Chelsea F.C. Did Arsenal A Service By Beating City

Now that the clash between Manchester City and Chelsea is over, it’s time for everyone to take a deep breath and look at the lay of the land and see where everything actually stands. 

Arsenal are back atop the table with a two point edge over both Manchester City and Chelsea, and it’s always nice when the Gooners are first in the league. It’s been an interesting 4 days in the English Premier League for the top sides and this season in general has been entertaining to say the least. 

The end of the January transfer was uneventful for any of the top-sides, and frustrating to an extent if you are an Arsenal fan, or rather, if you are an Arsenal fan and thought Wenger was certainly going to bring in replacements.

There are so many different reports on Julian Draxler and the bid Arsene Wenger put in for him that I honestly have no idea what to believe at this point.

First it was reported that no bids were made, then it was reported the bid was too low, next the bid was high enough but Bayern Munich told Schalke to wait until summer and they would pay top dollar for Draxler, then finally Arsenal bid one million less than his release clause in hopes of securing his future before the World Cup begins. 

No one really knows what truly happened between Arsenal and the Draxler bid (if there actually was one) but what we do know is Arsenal brought in one player in on loan, Kim Kallstrom, and he was brought in already injured.

Why bring in an injured player I am not sure but if he can help Arsenal at any point during the last two months of the season then it was better than nothing.  Arsenal desperately needed another striker to back up Olivier Giroud, but apparently a bid for German legend Miraslov Klose was rejected by his club Lazio in Italy.

So now the Arsenal squad is what it will be until the end of the campaign, and Wenger will have to get the best out of the players who are not out with injury. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played one hell of a game against Crystal Palace on Sunday and it will take more displays like that by everyone on the team in order for Arsenal to stay on top and win their first trophy in 9 seasons.

The game between Chelsea and Man City was a very interesting one for all the title contending teams because for anyone that has followed the EPL since City became big spenders, they would know City are always do for a wobble at some point between February and late March.

They do it every season, even in the season they won the title they had a dip in form due to injuries. 

Today’s game showed how important Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho are to City’s first team. Jose Mourinho’s team didn’t even need to park the bus at the Etihad against City, because Chelsea ran riot all over City’s midfield with Eden Hazard and Willian.

Hazard was easily man of the match and no one on City could contain him, and without Fernandinho, City had to bring in Martin Demichelis to deputize and it was evident that Demichelis is not in the same class as the Brazilian international.

YaYa Toure had a forgettable game after a bright start, City’s strikers were non-existent, and without Aguero’s darting runs applying pressure on Chelsea’s back-line, David Silva was unable to command the game from midfield.

It was a masterstroke by Mourinho in picking a side that was well-balanced and was not entirely constructed to play defense. Chelsea took the game to City and this performance from City looked eerily similar to the way they looked before Sheik Maunsour purchased the team in 2009.

There will certainly be more dropped points by all three sides this season so the title race will likely go down to the last game of the season making this one of the most exciting title race in years. 

Arsenal has to stay the course and continue playing good football, this is the closest Wenger’s side has been to the title in years and with Chelsea doing the Gooners a favor today, the team can ill afford to drop points. 

Arsenal has the quality to win at least one trophy this season, and have the manager to guide them to it, let’s keep pushing Arsenal.

And as always, “In Arsene We Trust.”