If the performance came a firm second to the three points, it was still job done for Arsenal on Sunday. But there’s no escaping how difficult the Gunners make life for themselves in the closing stages of tight games when defending a slender lead.
With a 2-1 advantage against a Chelsea side reduced to 10 men after Pedro Neto’s red card for two quick-fire bookable offences, dissent after Jurrien Timber’s goal, followed by a late challenge on Gabriel Martinelli, Mikel Arteta’s side should have stepped on the visitors’ neck.
Instead, the sloppiness that crept in during last month’s draw with Wolves resurfaced. As reporter James Benge noted, in the final 27 minutes, including stoppage time, the Gunners completed just 55 passes compared to Chelsea’s 114. As full-time approached, they had all but abandoned attempts to retain possession, finding a teammate just seven times after the 85th minute.
Whether from goal-kicks or in open play, fatigued players repeatedly went long, surrendering possession and inviting pressure. It did little to calm the tension on the terraces, where fans tried to rally the team between moments of prayer and despair.
In his post-game press conference, Arteta admitted that with the scores level at the break, he and his players expected a grind.
“I reminded them that we were in exactly the same position against the Spurs seven days ago in that dressing room. They said, look what happened in the second half, so we’re going to do it again. But probably we’re going to have to go through some difficult patches to earn the right to win the game. We certainly did that.
“We took the moment to score the second goal and after the red card, we all expected a very different outcome in the last few minutes. But we didn’t manage to control and dominate that scenario as well as we wanted. On top of that, Chelsea did some very, very good things in that period and we needed David [Raya] to win us the game.”
Raya had already expertly denied Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro before making a final, decisive contribution deep into stoppage time, clawing away Alejandro Garnacho’s cross as it bent towards goal. Fingertips separated the Emirates from a collective heart attack.
“David is one of our leaders without a doubt. He’s a keeper who knows how to maintain his focus and decide a football match when you need him. Because sometimes he doesn’t participate at all and then in one action you have to be there, and that’s very, very difficult to do.
“And the save that he made in the last action – it’s a cross, it’s not a shot, but it ended up being an unbelievable shot. I got the right angle and my heart almost stopped, but David’s hand was there to get it back to life.”
How and why that moment materialised is something Arteta will clearly revisit on the training ground, although he admits recreating those late-game emotional states is easier said than done.
“That’s what we have to do, train game contexts in those scenarios. It’s becoming really difficult because we don’t have time to train.
“And to replicate those moments is almost impossible because the emotional part is not there, and the quality of the opponent – you cannot do it basically. But it’s certainly something that we’ll discuss tomorrow because we have to improve it and do better.”
Arteta was also keen to add context, praising Chelsea for sticking to their football despite going down to 10 men, something they’ve had to contend with more than once this season. He also pointed out how narrow margins have become across the league.
“I’m trying to stay calm, but obviously we weren’t getting the dominance and the sequences of play that we wanted and expected against the 10 men. So you have to navigate through that, and it’s a big part of the game.
“When you see the manner in which other teams are winning games, everybody’s suffering. The manner and the margins are so small, so it’s good.”
He also pushed back on suggestions the win was “ugly”, a view perhaps shaped by both goals coming from set-pieces.
“It’s not ugly. You have to play the game that is there for you to play, and against Chelsea, you know exactly the game that you’re going to play.
“For me, it’s a beautiful game to play because they have so much quality, and you have to adapt so much to what they do, and they have to do the same against us. So the margins are very, very small, and the duels at the end decide these kinds of games. Hopefully we can play many top games like this.”
So it’s nine league games to go, although cup commitments and an Interlull mean Arsenal will play just two of them, Brighton and Everton, over the next five weeks. Wishful thinking, but perhaps the cup games will be less stressful.