Arsenal v Chelsea

No match thread.

Currently 0-0. Arsenal down to 10min after a red card.

Giroud subbed off, doesn't look happy.

Arsenal doing an Arsenal?

1-0 Chelsea.

Costa

J. Marston

Gabriel on the pitch about 30 seconds and at fault again against Chelsea and Costa.

LuckyGent88

Well didn't expect this from arsenal.

Think red was the correct decision even if he made a meal of it completely.

Great cross from ivanovic for the goal but no one marked Costa at all

adox

Looked a red all day long on first viewing but it looks like Costa took a dive viewing the replays.

5starpool

adox wrote: »

Looked a red all day long on first viewing but it looks like Costa took a dive viewing the replays.

If there is any contact it is a red, but it seemed there was none. Not surprising from him that he'd dive for the red card rather than carry on and try to score. I think he had his mind made up once he say he would get to the ball first that if there was a challenge he was going to get Mertesacker sent off.

JustTheOne

5starpool wrote: »

If there is any contact it is a red, but it seemed there was none. Not surprising from him that he'd dive for the red card rather than carry on and try to score. I think he had his mind made up once he say he would get to the ball first that if there was a challenge he was going to get Mertesacker sent off.

8 tumbles and holding his leg even though no contact.

Corholio

I'm certainly no Costa fan but a lot of players from all clubs would have done the exact same thing as him.

Was there any contact? There wasn't much protesting from Arsenal so I assumed there was some.

Ridiculous defending from arsenal tbh to be in that position in the first place

LuckyGent88

Kosceilny had a good follow through on Costa there. Could be more to come with those two today

peteeeed

Red all day long , every striker would go down

SlickRic

Fabregas is taking the píss today.

LuckyGent88

Chelsea got away with that. Lovely play by arsenal

Kirby

Its the nature of todays game. Diving constantly. From the other angle behind the goal you can see where he clips him but its still a dive. Can he stay upright? Yes. Did he? no.

Richard Hillman

Doesn't matter if there was no contact. If he hadn't have jumped he would have been fouled anyway

Diego is hardly going to say "oh sorry Sir. It looks like your are about to take me down. I'll jump out of the way to save your blushes".

JustTheOne

peteeeed wrote: »

Red all day long , every striker would go down

If there is no contact not every striker would go down.

Kirby

JustTheOne wrote: »

If there is no contact not every striker would go down.

Yes they would. Don't kid yourself. Every striker in the league dives.

Duck Soup

No belief about Arsenal, which is nuts. They have the players and they're at home.

JustTheOne

Alan Smyth says Costa makes the most of it but who could blame him.

Is that football nowadays, it's just accepted as the right thing to do?

NukaCola

If a striker was fouled but stays on his feet they would rarely get the decision....

LuckyGent88

Duck Soup wrote: »

No belief about Arsenal, which is nuts. They have the players and they're at home.

They are down to ten. Hardly expected to be going all out attack.

Mushy

JustTheOne wrote: »

Alan Smyth says Costa makes the most of it but who could blame him.

Is that football nowadays, it's just accepted as the right thing to do?

Accepted as the done thing, doubt anyone would say right thing though.

Sanity_Saviour

Chelsea finally look like a Chelsea team again, Fabregas and Costa have been very good

NukaCola

Awful from Flamini

LuckyGent88

Head the ball Ffs or use your left foot

peteeeed

Fabregas running the show

keano_afc

Awful stuff from the get go, so classically Arsenal. Massive chance today but as usual in this fixture we just haven't turned up. Chelsea would win the league by Christmas if they played us every week.

Richard Hillman

Arsenal are showing Chelsea way to much respect. They are 14th in the league ffs.

Arsenal are so mentally weak.

NomadicGray

Arsenal will always let you down

Sugarlumps

I'd whip Ozil off, barely broken into a sweat. I wouldn't discount Arsenal, only being 1-0. Fabergas, William & Costa have been on it from the start.

Dirty Dingus McGee

JustTheOne wrote: »

Alan Smyth says Costa makes the most of it but who could blame him.

Is that football nowadays, it's just accepted as the right thing to do?

It's pretty much the equivalent of a defender pulling jerseys, body checking and all the other things defenders do to stifle forwards that are against the rules, however nobody seems to view it a a stain on the game whenever defenders cheat.

adox

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Doesn't matter if there was no contact. If he hadn't have jumped he would have been fouled anyway

Diego is hardly going to say "oh sorry Sir. It looks like your are about to take me down. I'll jump out of the way to save your blushes".

He didn't have to jump over a tackle though. I don't think he even broke his stride.

Andersonisgod

Hiddink has done it again, first time around he changed the fortunes of an out of favour Drogba to turn him back into a fearsome striker for the 2nd half of the season. He's done the exact same thing here with Costa. The Chelsea striker's physical powers and form have been improving each week under Hiddink and today has been the best we've seen so far. Costa, in typical Costa fashion, has dominated this game.

Must also be said, Arsenal without the ball are still very average. It's a complaint levelled against them often and, in the really big games, it's their undoing. Fabregas probably can't believe the space he is allowed on the Emirates pitch to run into and the time he is getting to pick his passes. Crazy stuff really.

peteeeed

Because giroud, chamberlin,ozil, Sanchez , Walcott stay on their feet

blueser

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

It's pretty much the equivalent of a defender pulling jerseys, body checking and all the other things defenders do to stifle forwards that are against the rules, however nobody seems to view it a a stain on the game whenever defenders cheat.

Agreed. See Smalling yesterday, pulling on Van Dyk's shirt. Or Skrtel indulging in all out wrestling just about every week. Collocini is another one. Indeed, I'd say every club has serial offenders in their back 4. Defenders get away with murder in the box.

monkey9

Just catching up with the first half highlights there. It's definitely a red card. I always say it in incidents like that, but if Mertesacker is going to dive in like that, he better make sure he wins the ball. If he doesn't, then it's tough luck whatever happens afterwards. Of course Costa made a meal of it, but the defender knows that will happen if he gets nowhere near the ball.

I don't know what Mertesacker is doing turning his head and looking across just before making the challenge. Brainless stuff. Just make the tackle and deal with any offside decisions afterwards.

Boskowski

Walcott off for Sanchez now I feel. Theo doesn't look quite at the races today.

NukaCola

Walcott cant time his run at all.......really poor

NukaCola

Looked a peno

peteeeed

Stonewall peno

GreNoLi

Possible peno there.

monkey9

How is that not a penalty on Fabregas!!

LuckyGent88

Thought that should have been a penalty. It's a clear foul really

Lukker-

Clear penalty

blueser

How was that not a penalty? Blatant bodycheck on Fabregas., no attempt to play the ball.

LightningBlue

Stonewall penalty.

Boskowski

Hard to see now where anything is going to come from. Ramsey, Oezil, Walcott none of them look really on today. Its a pity but not the end of the world.

NukaCola

Where was Matic meant to go there?

GreNoLi

Arsenal will perform against barca but they still might get obliterated.

blueser

Matic booked for a very similar challenge that Koscielny got away with in the box. The inconsistencies from referees, and not just in this game, are getting beyond a joke now.

LuckyGent88

Mikel really put in a great shift to stop Sanchez there.