One of the biggest clashes in the Premier League took place yesterday when Chelsea played Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Here's our tactical analysis of the match:
Chelsea:
Mourinho choose a 4-2-3-1 formation for the game. Playing with which Chelsea looked comfortable in attack and defence. Although Mourinho made sure Arsenal were not allowed to play their game by asking his players to hassle and shove opponents to stop or slow down their attacking play. One of these kind of challenges earned Mourinho a shove from Arsene Wenger. Chelsea tried to exploit Arsenal's weaknesses first when Eden Hazard won and converted a penalty and then Costa broke through later in the game. Although this was mainly in part to ex Arsenal player Cesc Fabregas, who looked to unlock the attacking potential of Chelsea by playing crucial passes to the forwards.
Arsenal:
Arsenal were keen not suffer the same kind of defeat they suffered last season (losing 6-0). It showed as Arsene Wenger's defence looked much stronger at the back. Arsenal played with Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Gibbs in defence. The main problem for Arsenal seemed to be their lacking a Fabregas type of player for releasing their attackers as they did have good chances but unfortunately failed to convert them.
The game moved Chelsea 2 points in front of Manchester City (read our Man City vs Aston Villa match review here) and Arsenal moved down to 8th but with only 1 point difference between them and 4th.
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