It's always enjoyable at Wembley when you win. Yesterday Arsenal did just that and we were able to leave with the smiles of winners, even if it is just a friendly with a slight prestige about it. Given the players Arsenal were missing, and then Mertesacker getting injured fairly early on, it was a decent result against the Champions. The game itself wasn't entirely dissimilar to the FA Cup Final some ten weeks ago. Arsenal were the better side for most of the game, albeit not creating quite as much as we did back in May. However, we had more than the balance of the play with more possession, more shots and more territory than Chelsea did. The BBC website ran a match report stating Chelsea took a deserved lead having dominated the game - I can only assume whichever cretin wrote that has been given their cards this morning.
For me there were three star performers for Arsenal on the day. Nacho Monreal was outstanding yet again at the back and this was even more impressive when you consider he had to take over from the BFG in the centre when he took Cahill's elbow just above the eye. Monreal has really developed in to one of the very best players in the Arsenal team over the last couple of seasons and his consistency has been largely outstanding. Sead Kolasinac came on for Mertesacker and was put on to the left of the back three. He went on, in my view, to produce one of the most impressive debuts for Arsenal in recent years. You can't have failed to notice he is a bit of a "unit" and he certainly makes best use of his frame. The Bosnian looks strong and powerful but also showed no small amount of pace yesterday. To cap it off by attacking the aerial ball and scoring a deserved equaliser topped off a very good day for him. In front of them I was surprised to see Xhaka get the official man of the match award, especially as he was badly at fault in the build-up to Chelsea's goal - of course he provided the excellent free-kick for Kolasinac's goal. For me the best player on the pitch yesterday, and this will surprise many reading it, was Mohamed Elneny who surely produced his finest display in an Arsenal shirt. The Egyptian was everywhere and made tackles, won the ball, used it well and nearly scored too. With Xhaka being disciplined in his positional play at the base of the midfield Elneny's marauding play ahead of him, while keeping things simple with the ball, allowed Arsenal to pretty much dominate that area of the pitch.
My notable disappointments from yesterday were Bellerin, who seems to be going backwards right now, and Rob Holding who looked out of his depth for the first time. I thought he was really poor and tried to be far too clever with the ball at times. He also won little in the air at times yesterday and, for me, wouldn't get a start on Friday if Mertesacker is fit to play against Leicester.
Our new centre-forward was also in action and he hit the post at the end of a fine move he was heavily involved in but apart from that was rarely seen. With no Ozil or Alexis it was difficult to see how Arsenal would provide him the kind of chances he looks like he will need to score goals. Worryingly I don't see a player with express pace - there was one ball played into the channel for him in the second-half where David Luiz gave him a two yard start and then ran past Lacazette to take the ball. I hope he can hit the ground running when we get the Premier League started on Friday night.
In the main talking points from the game I thought, at the time, it was a dive from Willian while the slowed down TV pictures show Bellerin accidentally brush his leg with a knee - not a penalty but probably not a dive. Then there was the elbow on Mertesacker. Did Cahill deliberately do it? No. Did he lead with a swinging elbow? Yes. Is that dangerous and a red card? Yes. He did it again when he beat Xhaka to the header that set up their goal. Something to keep a watch over as the season gets going. And then the red card. Pedro knew exactly what he'd done and laid down pretending to be hurt as a result. Credit to the referee for taking no notice and making the right decision.
So a trophy to start the season and a good day out for my family at Wembley yet again. I never tire of going there and there is nowhere better to win. Two trophies this year at the home of Tottenham - the gift that keeps on giving.
It's not a bad way to get the season started. I am, however, concerned at the way certain non-playing members of the squad were, in Arsene Wenger's words, invited "to be part of it" while others weren't. Arsene says he has 33 players and that is too many. I probably agree but he is forcing out the wrong 6 or 7 and retaining some youngsters who, with the apparent exception of Reiss Nelson, are nowhere near good enough to play for Arsenal, at least not yet. Jack Wilshere should not be sitting at home watching when others are taken with the squad even though they're not fit to play. Jack isn't the only one and it must be driving a wedge between members of the team. It's not healthy and I believe we will end up regretting the way Wenger is treating the likes of Jack, Gibbs, Debuchy, Jenkinson, Lucas Perez etc.
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