettling Koscielny and Mertesacker. Oscar was involved in two penalty incidents, neither of which were called, with the second being the Ospina collision that saw him taken off at half time.

Drogba was brought on in the second half as Oscar’s replacement and it immediately changed the way Chelsea played. In the first half, Arsenal were successful with their pressing as Chelsea did not have a consistent aerial outlet up top with Oscar, but following Drogba’s introduction, Chelsea were able to play long more often and successfully. Mourinho also changed the personnel a bit with Fabregas moving further forward, Hazard, who was relatively quiet throughout the match, tucking in more and more to try to play off of Drogba’s flicks, and Ramires moving alongside Matic. Chelsea began to have more of the ball in the opening quarter hour of the second half before Arsenal started to have more of the ball once again, but Drogba’s presence always allowed Chelsea to find a long ball out when needed.

Wenger’s Changes

Arsene Wenger made a huge change in the 76th minute which showed his intention in the match by bringing on Danny Welbeck for Francis Coquelin, a forward on for a defensive midfielder. This move shifted Aaron Ramsey from a wide right position, where he had an okay game, and put him alongside Santi Cazorla in Arsenal’s 4-2-3-1. An adventurous move from Wenger, but one that left Arsenal more opened to Chelsea’s counter attacks. This led to four fouls inside of Arsenal’s half as a result of poorly timed recovery tackles from Cazorla and Ramsey and then Monreal. Arsenal committed more fouls inside their half after Coquelin was withdrawn compared to his time on the pitch.

Wenger’s second change was Walcott on for Giroud, which added pace to Arsenal’s play and made sense after Olivier Giroud struggled in the air against Terry and Cahill.

Conclusion

Overall, the match was a bit boring. The first half saw a couple of penalty shouts and one that definitely should have been called after Oscar was taken out by Ospina. The Brazilian should have been brought off the pitch immediately, but was left on until half time only to then be withdrawn due to a possible concussion.

This was a match that Mourinho could thrive in. He had no real reason to go out and win the game, but certainly didn’t want Arsenal win it (somewhat like Chelsea’s match around this time against Liverpool last season.) A draw, especially against their closest rival, puts Chelsea closer to their title.