Chelsea lost to the defending champions away from home, which is not a shameful result. Remember that before that, in 4 away games at the Emirates, they conceded 11 goals and only scored 2 goals.
The result of failure is sometimes not too heavy if the performance shows positivity. Xabi Alonso's Chelsea has done that in the context that this is a transitional season, the team still has many problems to fix, personnel is thin and has not had time to connect.
Chelsea traveled to Emirates with the mindset of winning the previous 2 matches. They wanted to defeat Arsenal for the first time in nearly 5 years. From the first seconds, Alonso urged his players to attack, based on the inspiration of the trio Morgan Rogers - Joao Pedro - Cole Palmer. They proved that even teams considered "fixed kings" like Arsenal can be hurt by these situations. The proof is Rogers' goal from the 2nd minute that made most of the Emirates stands silent for a moment.
After the match, Xabi Alonso shared that from the beginning when entering the game, he did not want Chelsea to be a team that played deep defense to prolong the time. For the Spanish strategist, he needed the players to take the initiative in controlling the ball and pressing. Despite the defeat, Alonso believes that Chelsea has implemented many tactical intentions according to his wishes.
Right after under pressure from Arsenal, even being equalized by Kai Havertz in the 25th minute, Chelsea's spirit did not decline at all. There were many situations where goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez pushed the ball directly up for the attacking trio. In the midfield area, on a day without Moises Caicedo, Reece James alone still had his best moves to compete head-to-head with the opponent's very strong midfield.
Or when reserve players came on such as Estevao, he almost scored a masterpiece if David Raya had not played excellently. Or like the previous situation, when Raya was defeated, the post denied the 2nd goal for Chelsea from Pedro Neto. The Blues did well as predicted before the match and they showed that they are completely capable of competing with the top group this season.
Chelsea leaves Emirates with 13 shots. Throughout last season in the Premier League, only 1 team did this at the "Gunners'" home ground, which is them in the match against Burnley. Chelsea may be like Coventry or Aston Villa when they could not pull xG over 0.4 but they have the right to be proud because their playing style is not afraid and there have been many clear dangerous opportunities.
Alonso said that this is only his 3rd official match with Chelsea and the former Leverkusen captain is very proud of the players. Alonso said that there are many things Arsenal deserves to learn from Chelsea, thereby being able to further improve the team in this transition period.
Chelsea has had some positive aspects on the field in terms of tactics, and in terms of fighting spirit, they also show that they are not inferior to the home team. Romeo Lavia argued fiercely with Ben White, Joao Pedro was tense with Myles Lewis-Skelly or Morgan Rogers almost fought with Declan Rice,... All of them show the fiery fighting spirit, without any fear of Chelsea players under the new era. Xabi Alonso is a very good ignitor and he is showing that at this team.
Chelsea still has a long way to go before they can confidently compete for the championship with Arsenal. However, such a defeat brings confidence that Xabi Alonso and his students are going in the right direction.
