Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal took a huge step towards the Premier League title on Sunday after beating West Ham United 1-0.
Leandro Trossard scored the only goal of the game, popping up with the winner in the 83rd minute to send Arsenal five points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
West Ham had a goal disallowed after a foul on goalkeeper David Raya. Unsurprisingly, it caused outrage among the Chelsea fan base.
Chelsea aren’t going to find a better goalkeeper on the market than Robert Sanchez…
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David Raya tops clean sheet list since 2023/24 as Robert Sanchez makes top 10!
David Raya has kept at least 11 more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper in the Premier League since he joined Arsenal.
◉ 2023/24: 16
◉ 2024/25: 13
◉ 2025/26: 18
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Really, though, Chelsea supporters and ex-players cannot have too many complaints. Some of the club’s greatest teams won titles playing like Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
Arsenal have become the old Chelsea
When Chelsea won the 2014/15 Premier League title, for example, they did not play the most exciting brand of football.
Perhaps that Chelsea team were not as naughty as this Arsenal side are at corners, which is why so many Blues fans are upset.
West Ham’s goal was overturned after a VAR review, with referee Chris Kavanagh eventually deciding that Pablo Felipe had impeded Raya. Chelsea supporters feel that Arsenal have been getting away with that kind of foul all season.
Looking back at the 2014/15 campaign, though, the Blues were not the cleanest team themselves. They had players booked for simulation, while Diego Costa was constantly getting into fights.
Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Everton v Chelsea - Goodison Park
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
However, at the end of the day, the former striker and Chelsea did what they had to do to win, and it worked. Arsenal are now doing the same thing.
In a sense, Arsenal have become what Chelsea were. Chelsea’s title-winning teams were always built on a strong defence, which boasted the likes of John Terry, Ashley Cole, Ricardo Carvalho and Branislav Ivanovic just to mention a few names.
They utilised set pieces like how Arsenal are doing now and parked the bus when necessary. It is why the likes of Terry, Ivanovic and Petr Cech, some of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, will have to give Arsenal their flowers if they do go on to win the title.
Chelsea have become the old Arsenal
In contrast, under Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, Chelsea now look like the old Arsenal, Arsenal during the final years of Arsene Wenger’s tenure.
They spend all their money on young players, refusing to compete in the transfer market for the world’s best footballers.
There is no spine of experienced players who know how to win, the team cannot defend and there has become an obsession with ball possession, playing out of defence and attacking recklessly.
This is a Chelsea team with no balance. Xabi Alonso could be Chelsea’s next manager, and he seems like the kind of coach capable of addressing that after what he did at Bayer Leverkusen.
But as of now, Chelsea look like Arsenal in the 2010s, a young team incapable of challenging for the title because of their inexperience and defensive frailties.
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Mikel Arteta showing similarities to Jose Mourinho
The Chelsea legends that played under Jose Mourinho cannot shower the Special One with praise then criticise Arteta.
Arteta sets his team up similar to Mourinho, uses the same tactics and has built a team the Portuguese would be proud of.
John Obi Mikel played under Mourinho and has been quite critical of Arteta and Arsenal this season. Yet all they have done is replicate the kind of performances his Chelsea team used to produce.
Next season, officials probably will look at Arsenal’s corners more closely. They have overstepped the mark at times, but like Mikel and his Chelsea teammates did, they are doing whatever it takes to win.
If players in previous Chelsea title-winning sides do not want to be viewed as hypocrites, they are going to have to applaud the Gunners at the end of the season if all goes to plan for them.
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