Chelsea were finally able to get their season back on track, after a 2-0 win over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal for the fifth game against Chelsea failed to score but the big talking point was the sending off of Gabriel, who was shown a red card for having a bit of a kick on Diego Costa. Santi Cazorla also was sent off but that was not debatable.
The stats were heavily favoured towards Chelsea but that was expected seeing how they controlled the game from the end of the first half when Gabriel was sent off. Diego Costa was the star or villain of the show, depending on which colour of London you were from. He was at his best at getting under the skin of Koscielny but it was Gabriel who took the bait and was sent off and rightly so but Costa should have been red carded for the hands in the face of Koscielny and then having a swing at his face as well.
Chelsea might not have been at their best but they did get a couple if things right, firstly, a bit of a surprise to see John Terry miss out in the starting line-up. The Chelsea captain was left on the bench and the youthful Kurt Zouma was played in his place. The French defender was at his best and he helped Chelsea to their first clean sheet of the season.
Zouma also scored the first goal of the game thanks to a great cross by Eden Hazard. Hazard was another player who has not hit top form this season but he got on the score sheet as well with a deflected goal late in the second half.
This might not have been the fluid Chelsea that we saw in the first half of last season but this team certainly got the job done. Arsenal though were not out of the game even when they were down to 10 men but the Blues did well to hold them off. Chelsea needed to get this win and thanks to the antics of Diego Costa, they got that but they also were a bit lucky to not play Terry in the heart of defence but it paid off.
Another player who hasn’t had the best of seasons has been Branislav Ivanovic but the Serbian captained the side as they defeated their London rivals. Chelsea may have deserved to win but only because they had to play against 10 men and then did well to control the game. Arsenal will consider themselves unlucky to come out of the game with nothing as they were doing pretty well until the point of the red card.
Arsene Wenger might be rueing his luck as this was the perfect chance for them to get something from a tie against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but Wenger should be livid with Gabriel for falling into the trap set by Costa. This Chelsea might become the vintage Chelsea, get the win, no matter what and that is exactly what they have done. The old Chelsea is back, Mourinho V1.0, other teams get ready for some rather scrappy encounters.